Inquirer
First Posted 00:53:00 07/09/2006
Filed Under: Civil unrest, Armed conflict
First Posted 00:53:00 07/09/2006
Filed Under: Civil unrest, Armed conflict
Published on page A13 of the July 9,
2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO’Lorena Lipio,
14, made one wish on Saturday. She wanted to see her father, Emerito, alive.
‘Ilitaw na sana ng militar at pulis
ang tatay ko (I hope the military and the police would show my father),’ the
girl said, sobbing as she talked to the Inquirer by phone from their house in
San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan.
Lorena said she has not seen him for
almost a week since soldiers and policemen seized him on July 3 in Angeles City
with five other transport sector organizers and a house owner.
Mercedita, Emerito’s wife, said
Lorena has been crying every night since then. Lorena is their only child.
What they last know of what happened
to Emerito, 41, was based on the accounts of William Aguilar, a staff member of
the Workers Alliance of Region III and one of those arrested in a house in
Barangay Malabanias.
‘William said he and Emerito were
put in one van together on Monday night. They were taken to a house but kept in
separate rooms. He said he heard my husband crying in pain and begging for
mercy,’ Mercedita, 45, said.
Aguilar and Archie de Jesus, the
house owner, were freed without charges on July 4 and 5, respectively,
according to Sr. Cecile Ruiz, Central Luzon chair of the human rights advocate
Karapatan.
Jose Ramos, Jose Bernardino,
Fernando Poblacion Jr. and Jay Francis Aquino, all organizers of the transport
group Piston’were charged with illegal possession of explosives and were out on
bail.
Except for De Jesus, all six men are
leaders of Piston’s regional council.
‘They were illegally arrested,
tortured and jailed,’ said Ruiz, referring to the actions of the members of the
Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion, 69th IB and the Angeles City police.
Ruiz said the commanders of those
units and their top official, Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, chief of the 7th
Infantry Division, were ‘answerable for the violation of human rights committed
against the seven victims.’
Mercedita said she saw no reason why
the military and the police would hold her husband longer.
‘We’re afraid for his safety. We’re
worried. We want to see him now,’ she said.
Military sources said Palparan has
taken custody of Emerito. Tonette Orejas, PDI Central Luzon Desk
