EDITOR'S NOTES - TFDP's 40th Anniversary edition

"Diwata ng Karapatang Pantao" Artwork by Mr. Emil Yap. Mr. Yap is a Filipino visual artist widely known for his murals,installation and public art. He is recognized for their uniqueness and intensity, and are strongly influenced by social realism artistic movement and eastern art. 

This year, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines celebrates our 40^th anniversary. In line with the celebration, we bring you this special issue of Philippine Human Rights Update. This issue is composed of chosen articles that have been published on PHRU and other publications that the organization has made through the years.

We have tried to choose articles that could give not only a background of what TFDP, as an organization, has been through for the past 40 years but also its involvement in struggle for human rights in the country.

In The History of Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, an article based on the narrative statement of Sr. Mariani Dimaranan, SFIC in 1990, she tells the story of how the organization came to be and her personal experiences in documenting human rights violations during the very tumultuous time of Martial law. Sr. Mariani has been a part of TFDP since its beginning. She has been the Chairperson from April 1974 up to 1996 and was Chairperson Emeritus until her death in 2005. Her name has been synonymous with the organization, especially in the international human right community.

We published the homily, Apatnapu given by Sr. Crescencia Lucero, SFIC, Co-Chairperson of TFDP on the thanksgiving mass to start off the whole year celebration of TFDP’s 40^th anniversary., She painted a picture of the human right situation as documented by the organization through different presidents, regimes and policies that has continued the oppression of our countrymen and the challenge to continue the fight for human rights and human dignity.

In TFDP’s Reaffirmation of Principles, an article originally published in 1987, after the end of Martial law and beginning of the Aquino regime, TFDP provides a clarification of its continuing role in documenting human rights violations and reiterate our commitment in the adherence to the principles of human rights as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

To provide a more detailed explanation for these principles, we have included an educated piece by staunch human rights lawyer, Senator Jose W. Diokno in Human Rights Makes Man Human.  It gives a rationale of sorts to why we, as human rights defenders do what we do and our responsibility to fight for human dignity.

We included two highlight cases as well. These cases were documented by the organization during the martial law period. The first case is of the Negros Nine. The Negros Nine case shows how repressive and abusive those in power and how the Marcos government and his cronies tried to vilify those who were trying to help the sugar farm workers in Negros even to the point of making up charges against them.

The second case is the enforced disappearance of Carlos “Charlie” del Rosario, an instructor from Philippine College of Commerce (now Polytechnic University of the Philippines). Though the article was published in PHRU in May 1986, when the Aquino government was already in power, Charlie disappeared way back in 1971, even before martial law was declared. It was a plea, that with the reinstatement of a new government that there might be a more serious effort to find those who were disappeared. Sadly, to this day, Charlie del Rosario is still disappeared.

Most of all, we have included two articles that voices the sentiments of those we service, the political detainees and prisoners. The Notes behind Bars columns written by Mr. Alan Jazmines gave a venue for the reactions and ponderings of those who are incarcerated. We choose the first article he wrote that echoed the longings of a political detainee/prisoner for freedom not for one self but to continue serving the people and his last article for the column as well, written just days after the snap election that declared Marcos the winner, where he predicted that the battle is indeed not over. Not long after the article was written, Edsa People Power happened ending the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. He was later freed when all political detainees and prisoners were given amnesty.

The relevance of our distant history, such as these articles could be reflected in our current human rights situation. The impunity for the crimes of human rights violations committed by previous administration is reflected in continuing human rights violations by the current one. Our responsibility to document, seek justice and combat these travesties remains. 

NOTES BEHIND BARS: The Storm after the election

(This article was reprinted from the Philippine Human Rights Update Volume 1, Number 6 published on March 14, 1986.  It is Mr. Jazmines' last article for the column "Notes in Prison" since President Corazon Aquino granted amnesty to political prisoners within the first 100 days of her administration.)

The snap election has come and gone, and President Marcos got his “vote of confidence.”

But it is not as simple as that.

It left in its trail the grossest electoral fraud and terrorism ever in the history of Philippine politics. According to the statement of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) read from the pulpits of the Catholic Church last February 16, “the polls were unparalleled in the fraudulence of their conduct.” The CBCP statement especially condemned the systematic disenfranchisement of voters, the widespread and massive vote-buying, the deliberate tampering with the returns and the intimidation, harassment, terrorism and murder which made naked fear the decisive factor in the voting.

