Palparan Men, Cops Linked to New Abductions in Bulacan, Cebu

BY BULATLAT

Posted 12:30 am, Sept. 4, 2006

Two fishermen were abducted by ski-masked armed men suspected to be soldiers in Bulacan province early this morning, even as two others were reported missing in Cebu since Sept. 1. 

A report from the Alyansa ng Mamamayan para sa Makataong Karapatan (People’s Alliance for Human Rights or ALMMA-Bulacan) identified Jerry Martinez, 53, and Cesar Salamat, 70, who were taken from Martinez’s house in sitio Mindanao, Sto. Rosario village, Malolos City, Bulacan. 

The four suspects, who were in civilian clothes and wearing ski-masks, beat up the two before forcibly taking them, eyewitnesses said.

A statement by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Gitnang Luson blamed the military in Central Luzon led by Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan as responsible for the latest enforced disappearance.  “It bore the same pattern of attacks on unarmed civilians perpetrated with impunity by Palparan’s men,” the statement said.

In Cebu province, lawyer Alfonso Cinco IV of the Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights or Karapatan, reported that two activists snatched by a joint team of the police and military on Sept. 1 remain missing.  Cinco named the victims as Gerard Lavadia, 32, of Labangon, Cebu City, and former spokesperson of the defunct Estrada Resign Movement, and Sharon Abangan, 33, of San Isidro village, Talisay City, Cebu province.

Cinco said the two men had alighted from a taxi in South Central Market, Lawaan I, Talisay City when pounced upon by suspected members of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) based in Lapu-Lapu, Cebu City, backed by members of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) and the Criminal Intelligence and Detection Group (CIDG).

Cinco said witnesses saw the victims, along with the taxi driver, brought inside the PNP Cebu City in Camp Sotero Cabahug.  That same day, Lavadia was even able to send a text message to a relative, saying that he was being detained inside the police camp and asking for help.

On Sept. 2, relatives of the two men and other activists went to the camp, but the police had denied having them in custody. During a rally that same day, however, a certain Inspector Carmona told Abangan’s father Esmeraldo that his son is fine, and that holding a rally would “only complicate” his son’s release.

Cinco said that the abduction was connected with a statement by Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia-Codilla declaring all-out war against suspected communists and their supporters and fronts. 

“While Gov. Garcia-Codilla purports that the declaration is aimed at crushing the New People’s Army, she virtually issues death warrants to more than half of the Cebuano population who are members of various militant groups by tagging these as NPA fronts,” he said. Bulatlat

© 2006 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Media Center

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