ENVIRONMENTAL advocates Jonila Castro and Jhed Reiyana Tamano yesterday filed criminal and administrative complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman against officials of the National Security Council (NSC), the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Philippine Army (PA).
Named respondents were NSC assistant director Jonathan Malaya; Lt. Col. Ronnel dela Cruz, commanding officer of the 70th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army; NICA Region 3 regional director Niño Balagtas; Lt. Col. Mario Jose Chico of the Strategic Communications – NTF-ELCAC; Police Capt. Carlito Buco, chief public information officer of the Bataan Provincial Police Office; Police Capt. Silvestre Colanza of the Orion Municipal Police Office; 2Lt Junrey Caballeda, acting Civil Military Operations Officer of the 70th IB; 1Lt. Sherwin Momo, intelligence officer of the 70th IB; and PA officers Justin Gutierrez, Manny Trinidad Timbol, and four others from the same unit identified only as “Allan”, “CJ”, “Jak”, and “Bryan;” and Mark Leo Santos from the NTF-ELCAC.
The respondents were accused of participation in the abduction of the Castro and Tamano in September 2023 and their detention for more than two weeks in several locations in Pampanga and Bulacan.
Castro and Tamano sought indictment of the respondents for violations of RA 10353, or the Act Defining and Penalizing Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance; RA 9745, or the Anti-Torture Act of 2009; RA 74388, or the Rights of Persons Arrested, Detained or Under Custodial Investigation, Arbitrary Detention and Grave Coercion both punishable under the Revised Penal Code.
Likewise, the military and police officers were charged with administrative offenses of grave misconduct, grave abuse of authority, oppression, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
The two complainants said they are members of ecology protection group Alyansa para sa Pagtatanggol sa Kabuhayan, Paninirahan, at Kalikasan ng Manila Bay (AKAP KA Manila Bay) which is protesting reclamation works on Manila Bay and its adverse effects on the livelihood of fishing communities in Bataan.
They alleged several men wearing ski masks stopped them on September 2, 2023 while they were walking on Manrique Street, Orion, Bataan and forced them into a waiting sports utility vehicle.
During their detention, the two alleged they were mostly kept blindfolded and their hands in zip ties, except when being fed or taking showers. They were also supposedly subjected to lengthy interrogation about their backgrounds, their relatives, people they work with, and about their organization AKAP KA Manila Bay.
Tamano claimed one of the men questioning her threated to cut her tongue and bury her side by side with Castro when she gave answers he did not like.
“When they learned that our birthdays are just days apart, they taunted us that our death anniversary will be the same as our birthday, and that we will be buried in one grave,” she added.
On September 12, 2023, they were taken out of detention without blindfolds to ride in a vehicle to be brought to a new place in Guagua, Pampanga. En route, they saw a branch of Jollibee branch and a sign that says “Malaus ko pu Arayat” (Welcome to Arayat).
From there, they were supposedly transferred to another vehicle and driven to the headquarters of the 70th IB in Doña Remedios Trinidad in Bulacan.
Tamano said she was able to see her parents again on September 12, 2023 when she was brought to them by NICA Region 3 director Balagtas.
She and Castro remained in military custody until September 19, 2023 when they were brought to a press conference at the municipal hall of Plaridel, Bulacan where, against the instructions of their custodians and contrary to a written statement prepared for them with the help of a lawyer from the Public Attorneys Office (PAO), they told reporters that they were abducted and have been kept in detention for several days.
“For more than two weeks and during our whole ordeal, we were deprived of our right to talk to lawyers of our own choosing. There were also no charges filed against us, nor were we brought before any courts of justice to answer for any complaints,” the two said in their affidavit.
Since the press conference was aired live, lawyers from the Commission on Human Rights Region 3, Gabriela Women’s party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas and civil rights lawyer Karlos Isagani Zarate were able to negotiate at once for their release.
Pending completion of investigations, Tamano and Castro requested that the Ombudsman place the respondents under preventive suspension.
