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Cagayan advocates free 2 political prisoners

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan (Dec. 15) — Two political detainees who have been languishing in jail were finally freed while 10 others received a holiday treat from December 5 to 8 when more than 40 church workers, professionals, students and lawyers and their respective friends and families hopped from one prison to another in what they dubbed as Paskuhan sa Kulungan.

The activity was a part of the ten-day commemoration of the International Human Rights Day in Cagayan Valley that started on December 1.

Freed on a P59 thousand bail were Felix Pagulayan and Joseph delos Santos.

Still left behind bars are 5 in the district jail in Appari, Cagayan; 3 in Isabela Provincial Jail; 1 at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Tuguegarao City; and 1 at the Cagayan Provincial Jail.

Karapatan-CV coordinator Grace Bautista said that the political detainees left in jail are facing criminal charges of murder and illegal possession of firearms because of the state policy at criminalizing the cases filed against political prisoners.

Meanwhile, Save the Valley, Serve the People (SAVE-CV), an alliance of environmental activists started the commemoration with a forum on the environment and human rights at the Eveland Christian College in San Mateo, Isabela on December 2.

Karapatan-CV held a forum on the current political and human right situation of the region on December 3.

A photo exhibit was also mounted at the St. Ferdinand College in Ilagan, Isabela.

On December 10, the youth sector headed by Anakbayan staged a march-rally in Tuguegarao City.

In a report, Karapatan-CV revealed that since January 2001 more than 1,500 cases of human rights violations have been documented. These cases involved more than 20,000 individual victims of intimidation, illegal searches, arbitrary arrests, torture, forced disappearances, manslaughter and destruction of properties.

“Majority of the victims are peasants. Some are leaders of cause-oriented groups and alliances critical of the government,” Reginald Uggadan, Bayan-CV said.

Perpetrators are either from the military or the Philippine National Police, Karapatan-CV’s Bautista reported.

The groups in the forum hold Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo accountable for the HRV’s in Cagayan Region. Fr. Emery Cadiz, Karapatan-CV chairperson lambasted GMA for her ineptness in putting an end to the widespread HRVs

“We have not seen her lift a finger and instead, she gives us enough reason to believe that she allows these crimes and violations to happen,” Cadiz said. . # Michael Agonoy for NORDIS

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