Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Vol. IV, No. 34 September 26 - October 2, 2004 Quezon City, Philippines |
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ‘My
brother is not a criminal’ His
military captors call him a “criminal.” But even inside prison, the
person who is said to be a prized catch for being the alleged top leader
of the New People’s Army (NPA) tries to continue his life-long devotion
that a real criminal won’t dare do: serving others. BY
DENNIS ESPADA
On
weekends, he conducts training to future members of the jail health team
that he will help form soon. "In
case I don't come out of this (imprisonment) alive, I make it a point that
I always serve the people to the best of my abilities," he says. “Eddik” Who
is Eduardo Serrano? Mindoro
military authorities say “Eddik” is Rogelio Villanueva or Ka (short
for comrade) Makling, the Mindoro Island’s top NPA cadre. Arrested by
military intelligence agents in broad daylight last May 2 at a bus
terminal in Lipa City, Batangas, Serrano was charged with multiple murder,
kidnap-for-ransom and other common crimes. Serrano,
now 51, is an agriculturist by profession. Growing up in Naga City,
Camarines Sur province, he went to the National University in Manila and
later to the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB), Laguna as
a young scholar. The
First Quarter Storm of 1970 saw Serrano as an active militant student
leader of UPLB, where he was vice-chair of Kabataang Makabayan's (KM or
Patriotic Youth) local chapter and chair of the UP Sarong Banggi, a Bicol
fraternal club. Along
with thousands of fellow activists, he went underground shortly after
Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972, helping organize peasants
in his home province. The following year, he returned to UPLB to resume
his studies and organizing work in the campus amidst a hostile atmosphere. After
finishing a degree in BS Agriculture, Serrano worked as a researcher at
the Agricultural Credit Cooperative Institute (ACCI) in Los Baños and
farm manager of the Dairy Training and Research Institute (DTRI) in
Calauan, Laguna. Later, he obtained a scholarship program that sent him to
Copenhagen, Denmark from 1978 to 1979 for post-graduate studies in animal
science. By then, he was already bound for a promising career. Political
repression He
took a different path, instead. His father, who was in government, became
a victim of Marcos’ political repression. In 1981, Eddik himself decided
to quit government service. He went to the countryside to become a
fulltime cadre of the revolutionary movement for 23 years, undertaking
efforts to empower the workers, peasants and Mangyan tribal communities. In
a statement last May, the communist-led National Democratic Front of the
Philippines (NDFP) said that Serrano was abducted by military agents
following his participation in consultations conducted by the NDFP's peace
negotiating panel in connection with the implementation of the
Comprehensive Agreement for Respect on Human Rights and International
Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). Message
from prison In
a forum held last Sept. 11 at the Community Education Center's conference
hall in UPLB attended by alumni and professionals, Serrano’s personal
account of his arrest and prison ordeal was read. "Today,”
his statement entitled ‘Message to Free All Political Prisoners’ said,
“I have passed the fourth month in captivity. I was pinned down by large
'animals,' hogtied with masking tape and hauled to a lion's den in the
headquarters of IG-ISU (Intelligence Group-Intelligence Service Unit) in
Fort Bonifacio by noontime of May 2. Due to the commotion created by my
abduction in Lipa City, the military was forced to present us to the media
the following day as their 'prized catch.' But unfortunately for me, I was
held incommunicado for the next ten days wherein the military and police
interrogators vainly tried to extract tactical information before they
were obliged by the court to turn me in. All throughout the trips which
brought me to different camps, I'd been blindfolded, handcuffed and
intimidated to make me run for my life. "Though
blindfolded, I managed to talk with my captors directly. They sensed that
I never fear danger on my life or limb. They also knew that if something
evil happened to me, someone would surely answer for such
irresponsibility. I protested every infraction on my basic human rights. I
was alone and always at their mercy during these grueling days... "They
concocted various 'intelligence' data to make it appear that I will be
rescued by the New People's Army (NPA) 'dead or alive' and maybe 'rain or
shine.' When this flopped, the commander himself told me, as if to
sympathize, that the NPAs were out to liquidate me totally. Thus I
violently retorted: 'isang malaking kalokohan iyan!’ (that's a
big lie). I told him that the NPA is a principled and disciplined
organization. This infuriated him and he never came back although other
officers took turns in confronting me using the soft and hard touches
alternately. This happened during my first two months in detention. But
the constant threat to my life always hang in the air. There are friends
around here who have observed unnecessary troop movements and overheard
conversations pertaining to the eventual physical elimination of myself. "Just
recently, a battalion commander with six of his men all in civilian attire
brought a lady ‘rebel returnee’ to confront me about the death of her
brother way back in May 2002. The officer blatantly told me that if the
lady ‘rebel returnee’ had a gun, she could have shot me right away due
to the hatred in her. That's why I protested this incident to the
provincial warden and some security measures were instituted to prevent
such occurrence. Yes, elements of the 204th Brigade have the upper hand
here. There is a defacto Martial Law in Mindoro island through the rule of
the military. So many killings, atrocities and intimidations by them on
the civilian populace remain unsolved to date." After
four months in detention at the Mindoro Oriental Provincial Jail (OMPJ) in
Calapan City, Serrano manages to fight his physical predicament and
melancholy through daily exercise and reading newspapers, magazines and
books. Calls
for release Meanwhile,
human rights groups are clamoring for Serrano's release, saying his
continued detention is a proof of unabated political repression and rising
tyrannical rule in the country. "My
brother is not a criminal," Malou Serrano, Ed's sister said.
"His fervent wish is that he wouldn't stay longer in prison. I hope
that he would be released with your help." Marie
Hilao-Enriquez, secretary-general of the Alliance for the Advancement of
People's Rights (Karapatan), said "The government should not arrest
anybody for his/her political beliefs. Political persecution should not
happen in a country that is supposedly democratic." Rep.
Joel Virador of Bayan Muna Partylist has asked the Macapagal-Arroyo
government to consider Serrano a political case. He explained that his
arrest was illegal because the arresting authorities violated Serrano's
rights as a person accused of crimes guaranteed under the Philippine
Constitution's Bill of Rights as well as the Hernandez Doctrine on
rebellion crimes. "I
think the government should carry out the release as a goodwill measure
for the resumption of the peace talks," Virador said. Last July 17, Karapatan and the Samahan ng mga Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (Selda), an organization of former political prisoners, launched a campaign to work for humane treatment of political detainees, now numbering 274 nationwide, and stop the criminalization of politically-motivated offenses. Bulatlat We want to know what you think of this article.
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