Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA)

Rights group SELDA (Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto), with relatives and friends of political prisoners, held a caravan today from the Quezon City Memorial Circle to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City in an urgent call to free elderly and ailing political prisoners on humanitarian grounds.

“They shouldn’t be in jail in the first place, but they are jailed on trumped up charges. They suffered from torture and other violations of their rights as prisoners. They are denied freedom, and some die of sickness in the long course of their detention. The ailing and the elderly should be released soon while they are still alive,” said Jigs Clamor, SELDA national coordinator.

According to SELDA, political prisoners, like ordinary inmates, suffer from subhuman prison conditions. “They are cramped in congested cells. They receive poor and inadequate health services. Their prolonged detention makes them vulnerable to more serious health conditions,” said Clamor.

Clamor cited the case of Alison Alcantara, who went into a coma on September 4 at the New Bilibid Prisons after suffering from complications to diabetes. “But he was transferred to the Philippine General Hospital only after three days,” said Clamor, “his life could have been saved if there was sufficient medical care right from the beginning.” Alcantara died on September 18.

As of August 2013, there are 449 political prisoners detained in various detention centers all over the country, 48 of them are ailing while 28 are elderly (60 years old and above)

“The low quality and insufficient medical care that the government provides endangers the lives of political prisoners. The P50 a day food budget is very little. Their condition is no different from the lives of people outside prison. Jails and detention centers are barely habitable, unsafe and hazardous to the health and general well-being of prisoners,” Clamor explained.

From Quezon City Memorial Circle, the caravan stopped at the gates of Camp Crame, where four political prisoners, namely Renante Gamara, Eduardo Serrano, Eduardo Sarmiento and Ramon Argente are detained.

Gamara, Serrano, and Sarmiento are peace consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines who are covered by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity guarantees of the GPH and the NDFP. Meanwhile, Ramon Argente, a peasant organizer from Bicol, was recently transferred at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame after undergoing triple by-pass surgery. He was previously detained at the Camarines Norte Provincial Jail.

“Even if his surgery is successful, he will recover better outside prison. Why endanger his life again after surviving this ordeal? The least the government can do with his condition is to free him,” Clamor said.

Alongside the caravan, artists and church workers visited the four political prisoners at Camp Crame as part of the “KA-KAUSA” solidarity visits to political prisoners in the Philippines. The group is composed of writers and visual artists, including cultural worker and former political prisoner Ericson Acosta. Poetry and songs were shared in a brief cultural program. The visitors also brought donated art materials for the political prisoners.

The caravan proceeded to the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), to call for the resumption of the peace talks between the NDFP and the GPH. According to SELDA, the continued detention of NDF peace consultants and other political prisoners is a hindrance to the resumption to the talks.

The caravan’s last stop was at Camp Bagong Diwa (CBD), where the majority of political prisoners are detained, both at the Metro Manila District Jail-Main, Special Intensive Care Area-Metro Manila District Jail (SICA-MMDJ) and the Taguig City Jail- Female Dorm.  A brief program was held at the gates of the CBD where political prisoners released a statement of solidarity in the call to immediately release the elderly and those who are sick among them.

Reference:
Jigs Clamor
SELDA national coordinator
+63917-5965859

The Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) is an organization of former political prisoners in the Philippines. Founded on December 4, 1984, SELDA was initiated by newly-released political prisoners of the martial law period.  SELDA’s primary task is to work for the release of all political prisoners and to see to it that humane treatment of those who are still in detention are complied with by the Philippine authorities.  SELDA advocates justice for current and former political prisoners.  It calls for the mobilisation of resources in support of political prisoners, former detainees and their families.  It carries out legislative advocacy for the indemnification and rehabilitation of political prisoners. SELDA goes into partnership and builds solidarity with concerned individuals and groups for the freedom and welfare of political prisoners and all victims of tyranny.

KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights)

“All along, the whitewashing of the massacre of anti-mining activist JuvyCapion and her two sons is the intent of the Armed Forces of the Philippines as they compromised the physical evidence and crime scene, and desecrated the remains of the victims to justify the massacre and the continuing military operations against the indigenous people’s defending their ancestral lands.”

Karapatan, through its secretary general Cristina Palabay issued the statement after the Office of the Provincial Prosecution in Digos City, Davao del Sur, in a resolution, found no probable cause against the soldiers led by Lt. Col. Alexis Bravo, Lt. Dante Jimenez and 14 other members of the 27^th Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army for the murder of Capion and her sons.

Karapatan said that the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor disregarded the statements of several witnesses who were at the site of the massacre shortly after it happened, which are vital testimonies to establish the liability of the AFP troops.

“One of the witnesses even heard the soldiers talk about ‘finishing off’ a child who survived the massacre so no witness remains. Witnesses attested how the military cordoned off the area, having sole control over the crime scene and the lifeless bodies,” Palabay said.

Karapatan said the resolution came as “no surprise as the BS Aquino government has been consistent in exonerating perpetrators of human rights violations.”

“Impunity reigns. The BS Aquino regime has gone berserk in its attacks against the lives and livelihood of the people, in favour of murderers and plunderers. The Capion massacre showed the extent of protection the government grants plunderers like the SMI-XStrata Corporation, a large-scale mining company. The subsequent dismissal of the case against the perpetrators from the Armed Forces illustrates how lopsidedour justice system is in favour of those in power,” she added.

“This is not the first, and definitely not the last. Cases of extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrest, illegal detention and torture continue to increase as the BS Aquino government dash to the finish line of OplanBayanihan’s Phase 1 by year end,” Palabay said.

Earlier Karapatan opposed the dropping of charges against Brig. Gen. Eduardo Año, Lt. Col. Melquiades Feliciano, Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano and Dir. Gen. Avelino Razon Jr. who were charged with arbitrary detention, murder and obstruction of justice on the enforced disappearance of Jonas Burgos. In September, Brig. Gen. Eduardo Año was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments to assume the post as Intelligence chief.

“Similarly, perpetrators who were already charged in court like Gen. Jovito Palparan and the Reyes brothers remain free and unpunished. BS Aquino has no qualms about being repressive and corrupt.  And, he does it with his haciendero-style of arrogance, unmindful of the growing people’s resistance against his regime. But, history has shown us where his kind ends up,” concluded Palabay.
Reference:
Cristina “Tinay” Palabay
Secretary General
+63917-3162831

Angge Santos
Media Liaison
+63918-9790580

———————————————————————
PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publicinfo@karapatan.org
———————————————————————

Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights

2nd Flr. Erythrina Bldg., #1 Maaralin corner Matatag Sts., Central District

Diliman, Quezon City, PHILIPPINES 1101

Telefax: (+63 2) 4354146

Web: http://www.karapatan.org

KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties.  It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign. 

Remembering the life and martyrdom of Fr. Fausto ‘Pops’ Tentorio, PIME