ARMY chief Lt. Gen. Roy Galido yesterday said the military will be filing charges against two environmental activists who recently accused soldiers of abducting them in Bataan earlier this month.
In a press briefing at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Galido said Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano betrayed the Army, the reason why charges are being pursued against them.
Galido maintained that Castro and Tamano surrendered to the military, specifically to the Army’s 70th Infantry Battalion, in Bulacan last week.
Castro and Tamano had earlier executed affidavits stating they were not abducted, disputing the earlier allegations by leftist groups the two were abducted by the military last September 2 in Orion, Bataan.
The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) presented the two, saying they are New People’s Army rebels, in a press conference in Plaridel, Bulacan last Tuesday to tell the public they voluntarily submitted themselves to the military.
To the surprise of the NTF-ELCAC, Castro and Tamano claimed during the press conference that they were abducted by soldiers, adding they were forced to sign affidavits claiming they surrendered.
“We felt betrayed, that’s why we will file the necessary charges,” said Galido.
Last Wednesday, NTF-ELCAC spokesman Jonathan Malaya said Castro and Tamano have opened themselves to possible perjury charges for recanting their affidavits.
The same day, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said they are studying the possibility of filing perjury charges against the two as he defended the military from allegations of abduction.
Galido declined to discuss the details of the surrender of Castro and Tamano based on their affidavits. Hours later, the NTF-ELCAC released to the media copies of the handwritten affidavits of the two activists.
“With your indulgence, I don’t want to give the details of this because, again, a case will be filed. Let the process take its due course. Let’s just make sure the case is filed and let’s see what happens,” said Galido.
“As I said earlier, there will be a case (to be) filed and I don’t want to discuss (it) because this (case) will be subjected to the legal process,” he added.
Galido said the Army has not established any wrongdoing committed by soldiers in the case, stressing they just received the surrender of Castro and Tamano.
“What we’re after here is just the truth. They went to us, they want to go back to the folds of the law, they provided a statement, (and) we welcomed them,” said Galido.
Galido said what the Army merely wanted was to help Castro and Tamano return to mainstream society, just like what some of their comrades had done in the past.
“We don’t see any violation (on the military side) but if there are other parties who see a violation, then file a case. We are open (to these charges) and it’s through filing (of cases) that we can resolve things, right? It’s only through the filing of cases (where) issues will be decided and the situation understood clearly,” said Galido.
In their affidavit released by the NTF-ELCAC, Castro and Tamano narrated why they decided to surrender.
Castro, 22, said she contacted one “Ate Bea” on September 1 to seek help, adding she and Tamano met with Ate Bea the following day.
On September 3, Castro said she told Ate Bea that she and Tamano would like to surrender to authorities. She said she knew Ate Bea knew the proper authority who could arrange their surrender.
Castro said it was on September 12 when Ate Bea accompanied them for their formal surrender.
In the affidavit, Castro said there was no truth to reports that they were abducted, noting they escaped from the communist movement.
She said they experienced hunger, tiredness, fear, and loneliness due to separation from her family while they were with the rebel group, the reason she decided to leave the movement.
Tamano, 21, cited danger, hardship, stress, and longing for her family as the reasons why she surrendered. She swore he would not return to the communist movement.
CAUTIOUS NEXT TIME
NTF-ELCAN executive director Ernesto Torres said the task force will be cautious in presenting NPA surrenderors to the public following the incident.
“There is something that we can learn from this experience. The purpose of presenting them to the media (was) to let the public know that these two ladies (Castro and Tamano) were well taken care of and they were safe,” said Torres.
“But unfortunately, something bad happened. We just have to face it squarely and deal with it and learn from it,” said Torres.
“I would say it is a wrong move,” added Torres, referring to the presentation of Castro and Tamano to members of the media last Tuesday.
Torres said the task force will “increase our vigilance, will be more discriminating, consider everything, dig deeper into the personalities of those who are going back to the folds of the law.”
“Definitely, it (incident) will have an effect on their processing, especially in making decisions on their presentation to the public,” said Torres.
He said they would be “cautious” in the future “so that things like this would not happen again.” He added: “We certainly would learn from this.
“Certainly, we will review how we do things, how we conduct things and maybe we can have a better chance of preventing these things from happening again,” said Torres.
LIE DETECTOR TEST
Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa yesterday said the two activists and the military members who supposedly accepted the surrender should be made to undergo lie detector tests to determine who is telling the truth.
Speaking on CNN Philippines, Dela Rosa, the chair of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, said that while a lie detector or polygraph test is not admissible in court, it is still a big help to know whose side is telling the truth.
“We should subject the two and the Army and the police to a lie detector, a polygraph test, since they are claiming that they are telling the truth,” Dela Rosa said.
Last Wednesday, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla blamed “peer pressure” for Castro and Tamano’s turnaround and accusation of military abduction.
DOJ ‘ADMONISHED’
At the House, Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas turned emotional as she admonished the DOJ for “prejudging” the case of the two activists.
“We wish the Justice Department had been more prudent and discerning in its statements on these issues. Buhay at kamatayan ang nangyayari sa mga mamamayan natin, huwag naman kayong ganiyan (Life and death is what’s happening to our people, please don’t be like that),” she said during the plenary deliberations on the DOJ’s 2024 budget which was defended by Davao de Oro Rep. Ruwel Peter Gonzaga.
Last Wednesday, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the two activists were following a “new playbook” of the communist movement to gain public sympathy.
“Paano maa-assure ‘yung impartiality ng Department of Justice (How can we assure the impartiality of the DOJ) on the investigation given that the statements made by Sec. Remulla seems to be very biased against Jed and Jonila, and seems to have already painted the 2 environmental activists as part of the CPP-NPA,” said Brosas.
Brosas moved to defer the deliberations on the DOJ’s budget but her motion was not recognized on the floor before the session was suspended. — With Ashzel Hachero, Wendell Vigilia and Gerard Naval
