Probing the Military’s Hand
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Military denounced for ‘lies’ on Grecil
Children don’t tell lies unlike Gen. Holganza who is a habitual liar - Kabiba
In the SC hearing of the Cadapan-Empeño-Merino habeas corpus case on Sept. 30, Palparan denied knowing about the abduction of the three. He, however, admitted receiving a military report about the “arrest” of a certain Ka Tanya and Ka Lisa, who he claimed were “NPA amazons collecting revolutionary taxes” in Hagonoy. Curiously, both abductions happened on the same day, June 26, 2006.
In the same hearing, 2Lt. Francis Mirabelle Samson, executive officer of the Army detachment in Barangay Mercado, Hagonoy and Lt. Col. Rogelio Boac, commanding officer of the 56th IB stationed in the same municipality denied receiving orders from Palparan to investigate the incident. They received no report on the abduction of the two alleged NPA amazons, they also said.
Official records
Official records by the police show that at least two of those missing from Central Luzon are in the custody of the military.
In a fact-finding mission on April 28 in the town of San Miguel, Bulacan, Bulatlat recorded 12 residents of Brgy. Bulaong, San Miguel arrested by soldiers of the 56th IB on April 24 after a firefight with NPA guerillas in a nearby village earlier the same day, as stated by PNP-San Miguel documents. Two of those arrested were cousins Florante Santiago and Bernie Santos.
On April 25, police records show 11 of those arrested have been released except Santos who remains missing.
In a separate incident on July 3, seven leaders of PISTON (Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytors Nationwide) were abducted in broad daylight along the busy streets of Barangay Balibago, Angeles City in the neighboring province of Pampanga.
The following day, two of those arrested were released without charges while four others were released on bail July 5. The seventh person arrested, Emerito Lipio, remains missing.
A report from the PNP-Angeles City identified the arresting team as soldiers belonging to the Army’s 56th and 69th Infantry Battalion. However, Police Supt. Policarpio C. Segubre, head of the PNP in Angeles City led the arresting team, the same report said.
Admission
Meanwhile, Palparan, a congressman said, had actually admitted to having in custody one of 31 individuals who went missing in Samar while he was the commanding officer of the 8th ID from February to August, 2005.
In a House inquiry on May 31, 2005, Samar Rep. Catalino Figueroa said that during a meeting on April 7, 2005 with mother and daughter Rosa and Cristina Abalos and Palparan in his home in Catbalogan, Samar, the general admitted that Patricio Abalos, an old and sickly farmer, was under the custody of his soldiers.
Prior to the meeting with Palparan, Cristina said that on March 31, six soldiers led by 2Lt. Wilbert Basquiñas and without any warrant barged into the Abalos home and searched their house.
“Nasa amin ang tatay mo. Makikita nyo lang sya pag may baril kayong nilabas (We have your father. You’ll only see him if you can show us the firearm),” Cristina quoted Basquiñas as saying. Bulatlat
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