PHILIPPINES: A man in police custody disappeared for more than three months

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the continued disappearance of one of three men. Soldiers illegally arrested them on May 18, 2009, on suspicion that they were members of a rebel group. The missing victim was last reported in police custody; however, the police officer who had taken him into custody is now denying it.

CASE DETAILS: (According to information received from the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP)-Mindanao))

On May 18, 2009, at 4am, three persons, all neighbors, namely Tong Baman, Abdulnur Mangkiang and Dag Sandag Guiamalon, were asleep in their own homes when soldiers attached to the 40th Infantry Battalion (IB), Philippine Army (PA), came to their area in Barangay (village) Nabalawag, Midsayap, Cotabato.

Three persons, in plain clothes and camouflage military uniforms, came to Baman’s house where they met his wife, Kalimatol. The soldiers demanded that she wake up her husband. The soldiers went inside their house without the occupants’ consent. As they were talking, the soldiers asked Baman his name.

When told to see the other soldiers who were in his backyard, Baman was at first hesitant to meet them as he was afraid they might shoot him. Only when he was told that the soldiers wanted merely to ask him a few questions that he complied. However, as Baman approached the group of soldiers, they tied his hands behind his back with a nylon rope instead.

Meanwhile, Guiamalon’s wife, whose name was withheld, was carrying water from a place close to her house when she saw four persons. They were speaking in the Maguindanaon dialect, and were there before her. She was asked the whereabouts of her husband, Dag Sandag Guiamalon (whose nickname is “Dok”). When she told them that he was inside their house, they said that they would like to talk to him. Four other persons asked her for some coffee.

At 4:30am, while the four were inside the house drinking coffee, a group of soldiers in uniform entered the house where Guiamalon and Mangkiang were and arrested them. They each had their hands tied with nylon ropes behind their backs. The soldiers then walked Baman, Mangkiang and Guiamalon towards their detachment. They walked for about a kilometer from the house to the highway where an L-300 van was waiting to pick them up and bring them to their unit.

At 7am, they took Baman and Mangkiang to separate huts. They interrogated them after putting linen-type blindfolds on them. Then, Baman saw the soldiers leaving, taking Guiamalon with them in an L-300 van. Baman and Mangkiang were questioned about their involvement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebel group. But when they told the soldiers that they were fishermen, not MILF members, they punched Baman several times in the   face and chest,   hitting his feet with the butt of an Armalite rifle. Hot chilies were also applied to his penis. They also punched Mangkiang three times in the abdomen.

At 9am, a member of the Barangay (village) council and his Secretary came to the 40th Infantry Battalion (IB) unit to inquire into the whereabouts of the three victims. By 4pm, the soldiers had Mangkiang and Baman in their custody. Guiamalon, on the other hand, was not with the other two victims, but was later reported to have been turned over to the local police station.

On the same day, May 18, a receipt was signed by Police Chief Inspector Emeliana Piang Mangansakan.  As chief of police of Datu Piang Municipal Police station, she had taken custody of Dag Sandag Guimalon after he was turned over by soldiers of the 40th IBPA.

However, on May 19, a follow-up visit was made at the same police station by members of the Non-violent peace force and the Bantay Ceasefire. They are a volunteer group monitoring the peace agreement between the rebel group and the government. The Barangay officials and the relatives of Guimalon found he was no longer in police custody. The police however, did not properly explain to them who had taken custody of Guiamalon. When they showed the acknowledgement receipt which bears the name and signature of Police Chief Inspector Mangansakan, she denied having signed the document. She claimed that she was not on duty when the turn-over of the victim took place.

As of this writing, the whereabouts of Guiamalon remains unknown.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Kindly write to the concerned government agencies to conduct an impartial investigation regarding the illegal arrest, brief detention and torture of the three victims. The whereabouts of one of the victims, who continues to be missing, must also be located. The police officer and the police station, where the victim was last known to have been in custody, should also be investigated.

The AHRC has also written letters to the UN Rapporteur on the Question of Torture and UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

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