Intel officer denies involvement in abduction of activists
A ranking intelligence officer has denied any involvement in last year's abduction of two activists.
Lt. Col. Mariano Antonio Perez, former head of the Military Intelligence Group 6, said Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado and Nilo Arado "were neither abducted nor detained by any personnel of the MIG 6."
Perez also denied any personal knowledge of the incident.
The intelligence officer issued the denial in a four-page return to writ submitted on Wednesday to the Iloilo Regional Trial Court Branch 33.
Perez is among 10 respondents, including President Macapagal-Arroyo, to a petition for a writ of amparo filed by the victims' families.
Also named respondents were National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Maj. Gen. Jovenal Narcise, commander of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, Maj. Jose Gany Galanza of the of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), Capt. Lowen Gil Marquez, chief of the AFP's 32nd Civil Relation Unit, Chief Supt. Wilfredo Dulay Sr., then Western Visayas police director, Insp. Vicente Castor Jr., and Insp. Alexander Rodrigo, police chief of Oton and Janiuay towns in Iloilo, respectively.
Heavily armed men forcibly took Dominado and Arado in Barangay Cabanbanan in Oton town in Iloilo on April 12, 2007 after the victims' vehicle was waylaid. Their companion, human rights worker Jose Ely Garachico, was shot and seriously wounded but was left behind.
Arado was the regional chair of the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan while Dominado was the spokesperson of the Samahan nga mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (Selda) in Panay when they were abducted.
The victims' families and colleagues have blamed the abduction on military agents but this has been repeatedly denied by military officials.
Perez said in his reply that his former unit did not conduct any operation on the day of the abduction of the activists. He said they also do not have a a Mitsubishi Delica van or any vehicle bearing plate number GPM-438.
The van with the plate number was allegedly used by the victims' abductors when the activists were taken.
Perez said he was reassigned to Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) headquarters on April 16 and to the MIG 8 based in Catbalogan Samar since October 22, 2007.
The victims' families and colleagues have raised suspicions on the timing of Perez's transfer coming four days after the abduction.
But the intelligence officer said he was already busy preparing for the turn-over of his office a week before his reassignment.
"It would be unrealistic for an outgoing commander like me to do unlawful act before leaving his post. Besides I am not the type of person resorting to any unlawful or illegal act," said Perez.
Like other respondents, Perez sought the dismissal of the petition saying that the petition lacks evidence.
The case has been brought to the attention of the Geneva-based Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Human rights advocates and Dominado's daughter May Wan who attended the 7th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council meet with the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) on March 12 to discuss the cases of abduction and killings of activists in the Philippines.