So wanton were the cases of electoral violence that Tanggol-Karapatan (TAPAT), an alliance of various organizations for the monitoring and exposure of cases of fraud and violence committed during the snap polls, has counted so far an unprecedented figure of more than 700 cases of human rights violations, including more than 100 deaths.

The regime so underestimated the people’s determination to end the tyrannical rule burdening them for the last 20 years that it had to unleash all kinds of dirty tricks and terror in order to insure its “victory”. Indeed, the regime had to snatch through theft and with the use of naked armed force what it was determined to secure at any cost-its “new mandate”.

All this, however, is backfiring upon the regime.

Just as the people know very well who killed Sen. Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., they know very well, too, who really won in the election. The people know their will has been thwarted.

By its own doing, the regime has turned the last election into a valuable more than ever before, the people have learned very painfully that a fascist dictatorship cannot be brought down in an electoral contest where it makes up all the rules, runs the entire exercise and counts the votes. But it is clear, too, how the people’s struggle can be advanced by carrying on an educational campaign parallel – but not contrary – to the anti-fascist forces in the electoral campaign.

Especially with a declaration straight from the horse’s mouth that the U.S, bases in the Philippines are of more importance (“one cannot minimize the importance of those bases…”) to the U.S. than election fraud and human rights in the Philippines, the hypocrisy in the U.S. government’s espousal of “democracy” and “ free and honest elections” has all the more been exposed. A great many of the Filipino people, including many anti-fascists who have naively been pinning their hopes on genuine American interest in democratic reforms and clean and honest elections in the country, have began to see more clearly the fact of a U.S. – Marcos conspiracy.

To that extent that the dictatorship has exhausted its arsenal of deceit and exposed itself to the fullest, for the vast majority of the Filipino people the lessons of 20 years of tyrannical rule has culminated in this” that this U.S. – backed dictatorship can only be brought down by the power of a people creatively galvanized into a determined fighting force that wisely chooses its own fields of battle and its own weapons of struggle, always to its advantage and with reasonable assurance of victory.

At a time when elections cannot officially reflect the popular mandate for change in national leadership as well as in the political order, the electoral opposition itself has extended its fight to the promotion of civil disobedience and hinted at being open to other forms of struggle by the people to end U.S.  – Marcos conspiracy and bring down the dictatorial regime. In the mammoth Tagumpay ng Bayan (People’s Victory) held last February 16 at the Luneta to claim the victory of the people at the polls and at the time to protest the continued usurpation of power by the Marcos regime, presidential candidate Cory Aquino detailed seven forms of the opposition’s civil disobedience program.

In the same statement where it condemned the conduct of the presidential election, the largely conservative Catholic Church hierarchy also called on the people to take active part in a “non-violent struggle for justice” (read: civil disobedience).

The cause-oriented group like BAYAN and BANDILA and the various sectoral mass organizations will certainly participate in and also provide direction to such a civil disobedience movement. Through their sectoral and community organizations or spontaneously, the basic masses will lend much to such a protest movement in terms of substance, perseverance, creativity, even sacrifices.

The masses of the Filipino people seem to be enthusiastically taking up the various calls for civil disobedience and militant resistance against the unwanted and illegitimate regime. By the millions, the people are now moving to an advanced front in the struggle for their liberation.

The Filipino people have long been outraged at the ruling regime. In the wake of the Aquino assassination, this outrage erupted into a major explosion that was to last several months. The Batasang Pambansa elections of 1984, the Agrava Board investigation into the assassination and the Sandigan trial of the Aquino-Galman Double-Murder Case somewhat diffused the explosion in the streets.

With the deepening of the economic and political crisis besetting the country, the just-concluded snap presidential election was supposed to further diffuse the explosion.

But the intransigence and brazenness of the Marcos regime have become its own trap. The unprecedented fraud and violence committed by the ruling party to obtain its “new mandate” has only exasperated the people all the more, including the election-oriented opposition. Ironically, the snap election has only fanned the flames of a greater conflagration.

The people have long been a gathering storm of grievances. Soon, it will be unleashing all its accumulated might and fury at a derelict regime that still refuses to budge. At this point, there can be no more stopping of this might and fury.

The people’s total celebration will come with the culmination of this storm.

