Press Release
November 7, 2012
Grayson Naogsan, son of Cordillera Peoples Democratic Front spokesperson Simon “Ka Filiw” Naogsan, was arrested by men who introduced themselves as policemen and is now missing.
He was arrested last November 5 at around 3 PM by five civilian-wearing men who introduced themselves as policemen while he and his companion were having coffee in SM Baguio.
The policemen showed Naogsan and his companion a warrant of arrest that indicated his name while handguns were poked at their sides discreetly. They handcuffed and separated him from his companion. They told his companion that they will take Naogsan to “Camp Crame.”
Naogsan was led out of the mall through the backstairs by three of the men and used a jacket to cover his handcuff.
At around 5 PM, the wife of Naogsan called his cellphone and he said that he was already out of Baguio and was allegedly being brought to Camp Crame. His arresting officers, one of them is a certain “Joey,” sternly said that he cannot use his cellphone. Naogsan’s wife last heard of him in the morning of November 6. He has been out of reach since then.
His wife, who sought assistance from the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance and the Karapatan National office, is currently searching for Naogsan in various military and police camps in Metro Manila. It has been 48 hours since Naogsan was arrested and held incommunicado. He has yet to be surfaced.
Naogsan’s wife and Karapatan went to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Complaints Referral Action Center office in Camp Crame last November 5 and 6 respectively. Both offices said that they had no knowledge of operations conducted to arrest Naogsan and that they did not have Naogsan in their custody.
Human rights group, Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) expressed its outrage regarding the incident.
“We strongly condemn his arrest and that he remains missing to this day. His family is deeply worried and in distress that they do not know his whereabouts and his condition,” Jude Baggo, secretary general of CHRA said.
Baggo related that prior to his arrest, two men who identified themselves as CIDG personnel asked for information about him around their neighborhood and implied that there was an amount of PHP 500,000 for any information that can be given to them.
Baggo reiterated that the longer he is detained in an unknown location worsens the violation of his rights. “We demand for the surfacing of Naogsan and that his family and his counsel be given access to where he is.”
He stressed that in Aquino’s counterinsurgency program, Oplan Bayanihan, which uses the slogan “peace and development,” civilian kin of known revolutionaries are targets for attack. “Such act is a living proof of the Aquino government’s desperation to win its brand of peace and continuing state terror under his ‘daang matuwid’ premise,” Baggo concluded.
For reference:
Jude Baggo
Secretary General
Mobile number : 09189199007
