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Monday, December 08, 2003
Arroyo urged to free 308 political prisoners
By Harley F. Palangchao
BAGUIO -- A human rights group based in this City has urged President Arroyo to release 308 political prisoners now languishing in various detention cells nationwide for "crimes they did not commit."
The Dinteg-Cordillera Human Rights Organization said Arroyo earlier assured 22 of the 308 prisoners they would be released soon.
Arroyo's promise has yet to be realized, as the prisoners are reportedly still waiting for the implementation of a release directive from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Records released by Karapatan, a human rights advocate group based in Manila, revealed that majority of the 308 political prisoners were arrested on mere suspicion that they were members of the New People's Army (NPA).
"(The) political arrest and detention also resulted in the sufferings of innocent lives who, if they continue to be detained, will view their detention as part of a normal reality," the Karapatan statement read.
Of the 308 political prisoners, 13 are women and 18 are children.
Among the 13 women detainees are three nursing mothers who all gave birth while in jail and had since then been detained along with their children.
Among the political prisoners are the more popularly known "Mamburao 6" or the six peasants from Mindoro Occidental who, the group said, were unjustly arrested in 1997 after they were implicated in the murder of Michael and Paul Quintos on Dec. 13, 1997.
The Quintos brothers came from a prominent clan in the area.
"The peasants are the ones charged in court, despite the admission of NPA guerillas that they were the ones who punished the Quintos brothers. The Mamburao 6 have been waiting for their release on recognizance order to be implemented but the local court where their case is being heard, presided over by Judge Teresita dela Torre-Yadao, trashed the DOJ directive, saying her sala does not recognize the order. Until now, these peasants are detained at the Quezon City Jail," the statement added.
Dinteg-CHRO and Karapatan also mentioned Donato Continente, who was allegedly unjustly arrested in 1989, wrongfully implicated and then convicted for the assassination of Jusmag adviser Col. James Rowe, is still at the New Bilibid Prisons serving sentence despite repeated release recommendations from the DOJ.
The US State Department is directly intervening not to have him released, Karapatan claimed.
Added the human rights advocate groups: "The President must refrain from using the political prisoners as hostage in her so-called peace negotiations with the CPP-NPA-NDFP."
In wake of the continuous persecution of individuals identified with the left, the groups said "nothing can silence nor stop the political prisoners from pursuing their goal of working towards the realization of a just society."
(December 8, 2003 issue)
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