Dear Friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that the trial of two men whom police tortured and forced to confess to charges of murder seven years ago is dragging on. They were charged for allegedly bombing a public market on December 12, 2004; however, their allegations of being falsely charged and tortured were never investigated.
CASE DETAILS: (Based on interviews with families of torture victims and the Moro Women’s Center (MWC))
Case 1: “Disappeared torture victim found taken to court”
Photo: Identification card of Hamsa Pedro
On 18 June 2005 at 4pm, Hamsa Pedro, a 42-year-old market labourer, was abducted by armed men wearing balaclavas and civilian clothes. He was taken in a white van with no licence plate. He disappeared for 15 days. While in custody of his abductors, whom they later came to know as police officers, he was hit in different parts of his body. He was submerged into a drum filled with water and beaten with a gun.
Because Hamsa’s family had no idea about his whereabouts, his wife, Fatima, looked for him in different police stations in General Santos City. She found him only after a man told her that he saw her husband taken to a court. Fatima then inquired from the court and spoke to one of the Judges. Here, she learned that her husband was being prosecuted for bombing of the public market on December 12, 2004 in General Santos City.
Fatima said she neither had any idea of the reason why the police arrested her husband nor the nature of charges on him. Since his arrest and detention, Fatima had to support and earn a living for their eight children on her own.
Case 2: “Police chief denied victim was in their custody”
Photo: Alex Salipada
After Hamsa’s abduction on 20 June 2005 at 5pm, another man Alex Salipada, an Imam working as labourer at the General Santos City Fish Port, was abducted. He was taken by force from his home in Barangay (village) Fatima, General Santos City in front of his three frightened daughters. Several men wearing plain clothes took him to a white pick-up truck without a plate number. The abductors did not show him any warrant of arrest. They blindfolded him, tied his hands and gagged his mouth with a wet face towel. He was pushed into the corner of a pick-up.
Alex was brought to a place where he was tortured. Here, he vomited blood after they repeatedly hit his stomach and different parts of his body. They gagged his mouth with a wet face towel and they submerged him upside down into a drum filled with water. They dipped his head even deeper into the water wherever he struggled. He lost consciousness for an hour after they repeatedly subjected him to this torture. He was tortured in the same manner for consecutive days to force a confession from him for the bomb blast. Because he feared for his life, Alex gave in.
Alex’s wife, Hadji Noria Salipada, remembered seeing her children crying after she arrived home shortly after her husband was abducted. One of her neighbours who witnessed the abduction told her he saw a white pick-up truck, with no licence plate, used in abducting her husband. She immediately went to a police station to ask for their help, and to inquire if they noticed a white van, but the police said they did not notice anything. For nine days, Noria looked for her husband at different detention centres.
Later a policeman told Noria that she should speak to Senior Superintendent (Sr./Supt.) Alfredo Toroctocon, former director of the General Santos City Police Office, and visit him at the headquarters of the General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO). Here, she asked Sr./Supt. Toroctocon about the whereabouts of her husband. At first, Sr./Supt. Toroctocon told her to report the incident to the police even though he knew full well that her husband was at the time was already in their custody. After Noria kept on returning at the police headquarter and pleaded with Toroctocon to allow her to see he husband, it was the only time was she was allowed to see him.
When they first met, Alex could not tell his wife about what happened to him. He hesitated in telling because he was threatened that if he told his wife anything they would kill her. When Noria visited Alex at the police station, she could still see blood clotting on Alex’s feet and hands, bruises on his cheek and different parts of his body, and his chest and ribcage swollen.
Both Hamsa Pedro and Alex Salipada are presently detained at the General Santos City Jail, for murder charges in connection with the bomb blast in a public market in the city on December 12, 2004.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the concerned authorities listed below expressing your concern about these two cases.
The AHRC has also written a separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment his immediate intervention.
To support this appeal, please click here:
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear __________,
PHILIPPINES: Trial of two men tortured and falsely charged seven years ago drags on
Case 1:
Name of victim: Hamsa Pedro, 42 years old, market labourer
Alleged Perpetrators: Policemen attached to the General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO) and armed men wearing balaclavas and civilian clothes
Date of incident: 18 June 2005, at 4pm
Place of incident: Public Market near Silang Bakery in General Santos City
Condition of the victim: He is presently detained at the General Santos City Jail, General Santos City
Case 2
Name of victim: Alex Salipada, an Imam and a labourer in fishport
Alleged Perpetrators: Policemen attached to the General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO) and armed men wearing balaclavas and civilian clothes
Date of incident: 20 June 2005, at 5pm
Place of incident: At the victim's home in Barangay (village) Fatima, General Santos City
Condition of the victim: He is presently detained at the General Santos City Jail, General Santos City
I am writing to draw your attention to the case of two torture victims, Hamsa Pedro and Alex Salipada, whose trial of their case has dragged on seven years already after they were illegally arrested, detained, tortured and charged with murder in June 2005. Also, for seven years the victims' allegations of torture were never adequately investigated.
Hamsa Pedro, a 42-year-old market labourer, was first abducted at 4pm on 18 June 2005 by armed men wearing balaclavas and in civilian clothes, but is known to be policemen attached to the General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO). They took Hamsa in a white van without a license plate. After his abduction, Hamsa disappeared for 15 days and his family could not locate him. He was found only after a person told his wife that he saw him taken to court and his wife spoke to a court judge. He was in police custody.
While in custody, Hamsa was hit in different parts of his body. They submerged him in a drum filled with water. He was beaten with a gun.
Two days later, Alex was also abducted from his home on 20 June 2005 at 5pm. Alex was with his three daughters in his home when he was abducted by armed men, also wearing civilian clothes and in a white pick-up truck. When he was arrested, he was blindfolded, his hands were tied and his mouth gagged with wet face towel. He was also submerged upside down in a drum filled with water, and every time he struggled they dipped his head deeper into the water even more.
Alex vomited blood and lost consciousness after being subjected to this method of torture. Because Alex feared for the life of his wife, he confessed to allegations that he was responsible for the December 12, 2004 bombing incident at the public market in General Santos City. He feared that the police would kill his wife because they threatened him that if he would tell her of his order, they would kill her.
Also, the police had deliberately deceived the victim's family from locating him. Sr. Supt. Alfredo Toroctocon, the former city police director, denied to the victim's wife the he was in their custody when she came to the police headquarters looking for him. Thus, they denied the victim of any assistance when he needed it the most.
I therefore urged you to have the victims' allegations of torture investigated thoroughly. It is disappointing that these two men, both coming from poor family, had to endure the trial of charges with evidence taken by way of force confession and torture. I urge that you immediately intervene in this case.
I trust that you will take prompt action on these cases.
Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Mr. Benigno Aquino III
President
Republic of the Philippines
Malacanang Palace
JP Laurel Street, San Miguel
Manila 1005
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 736 1010
Tel: +63 2 735 6201 / 564 1451 to 80
2. Ms. Loretta Ann Rosales
Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Bldg., Commonwealth Avenue
U.P. Complex, Diliman
Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 929 0102
Tel: +63 2 928 5655 / 926 6188
E-mail: chair.rosales.chr@gmail.com
3. Director General Nicanor Bartolome
Chief, Philippine National Police (PNP)
Camp General Rafael Crame
Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2724 8763
Tel: +63 2 726 4361/4366/8763
E-mail: ruth_cossid@yahoo.com
4. Ms. Leila de Lima
Secretary
Department of Justice (DOJ)
DOJ Bldg., Padre Faura
1004 Manila
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 521 1614
E-mail: soj@doj.gov.ph
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (ua@ahrc.asia)
