A PUBLIC Attorney’s Office (PAO) lawyer had a closed-door consultation with two environmental activists Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro, who claimed they were abducted by military forces, said PAO chief Persida Acosta on Wednesday, September 20, 2023.
In a radio interview, Acosta said Tamano and Castro prepared a written affidavit stating how they surrendered to the 70th Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Doña Remedios Trinidad.
They were then assisted by a PAO lawyer for the verification of their written affidavits, which will be used for their endorsement to the Task Force Balik Loob of the government.
Acosta said the PAO lawyer assured them that their statements “came from their heart.”
“Nag one-on-one pa silang tatlo ‘yung PAO lawyer pina close niya ang conference room at sila lang nag-usap at initerview niyang mabuti ‘yung isa, si Tamano kasama tatay niya nung manumpa… May sulat kamay sila… paanong tatakutin ng PAO, inabutan lang sila, nagiging style bulok na ng ibang mga nag-aafidavit na pag gustong magrecant ay ituturo si PAO. Kawawa naman ‘yung mga PAO natin,” she said.
(The PAO lawyer had a one-on-one with the three of them. He closed the conference room and they talked only and he interviewed carefully the one, Tamano, with his father when he took the oath... They have handwriting... How can PAO intimidate, they were just handed over. It is becoming a rotten style of other affidavits that if they want to recant, they will point to PAO.)
“Tiniyak niya na ang laman nung hand written affidavit ay galing sa puso nila. Initerview sila, pinaulit niya ang mga sinasabi nila, kinukwento nung mga bata kaya ang pakiramdam namin itong mga bata na ito ay may kinakatakutan na baka may gumanti sa kanila kaya ganyan nag-recant,” she added.
(He assured that the contents of the hand written affidavit came from their hearts. He interviewed them, he repeated what they were saying. The children were telling stories, so we feel that these children are afraid that someone might retaliate against them, so they recanted.)
In a press conference organized by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) in Bulacan on Tuesday, September 19, Castro and Tamano retracted their affidavits, saying they were abducted by military forces on the evening of September 2.
They said they were under threat as they were forced to issue an affidavit that they surrendered to the government.
In a statement, the NTF-Elcac stood firm on the merits of the police investigation surrounding the voluntary surrender of the two “community organizers.”
The NTF-Elcac also stressed that it will “remain steadfast in ensuring the safety of the two and committed to upholding their rights as individuals under any circumstances.”
“Kailangan nating tulungan ang dalawang nagbabalik-loob na mga ito. Kaya nandito ang lahat ng line agency para maging maayos ang lahat. (We need to help these two converts. So all the line agencies are here to make everything go smoothly.) We will really provide the right assistance to these victims of terrorism,” Director Alex Umpar of the NTF-Elcac Secretariat said. (SunStar Philippines)