Mr. Alan Jazmines and family after his release;from Philippine Human Rights Update

CASE IN FOCUS: The "Negros Nine"

(This article was initially published in the book "That We May Remember" on 1987.)

The "Negros Nine" wearing their barong with custom-made embroidery inside the provincial jail. Photo from Poor Man's Priest: The Fr. Brian Gore Story

“A vexatious case.” – Ferdinand Marcos

It was the kind of welcome one would least expect. Fr. Brian Gore had just returned to his parish in Oringao, Kabankalan, Negros Occidental from a six-month vacation in his native Australia, when he was met with the bad news. Soldiers have raided his convent that night and had abducted Ignacio Colago, a member of his parish’s Kristiyanong Katilingban (KK). There was barely time to protest or investigate because the next day, the soldiers returned and arrested two more of his parish workers.

Lt. Mariano Galo, leader of the raid, alleged that they have uncovered subversive materials, a fragmentation grenade, and five rounds of .45 caliber ammunition. Despite his staunch denial, Fr. Gore was charged with “illegal possession of explosives and ammunitions.”

Although no warrant of arrest was served, right after the announcement things went from bad to worse. Six days later the military accused him anew. Together with six leaders of the KK, Fr. Gore was charged with “inciting to rebellion”. The six lay leaders were Jesus Arzaga, Arnesto Tajones, Lydio Mangao, Conrado Muhal, Peter Cualaes and Geronimo Perez.

Served with warrants of arrest, the seven were sent to jail on October 18, 1982 accompanied by their Prelate, Bishop Antonio Fortich. Some 600 priests, sisters and friends kept vigil and slept the whole night outside the jail.

The next day some 500 KK members silently marched from Oringao to Kabankalan with streamers stating their message: “Hunger Fast for Justice”. In the afternoon of the same day, 6,000 KK members braved the downpour and assembled for a Mass for Justice under the acacia trees of Kabankalan plaza. From there, they held a procession to where the seven were imprisoned. The same transpired the next day but the seven remained locked-up the whole day.

October 21 marked the day of the hearing. The sala (courtroom) was jammed with people. Finally, the good news: bail had been granted to Fr. Gore and the six KK leaders.

However, it was a short-lived calm before the storm. On November 4, a local daily announced that the soldiers were again pressing criminal charges against Father Gore, his fellow Columban priest, Niall O’Brien, and the six lay leaders – this time for the ambush-slaying of Kabankalan Mayor, Pablo Sola, and his four aides on March 10, 1982.

The clergy did not know whether they should take this strange news seriously. It was known all over Negros and to the military that the New People’s Army had already claimed responsibility for Sola’s murder. Also on July 21 that year, Colonel Mario Hidalgo of Task Force Kanlaon told the Visayan Daily Star that the two guerillas they had captured had “admitted participating in the ambush”.

But the military was bent on pursuing its own bluff. Claiming it had the affidavits or witnesses to justify the criminal suit, Captain Galileo Mendoza of Task Force Kanlaon filed multiple murder charges on February 25, 1983 with the Kabankalan Regional Trial Court against the two Columban priests, the six lay leaders and one diocesan priest, Fr. Vicente Dangan.

The case attracted nationwide media coverage and the accused eventually came to be collectively known as the “Negros Nine”.

The military took time in arresting the Negros Nine. It was only on May 6, 1983 that military authorities decided to send a helicopter to Inapoy village to pick up the two missionaries and the six lay leaders. The accused refused to go by air, thus forcing the soldiers, led by Colone Francisco Agudon, to escort them by land all the way to Kabankalan where Father Dangan joined them in jail.

Bacolod Bishop, Antonio Fortich, though aware of the warrants of arrests for his priests, did not expect them to be arrested that day. On the morning of that day, he and Col. Agudon had agreed that the warrants should be served on May 8, a Sunday, in Kabankalan where all the religious would join him in a co-celebrated mass for the Negros Nine. Anticipating this rousing event, Agudon reneged on his agreement with the Bishop.

A day after the arrest, President Ferdinand Marcos intervened by ordering that the three priests be put under house arrest. The defense lawyers, however, wanted their release on bail. A petition seeking the nine’s provisional liberty was then organized. But assistant provincial fiscal, Lindy Diola, blocked this on May 16, 1983 and engaged the defense in sixteen more court sessions which took two subsequent months in the sala of Judge Emilio Legaspi.

