Army official offers reward money to help locate missing activists
Narcise
An Army official in the Visayas has offered to contribute P100,000 in reward money to help locate two abducted activists in Iloilo.
Maj. Gen. Jovenal Narcise, commander of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, said he wanted to prove to the family of Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado and Nilo Arado that they also want to help locate the two victims and belie allegations that his unit is involved in the abduction.
"If the families are willing, we can contribute a portion in the reward money for any information leading to the location (of the missing activists)," Narcise said in an interview.
Narcise said the reward money would be taken from funds of the 3ID. The 3ID covers the islands of Panay, Guimaras, Negros, Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor.
"We want to help the families and we want to show them that this (abduction) is not the way we fight the (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army)," said Narcise.
Unidentified armed men waylaid the vehicle of the victims and shot and wounded the driver, human rights worker Jose Ely Garachico before forcibly taking Dominado and Arado on April 12 in Barangay Cabanbanan in Oton town, Iloilo.
The victims' colleagues and families have accused the military of abducting Dominado, spokesperson in Panay of the Samahan nga mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (Selda) and Arado who was chair of the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Panay.
Reacting to the reward offer, Arado's wife Rosemarie said they would welcome any help from anyone in order to locate her husband and Dominado.
"But if the military is not really involved, why is there a need for a reward? They have all the means--personnel, logistics, network, expertise and budget--if they really want to locate the missing and put the perpetrators to justice," said Rosemarie.
She said their belief that units of the military were responsible for the abduction has been bolstered by the case of Jonas Burgos who was also abducted in Quezon City on April 28. The license plate of the vehicle used by his abductors was later traced to an impounded jeepney kept at the headquarters of the Army's 56th Infantry Batallion in Norzagaray, Bulacan.
Narcise is among the respondents of a pending petition for habeas corpus filed by the victims' families before the Iloilo Regional Trial Court Branch 34.
He said they were "hurt" by the accusations against them because they were immediately accused without any evidence.
"We have no knowledge or participation in the incident. We don't even know these people," said Narcise pointing out that he was assigned to his post only on March 15.
"I only run after the armed elements of the CPP and NPA. Without their firearms, they cannot threaten the people or fight the government. That's what I always tell my troops," he said.
He said they are willing to help put out posters and distribute flyers in other regions if the families of the victims will allow them.
But Dominado's daughter May Wan lamented how law enforcement agencies have failed to make headway in their investigation a month after her mother and Arado were abducted.
"How can we celebrate Mother's Day when we do not know if Nanay is still alive and if she will still come home to us?" she said on Saturday during a program held at the site where the abduction took place to mark the 30th month that the two have gone missing.
The victims' colleagues and families later erected a marker with pictures of Arado and Dominado and planted a mahogany tree at the site.
Rosemarie said her 6-year-old son Daniel Marshall has not stopped asking for his father.
"He asks about him every night and he always mentions his Papa in his nightly prayers. I don't know how I will tell him that his father might not come home ever again," said Rosemarie.