PHILIPPINES: Arbitrary arrest and detention of a couple in military custody

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that a couple has been held by the military after having been forcibly taken by men who were later identified as members of the security forces. The couple was with another woman in front of a convenient store in Bacoor, Cavite on 20 March 2008 when they were forcibly dragged to a vehicle and taken to a police headquarters. Only the woman was released shortly after because she was not in their “list”. The police deliberately withheld information from their relatives when they inquired after their whereabouts. The couple’s detention in military custody was discovered only three days later when it was reported by a newspaper tabloid. No explanations have been given as to why they are being held.

CASE DETAILS: (Based on the information received from Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights (Karapatan))

On 20 March 2008, at around 4pm, Ms. Vilma Madrazo met Mr. Jimmy Soledad and his wife Clarita in front of a convenience store. The store is located at the gates of Camella Homes Springville City (North) at Molino 3, Bacoor, Cavite. The couple had come to Bacoor on the invitation of Madrazo to discuss a deal regarding a small store Clarita is selling to her.

As they were about to leave to board a tricycle, about ten unidentified men in plain clothes had approached them and subsequently handcuffed their wrists behind their backs. One of the men told them they were under arrest, but he did not identify himself nor show them any identification. The three victims were then forcibly taken to separate vehicles nearby.

According to the witnesses, the perpetrators forced the victims inside their vehicles that were parked nearby. The vehicles were a silver color van, a brown service vehicle and several white colored cars. They sped towards the direction of a shopping mall in the area of Molino taking the three victims with them. One of the clerks of the convenience store later recounted that a traffic enforcer attached to the Metro manila Development Authority (MMDA) was able to recognize the perpetrators as members of the Talaba Police, a local police unit.

One of the victims, Madrazo, was released in the evening of the same day. When interviewed she recounted that the perpetrators blindfolded her and seized her mobile phone. They were traveling for about two hours when she asked them to let her use a bathroom. She was told however to wait because they are already close to their destination. Soon after they arrived, she was led towards a toilet where her handcuffs and blindfold were removed. There she was locked inside.

After she finished using the toilet, Madrazo was again blindfolded and handcuffed. She was led to an air conditioned room she presumed could have been an office. There she heard conversations of male voices speaking in native dialects, Waray and in Tagalog. One of them asked: “Siya na ba?” (Is she the one?) to which her captors replied: “Oo, siya na” (Yes, it’s her). Madrazo was asked for her name and address which she had also given. She heard shuffling of papers and then a man spoke to her captors telling them to let her go as she was not on their “list”. When Madrazo asked them about the whereabouts of the Soledad couple, she was told by her captors not to ask asking too many questions.

Madrazo said she was again taken to another vehicle by her captors. Again, they traveled for almost two hours. It was already around 9pm when they stopped. She was told to alight from the vehicle and subsequently her handcuffs and blindfold were removed. The place where she was dropped was in the area of Alabang, near the Metropolis Mall. She asked about her cousin Clarita and her husband Jimmy, she was told by one of the men: “Huwag ka na makikialam at magtatanong kung ayaw mong ibalik kita roon!” (Do not meddle or ask questions if you don’t want me to take you back there!), and then the perpetrators sped off.

Madrazo went back home to Cavite and informed Clarita’s siblings about the incident.

On March 22, Clarita’s sister, Robisita Abenoja was accompanied by Karapatan when they conducted an inspection at the place where the incident happened. They also inquired with the local authorities and the police in Cavite but there were no reports of abduction or arrest recorded in their offices, nor was there a report on requests for coordination with other local authorities—particularly in the Barangays (villages) of Molino 3, Molino and Talaba where the incident happened. The local police detachments had also no records of the said incident.

Under the existing procedures, the police and military operating outside their jurisdiction should have obtained permission or are required to closely coordinate with the local authorities or law enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction over the area. The absence of information or records regarding the incident explains that no such coordination have been made at all.

On March 23, a Quick Reaction Team (QRT) from Karapatan headed by Atty. Ephraim Cortez accompanied the relatives to the Police Regional Office (PRO IV) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Camp Vicente Lim, in Canlubang, Laguna to find out whether or not the Soledad couple was in their custody. A staff member of an intelligence division denied holding the couple.

However, on the same day, a newspaper tabloid, the People’s Journal, reported the arrest of Jaime Soledad. He and Clarita were reported to have been detained at the headquarters of the 2nd Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. No information was given though as to why they were in military custody and not in police custody as required for persons who are under arrest. In the report, the military claimed Jaime Soledad was one of the high ranking leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippine/New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in Eastern Visayas.

The team went back to Camp Vicente Lim on March 24 to determine the couple’s whereabouts. It was only at the time that the camp officials admitted that the couple is actually in their custody.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

In the Philippines, the security forces routinely practice this manner of arrest and detention even on ordinary crimes. The military though has no lawful authority to detain any person or subject them into any means of investigation they nevertheless are routinely doing so. An arrested person should have been promptly turned over to court if the arrest was a result of a court order; or subjected to inquest proceedings if the arrest was a result subsequent to the commission of a criminal offense. However, neither of these criminal procedures has been applied in this case.

The arrest and continued detention of Soledad couple illustrates the police and military’s arbitrary practice of depriving persons of their liberty. The manner by which they had carried out the arrest does not even be qualifies to the principle of arrest at all. The term arrest and detention connotes legal procedures that would be observed when security forces deprive a person of their liberty. But in this case, no procedures were observed when the victims were taken.

When the couple and a woman were taken, those taking them did not introduce themselves nor explained to them the reasons for their arrests. Therefore the actions of the security forces are nothing less than kidnapping and abduction. By failing to promptly turn over the couple to the judicial authorities and withholding their whereabouts to their families for days after taking them into custody, the arrest was itself tantamount to forcible abduction by agents of the State.

In fact, they had to release the woman because her arrest was a mistake. She should have not been arrested in the first place. They had her blindfolded apparently to avoid being identified by her should they commit wrongdoings–as what had happened. Her arrest was indiscriminate without any justifiable reasons at all.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the concerned authorities below requesting for a credible investigation into allegations that the arrest and continued detention of the Soledad couple were done in arbitrary manner. They must be released from the military’s custody without delay; otherwise, they must be turn over to the authorities who has lawful jurisdiction over the victims.

The AHRC has also written letters to the UN Working Groups on arbitrary detention calling for an intervention in this case.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER