Jhed Tamano and Jonila Castro caught their handlers by surprise in a press conference organized by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) last week, when they contradicted the military’s story of their surrender in the presence of Lt. Col. Ronnel dela Cruz, commander of the 70th Infantry Battalion (IB), NTF-Elcac Director Alexander Umpar, and its spokesperson Joel Egco who moderated the press event.
“The truth is, the military forced us into a van. We were forced to say we surrendered because our lives were being threatened,” said Castro. “It is also not true that we wanted to be in military custody. The contents of the affidavits are not true because those were done and signed while we were in the military camp. We had no choice at that point.”
Castro added: “We were blindfolded. Our arms were tied. We and our families were threatened. We were interrogated. I deny what we have signed in that affidavit. They are the ones who made up the stories in that affidavit.’’ In fact, they had lost their slippers in the struggle, the activists said, confirming an earlier statement by a witness that a pair of slippers and a sandal were found in the area where the abduction took place.
While the humiliated state parties have threatened to slap perjury charges on the two activists, the public can’t be blamed for putting more weight on the women’s straightforward story. If they were indeed detained for several days inside a military camp without any members of their family or their own lawyers to help them, could they really refuse to sign the affidavits prepared by the government?
Even the alleged presence of lawyers from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) does not guarantee that their legal rights were upheld. Recall that in the case of former senator Leila de Lima, PAO lawyers Demiteer Huerta and Rigel Salvador prepared the affidavit signed by prosecution witness and Bureau of Corrections OIC Rafael Ragos that linked De Lima to drug deals in prison. Ragos later recanted and disowned the affidavit, citing coercion from then Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.
The lack of transparency and detailed timeline of the alleged surrender also cast more doubt on the military-NTF-Elcac’s account. While there were witnesses to the abduction and despite reports that CCTV footage showed the faces of the abductors, there was no progress in locating these men. Besides, why would the two activists travel all the way from Bataan to Bulacan to surrender to authorities?
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR), which immediately denounced the reported abduction and announced its own investigation, said it had searched 15 military camps and police detention facilities in Bataan, Pampanga, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, and Zambales since the Sept. 2 incident, to no avail. If the two women had surrendered to the 70th IB on Sept. 12, why did it take the military a full week to present them in that ill-fated press conference? What happened during their detention in military custody?
And since the women were practically incommunicado for at least a week, how could they have contacted the communist movement to sabotage the government’s carefully staged press briefing? Hard to believe that the military, police, and the NTF-Elcac—which have massive resources at their disposal—simply fell prey to an “elaborate hoax” by the two community organizers opposing reclamation activities in Manila Bay’s coastal areas.
In the face of these dubious circumstances, it is easier to see that the two activists were just courageous enough to seize the opportunity to tell the truth. It is with the same courage and determination to ferret out the truth that the CHR must pursue its investigation of this case because of the grave implications if the activists are proven correct. The military, aided by the NTF-Elcac notorious for Red-tagging any individual with a cause or advocacy, stands accused of grave crimes—abduction, illegal detention, coercion—all things contrary to its sworn duty of protecting the people and the state, and the fundamental rights of citizens in a democracy.
The military’s long record of being involved in or suspected of being behind previous cases of disappearance of activists also make this latest case even more concerning. Castro and Tamano may have been freed and reunited with their families, but that does not absolve their abductors. It is now up to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Department of National Defense to allow a thorough investigation, even if this results in more bruised egos and red faces among its ranks.