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Sunday, July 23, 2006
Military denies abducting 2 university students, farmer
NEW Army Chief Romeo Tolentino on Saturday said the two University of the Philippines (UP) students and a farmer supposedly abducted by government soldiers in Bulacan recently are not in the custody of the military.
Tolentino’s statement was in response to an order of the Supreme Court (SC) for the military to produce the three victims on Monday. The SC granted the petition for habeas corpus filed by the family of the students.
"We don't know anything about that. How could I produce somebody who is not with me?" Tolentino said at the Army headquarters in Fort Boifacio, shortly after took over the top Army post vice Lieutenant General Hermogenes Esperon who assumed as Armed Forces chief on Friday.
On Wednesday, the high tribunal ordered Tolentino, the former Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) chief; Major General Jovito Palparan, chief of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division (ID), and several other military commanders to bring to the court the students, Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño, and farmer Manuel Marito.
The alleged kidnap victims' families and militant groups have blamed the military for their kin's disappearance in Hagonoy town last June 26. They claimed the students and are being detained either in Zambales or Nueva Ecija.
Palparan, whose area of responsibility includes the entire Central Luzon region, has been hounded with allegations of murdering human rights activists and other human rights violations in the region and in other areas he was previously assigned. (VR/Sunnex)
(July 23, 2006 issue)
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