Instead of being invited to some jungle where the NPA usually hold activities on this red letter day, the media were earlier told to proceed to the jail in Barangay Mankilam, Tagum, a city 54 kilometers from Davao.
Gadiano said they knew the NPA detainees were having an activity that day since a letter was sent to the jail warden asking permission for a salu-salo inside their quarters. But the request, he said, had not yet reached the jail warden.
Somewhere on a busy street not far from the jail, hung a billboard showing a quote of Cañete profusely thanking the Philippine Army’s 10th Infantry Division (10th ID) for the good treatment he received in military hands.
The military also hyped the friendship that Jinggoy purportedly developed with women officers and medical personnel of the army division during his 30-day stay inside the military hospital.
In a statement released by the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Captain Emmanuel Garcia , chief of the Public Affairs Office of the 10th ID, mentioned how Jinggoy, on the night before he was moved out of the military hospital, was searching for something in his belongings. They later found out it was a tumbler with a logo of the AFP.
The item was a gift to Jinggoy by his designated hospital caretaker, Army Captain Rosa Maria Cristina Manuel, the statement said.
The statement also quoted Jinggoy telling the hospital staff that he would miss them all.
Commanding officer Major General Carlos Holganza of the 10th ID had capitalized on this purported good treatment of Jinggoy to boost their campaign in winning back rebels to their side.
Holganza had been telling the media that their units have been receiving “surrender feelers” from NPAs as a result of the media report on their treatment of Jinggoy.
But Jinggoy belied all these claims in the speech he made from jail.
“They may not have attacked me physically, but they applied all sorts of psychological pressure to force me to turn my back from the cause,” he said.
He also called Holganza a “big liar.” He said Holganza made it appear that he preferred to stay in the military hospital rather than somewhere else.
Wounded in battle, Ka Jinggoy was first brought to Camp Panacan Naval Hospital in Davao City and was later transferred to the Davao Medical Center (DMC) for surgery.
His family accompanied by human rights advocates was not allowed entry by the military.
The military claimed this was necessary to prevent Cañete from being stressed. However, the military allowed a string of warrants from alleged murder, arson, kidnapping and robbery to be served upon Cañete in his hospital bed.
On February 3, three days after his surgery at the DMC, the military instigated his transfer to the Camp Panacan hospital. The move was assailed by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), the panel negotiating with the Philippine government for the peace talks with the Reds.
In a statement sent from The Netherlands, NDFP negotiating panel chair Luis Jalandoni said the forcible transfer by the military of Ka Jinggoy against the advice of his surgeon is a violation of his rights under International Humanitarian Law.
Jalandoni said it trampled on the agreement forged between the Philippine government and the revolutionary forces on the respect for human rights and international humanitarian law or (Carhrihl).
