Abduction of Luisa Posa-Dominado and Nilo Arado (2)


By Pet Melliza/ The Beekeeper

One of the witnesses, Posa-Dominado’s daughter, Maywan, told the court that their families sought the help of the United Nations Working Group, which in turn, queried the Philippine Government on the whereabouts of the two missing persons. She showed to the court the latter’s response that labelled her mother a “member” of the New People’s Army.

The investigation report submitted by Sr. Supt. Ricardo de la Paz, Iloilo Provincial Police Office (IPPO) director, yielded no culprit. It indirectly blamed the families themselves instead for “lack of cooperation”.

Police Officer Cecilia Robles Detablan, chief of Task Force Usig, the PNP unit created to address extrajudicial killings and abductions of activists, presented the inconclusive report of the IPPO head. She told the court that the two missing persons had existing warrants of arrest.

On November 30, 2010, the court resolved the petition to be “partly meritorious”: it granted the privilege of the Writ of Amparo. However,  it denied petitioners’ prayers for a P5,000,000 damage claim and for inspection of the investigation and detention areas of Camp Martin Delgado, Iloilo City; Camp Peralta, Jamindan, Capiz; Camp Ceferino Carreon, Calinog, Iloilo; Camp Hernandez, Dingle, Iloilo; and Camp Monteclaro, Miag-ao, Iloilo. (The Writ of Amparo was a new remedy, so the counsels prayed for everything including the toilet bowl and kitchen sink. We prayed for damages, which the court denied for being “inappropriate”).

The court states that the search for Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado and Nilo Arado does not end with the court resolution of 30 November 2010. It indorsed the subject to the 6th Regional Office of the Commission on Human Rights to continue investigating their abduction, identify the persons responsible therefore, and “pursue other leads relevant to such abduction and disappearance.” Relative to that, it ordered the Director of the PNP in Western Visayas and the “highest ranking officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines” on Panay Island, “to extend assistance to the investigation which the Commission on Human Rights may conduct.

The court denied the privilege of habeas data without prejudice to file the same in a separate petition and in a different forum. The Rules on Habeas Data was not yet promulgated at the time of the filing of the Petition for Writ of Amparo. The counsels merely included the habeas data as one of their prayers.


Observations: In general, government institutions involved in law enforcement and security were lukewarm on the quest of the kin of the missing persons and their request for assistance to investigate the abduction and identify the culprits. Task Force Usig has shown itself as mere “palabas” of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration that indeed it was addressing the issue of state-inspired violence on the unarmed political opposition typified by rising cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

Kin and friends of the victims have reasons to tag the military as the premier suspect because its intelligence and propaganda operatives have been conditioning the public mind that Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Selda, among others, where the two missing activists were affiliated, were communist organizations. As elsewhere in the country, the vilification campaign is followed by physical attack that happened on Posa Dominado and Arado.

The Army through its CMO-6 chief, Capt. Lowen Gil Marquez only added insult to injury. Instead of simply denying the Army’s involvement, Marquez maligned the two victims by branding them as financial opportunists that led their “comrades” to arrest them.

Even if all the prayers we raised in the petition for the writ of Amparo were granted, that victory is still an empty one so long as Posa-Dominado and Arado remain missing.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her minions like former National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales who whipped up impunity and political repression almost overtaking the Marcos dictatorship, already stepped down from Malacañang. But they still remain unrepentant for their high crimes against humanity.

Posa-Dominado and Arado are part of the statistics of over 200 disappeared and over 1,000 murdered political activists in the Macapagal-Arroyo regime.*

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Boy Scout Roy B. Babas, in memoriam

Image
By Pet Melliza/The Beekeeper Iloilo Gov.  Arthur D. Defensor (center in light shirt) and Estancia Mayor Rene Cordero (beside the governor) unveil the monument of Scout Roy.  By now, he could have been 53 and, if he married at 20, he would have grandchildren. However, Roy B. Babas, gave up his life at a tender age because of a freak accident 41 years ago, January 24, 1971. He was 12 years old and a grade five pupil. Babas, orphaned of both parents and cared for by his paternal  lolo   eked out a living on weekends and holidays as cargador , carrying luggage of passengers of vessels docking on the wharf of Estancia, Iloilo. Bionat: When I broached the idea to the governor of erecting a monument in honor of Scout Roy, he nodded at once. Scout Roy was his buddy in the Boy Scout. He promised silently beside the latter's bier that he will work it out to have a monument built for him. Defensor: Bravery and helpfullness are among the virtues of Boy Scout
Read more

Kalampay getting scarce and costly

Image
Today a kilo of kalampay fetches P80 to P140, at par with other fishes. This freshwater crab was almost free before. Photo above shows a freshly broiled crab. Kalampay" for sale was almost unheard of 40 years ago. The freshwater crab teemed in Iloilo rivers and people caught it for free. Today, it fetches the minimum P80 per kilo. Surprisingly, Iloilo River, dubbed the country's biggest septic tank after Pasig River, is still home to crabs and shrimps that Ilonggos consume. Mention the word today to the young generation and they would stare at you bewildered. "Kalampay? Ano ra man? (Kalampay? What's that.)" They more they would stare at you blankly if you asked them what "katang" and "baringay" are. The usage of term is getting scarcer like the fate of kalampay. "Katang" is a juvenile kalampay, the size a half thumb while "baringay" are botton size ones that migrate inland from the sea where they are spawned. 
Read more

Broad daylight robbery by Treñas and caboodle

    Mayor Jerry Treñas and his caboodle in the mass disinformation industry are yelping accolades and jumping in glee at nothing but how good, bright and promising the fates of the Iloilo Terminal Market and Iloilo Central Market would be under his watch. Better still, miswatch.      "Public-Private Partnership" kuno; "renovation" kuno, "progress" pa gid, lapdogs in the  mainstream mass disinformation industry oogle.      What they're deliberately hiding is the obvious, that the deal is nothing but a "lease contract", a heavily lopsided one, that hands over for a song two prime real estate properties of Iloilo City taxpayers to SM Holdings, owner of the most number and biggest of malls in the Philippines.      It's neither PPP nor renovation but a broad daylight robbery where Treñas surrenders to SM the ownership of the "Central" and "Super" to SM for 50 years, renewable thereafter at SM's caprice.      By merely c
Read more