Sunday, January 10
Douglas Booker, Ontario Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines:
The Global Justice Tour had the pleasure this afternoon of visiting the Batangas Provincial Jail. Batangas City is located about two hours drive south of Manila in a predominately agricultural area. The visit was organized by the Ontario Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (OCHRP) and the purpose of the visit was to look in on three recently arrested political prisoners. The individuals in question included Ms. Charity Diño, 29, from Mindoro province; Mr. Billy Baterina, 26, from Batangas; and Mr. Sonny Rogelio, 23, also of Batangas.
With Billy and Sammy inside their cell block.
The three were organizers of SAMBAT (Samahan ng mga Magsasaka ng Batangas), an affiliate of the Peasant Movement of the Philippines (KMP). The three were arrested by members of the 730th Combat Group of the Philippine Air Force on November 23, 2009, while travelling by car in the town of Talisay near the Taal Volcano. At the time of their arrest, they were travelling through the community by car and were stopped by a group of six armed men not in uniform.
The three were subsequently held in a military detention center of the Air Force for approximately two weeks in a totally white room while handcuffed. Each of the three in separate testimonies described being tortured by the military over this period. The men were beaten to the point of serious bruising and both reported having electrodes attached to their bodies and receiving severe electric shocks. The female victim also experienced simulated suffocation, having her mouth taped and being unable to breathe, and also experience forms of sexual assault. Ms. Diño indicated that she was stripped naked during interrogation by her captors and forced to stand and endure lengthy examination of her person by her male captors while unclothed. The point of the torture was to force confessions that they were members of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army.
After several weeks of abuse at the hands of the military they were charged with common crimes; possession of firearms, possession of explosives and, in addition, Mr. Baterina was charged with possession of marijuana. The accused speculated that they had been charged with possession of explosives because it was a non-bailable offence. The accused were transferred from military custody to the Batangas Provincial Jail on December 11, 2009. They have been held in this facility on these charges for the past month.
Despite the fact that they remain in provincial jail, the three continue to receive visits from the military pressuring them to confess. The most recent visit experienced by Charity Diño took place on January 9, 2010, where a military officer who introduced himself as “Col. Incognito” indicated he would be adding murder charges to the existing charges against her.
The Batangas jail can only be described as grossly overcrowded. The jail currently houses a total of 507 prisoners, 28 in the women’s prison which we were unable to visit, and the main jail which houses 479 male prisoners in 8 cell blocks. Originally built for probably 12-15 prisoners, Mr. Baterina’s cell block which we visited housed 83 prisoners in small rooms made from cardboard boxes, with many prisoners sleeping on the floor or outside, lacking even the most rudimentary accommodation.
The real crime the three have committed is dissent to the existing order. The area in which the three were working, Lake Taal, is targeted by the Philippine military because of the instability and volatility in the region created by the Metro Taal-Tagaytay Development Plan. The development plan has resulted in the forced relocation and demolition of many communities in the region to make way for eco-tourism developments. In one community we visited, the homes of 33 families had been forcibly demolished and the community relocated 3 times.
The case is just another example of harassment of activists by the Philippine military using the criminal courts to silence opposition to the Arroyo regime. Any opposition to the existing order is considered subversion and is met with the full weight of the state to suppress it including false charges, torture and abuse, violation of rights. The military, as the main enforcer of the Arroyo government’s war on dissent, can act with impunity in all instances.
