A month before the first anniversary of the abduction of two University of the Philippines (UP) students, new witnesses have surfaced claiming they are still alive.
Kilusan website (www.kilusan.net) reported Wednesday that the witnesses claimed seeing Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño in an undisclosed area in Central Luzon.
It said it was welcome news for the UP Task Force Karen and Sherlyn and TANGGULAN, which hoped Karen and farmer Manuel Merino are still alive but are still being held by the military.
But classmates of the two lamented the slow pace of the case.
“While we are so concerned about the well-being of our classmates, it is so sad that the case is running slow-paced in the court and outrageous that the main suspects remain at large and with alleged human rights violator Gen. Palparan even becoming a nominee of a pro-government partylist group in the May elections. We are re-issuing our appeal to the CA to expedite judgment since it already heard earlier strong testimony of witnesses pointing to military’s culpability in this cruel act,” Shahana Abdulwahid,TANGGULAN-University of the Philippines spokesperson and incoming UP student council chairperson said.
Sherlyn, Karen and farmer Manuel Merino were abducted June 26 last year in Barangay San Miguel, Hagonoy town in Bulacan province, where they were conducting a field work with local farmers groups.
TANGGULAN lamented the delayed judgment when the Court of Appeals ended hearings on a habeas corpus petition in November last year.
It called on the CA to release the decision on the Petition for Habeas Corpus for Cadapan, Empeño and Merino filed by their families on July 17, 2006.
Named respondents to the case were Maj. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, Lt. Col. Rogelio Boac, Arnel Enriquez, Lt. Samson and retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr, who all denied custody and involvement in the abduction.
Meanwhile, Biyaya Quizon, Student Christian Movement of the Philippines Secretary General and TANGGULAN national convenor, condemned the abduction of Pastor Berlin Guerrero.
Guerrero, a United Church of Christ of the Philippines pastor in Binan, Laguna, was abducted at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
Police claimed it arrested him but have started an investigation into possible lapses in serving the “arrest warrants” on him.
Militants claimed he was brought by the abductors to a police camp in Imus, Cavite, was tortured by the captors and was only allowed to call his family 23 hours after.
Pastor Guerrero was aboard a tricycle with his wife and three children when forcibly and at a gun-point, taken away by unidentified armed men and took him to a white L300 van without a nameplate.
“We condemn the police for its abusive method of ‘arrest’ and we know that the cases that will be charged on Pastor Guerrero will all be concocted. Like UCCP Pastor Noli Capulong who was murdered last year, Pastor Berlin is a staunch human rights activist and critic of military abuses especially in Southern Tagalog. We strongly believe that his involvement and political activism earned the ire of those who are seeking to silence people’s prophets,” Quizon said.
“As the world marks the International Week of the Disappeared, we join the families of Sherlyn, Karen and all the victims of forced disappearance in calling on the government to stop enforced disappearance as one of the most inhumane form of torture to victims and families alike, and to ensure perpetrators are punished,” she added. - GMANews.TV
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