Lawyers of missing activists file 'habeas corpus' vs. military
The families and lawyers of two abducted leaders of militant groups on Panay have asked the courts to direct military officials to surface the missing activists.
In an eight-page petition for writ of habeas corpus filed before the Regional Trial Court in Iloilo City late Wednesday, the brother of Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado and the wife of Nilo Arado also asked the court to summon the military officials and to explain the cause of detention of the two activists and to release them to their families.
The petition, filed by Luis Posa and Rosemarie Arado named as respondents, Maj. Gen. Juvenile Narcise, commander of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division based in Jamindan town in Capiz, Col. Renato David, commander of the 301st Brigade based in Dingle town in Iloilo, and Col. Mariano Perez of the Military Intelligence Battalion, based in Camp Martin Delgado in Iloilo City.
In their petition, the families of the victims said Dominado and Arado were forcibly taken even if "there was no valid warrant of arrest issued against them nor have they committed criminal wrongdoing in the presence of the respondents nor attempting to commit a crime nor actually committed a crime."
They alleged in their petition that the two abducted activists were brought to military camps or military safe houses.
Lt. Col. David Tan, spokesperson of the 3ID, said they respect the rights of the families and the colleagues of the missing activists to go to courts.
"But this is witch-hunting. They could not even identify the alleged abductors of (Dominado and Arado) and yet they are pointing at us," Tan in a telephone interview said.
Tan challenged the families of the victims and the militant groups to "name names and we will arrest any of our men found to be involved in the incident."
Militant groups on Monday and yesterday visited military camps in search of Dominado and Arado but found no trace of the missing activists who were abducted by unidentified armed men in Oton town last Thursday night.
Their assailants shot and seriously wounded the victims' companion, Jose Ely Garachico of the human rights group Karapatan.
Arado is the chairperson of the militant Bagong Alysansan Makabayan in Panay and 7th nominee of the partylist group Anakpawis while Dominado is the spokesperson in Panay of Selda, the organization of former political detainees.
Investigators are eyeing the involvement of former communist rebels and the military in the attack.
Chief Supt. Wilfredo Dulay Sr., Western Visayas police director said, there is a "big possibility" that members of the breakaway Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) could be responsible for the shooting and wounding of Garachico and the abduction of Dominado and Arado.
Dulay said the attack could be in reprisal for last February's killing of RPA-ABB commander Jose Cabunagan in Tigbauan town, Iloilo. The killing was owned up by the New People's Army.
The RPA-ABB broke ties with the NPA in the early 1990s over ideological and political differences. It signed a peace pact with the government in December 2000.
Dulay said this theory has been boosted by the recovery of the victims' badly burned vehicle in a sugarcane field in Janiuay town where the RPA-ABB operates.
Demetrio Capilastique, RPA-ABB in Panay, denied responsibility in the incident, saying the victims were non-combatants.
Friends, colleagues and the families of Dominado and Arado will gather today to launch a movement to help locate the two missing activists.