Tortured. Luisito Bustamante shows the burns on his neck and marks of the metal chain on his his feet which were used by his captors to bind him. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)
By GERMELINA A. LACORTE | Davao Today
Luisito Bustamante, 22, admitted during a court hearing that he was a member of the Communist New Peoples Army (NPA). He told the court that not even his fingertips was touched when he was in military captivity, belying any possibility of torture. But an hour after the hearing, Luisito told a different story. He showed his mother and friends the burn marks on his neck and back, the scars on his ankles that had been, days before, tied with wires.
The military continued attacking Muslim communities even during the Ramadan, according to human-rights and Moro groups. “When entire communities get displaced by war, how are you going to celebrate Ramadan?” one of them asked. “Ramadan completely loses its meaning. Foremost in your mind, when you’re in an evacuation center, is how to survive, where to look for food, or to keep yourself from being harassed, or get hit by a bomb.”
The Alejandro Lanaja Command-Front 3 Operations Command of the New People’s Army is holding under its custody Army detachment commander Sgt. Raul Reyes, along with paramilitary Civilian Action Auxiliary members Glorieto Mahumas, and Rudy Villaflor. The three were arrested during the October 7 NPA tactical offensive that successfully raided the 72nd Infantry Battalion-AFP detachment in Canidkid, Montevista in Compostela Valley Province.
It is difficult for our brothers and sisters in the war-torn areas of Basilan to observe one of the important pillars of Islam when the guns and bombs of the Philippine Army are aimed at them, said Amirah Ali Lidasan of Suara Bangsamoro, adding that Moro civilians are vulnerable to the military operation conducted during Ramadhan for most of them are weak due to whole day of fasting.
This short film, by the independent filmmaker Jon Red, is one of the public service advertisements on extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the Philippines that were banned for public exhibition by government censors, who said these films “are presented unfairly, one-sided and undermines the faith and confidence of the government and duly constituted authorities for public exhibition.” Click here to view the other films.
Childrens vulnerabilities have further been aggravated by reports from the DSWD in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao that on August 19, eight kids aged 4 to 16 years old from Indanan, Sulu, were arrested and tortured along with their parents by the militarys Joint Special Operations Force.
“By compromising national patrimony to the Dutch and allowing their companies full and unhampered access to Philippine natural resources, the Arroyo government was able to secure a deal with the Dutch government to go after Prof. Sison and the NDF in the Netherlands,” said Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran.
The NDF says the arrest of Jose Maria Sison signaled the end of the peace negotiations. And any local peace talks, which the government and the military now favor, would be pointless. The regime will end up talking to itself, said Gregorio Ka Roger Rosal, the communist partys spokesman.
Free Joma. Supporters of Sison hold a rally in Utrecht. (Photo courtesy of arkibongbayan.org)