The military presented seven witnesses. Most of whom were members of the Civilian Home Defense Force (CHDF), to support their claim that the Negros Nine carried out the ambush-slaying of Sola. These witnesses claimed that on March 10, 1982, the priests, after meeting three times to plan the murder, set out for the ambush using the blue parish truck driven by Father Gore with Father O’Brien by his side and 13 lay leaders, armed with M-16s, at the back. In the village of Camansi, the ambush site, the two priests released the “strike force”, commanded by Fr. Vicente Dangan, himself carrying an M-16, and ordered the men to strike as a “blocking force” 100 meters farther.

But each witness’s story always served to contradict the other’s version. One testified that he was able to see the armed men at the back of the Fiera because the vehicle’s flaps were folded up. Vicente Pancho, the military’s “star witness” who said he was appointed to head the blocking force, stated however, that the Fiera’s flaps were down. Pancho once worked with Father O’Brien as a cook but was fired after six weeks, for stealing.

Thirty-year old laborer, Lucio Raboy claimed to know Father Gore well but when asked to identify the priest, he instead pointed at Father Michael Martin, also a Columbian missioner but who had no resemblance at all to Father Gore, save for being a Caucasian. Raboy later confessed to the court that if he did not take the witness stand, Captain Galilieo would implicate him in the murder case.

Another witness, who also claimed to know Father O’Brien well, “because the Irish priest had distinctive black spots on his face”, was given the opportunity to examine Father O’Brien. The man could not find the spots. Still another told the court that the priests’ motive for the ambush-slaying must have been “their intention to take over the government of Kabankalan”. But when asked why they did not take over after Sola’s death, the military witness answered that it was because Father Gore went on a holiday!

In spite of what appeared to be obvious lies given by the military witnesses, Judge Emilio Legaspi would not grant bail to the petitioners right away. The prosecution’s request for an extension was accommodated even after it failed to comply with the specified 21-day submission period. The judge said he needed more time to study the case, after which he extended the Christmas break until January 1984.

Their house arrest was a privilege the three priests felt uneasy about. They considered it “royal treatment” compared to the sorry condition of their six co-accused who by then were on their eighth month in prison.

“The six find themselves in their present predicament precisely because they followed the Christian call which we, their priests, had proclaimed to them”, they said. “Frankly, the greatest agony of our last year had not been arrest, internment, harassment, nor false accusations. It has been the fact that we were separated from our co-workers at the very moment when solidarity with them meant so much to us…,” the three priests explained.

In a diplomatic coup of sorts, the Colonel offered them the air-conditioned guesthouse reserved for military officers in Bacolod City instead of keeping them in jail. Unless the Philippine President revoked his house arrest order, Colonel Francisco Agudon insinuated that he could not jail the three.

It was during their stay at the guesthouse that they heard of Judge Legaspi’s lopsided decision of their petition for bail. Father Dangan, who was accused of leading the ‘strike force’ in the ambush, was granted bail, the rest were not. The petition for provision of liberty was also denied.

This received a wave of protests from church circles. “The group was supposed to be charged with conspiracy; therefore the act of the one is the act of all,” the perplexed Bishop Fortich told the weekly, Veritas.

Father Dangan refused to post the required P40,000 bail bond. And after instructing their lawyers not to seek the judge’s reconsideration of their petition, they left their air-conditioned room on January 26, 1984 in the guise of visiting their six co-accused. As soon as they entered the lay leaders’ cell, they refused to leave.

From Malacañang came President Marcos’ announcement that he was revoking his house arrest order, implying in effect that by virtue of the charges the priests were facing, they deserved the imprisonment.

The case of the Negros Nine attracted worldwide attention as it saw the government of President Marcos on the one hand, and that of Australia and Ireland on the other, in a diplomatic struggle. The church of Australia and Ireland also extended their full support to their priests in Negros.

Australia’s Foreign Minister, Bill Hayden, visited Manila and despite press statements that he had other agenda than Father Brian Gore to discuss in Malacañang, it was generally believed that he came to negotiate for the early dismissal of the case. The Ministry of Justice, then under Ricardo Puno, offered the Negros Nine pardon and the two Columban priests, deportation.

Fr. Gore with Sr. Mariani Dimaranan, CFIC of TFDP 

The Negros Nine detected the catch in the offer.  If they gave way to Puno’s offer and accepted the presidential pardon, it was tantamount to admitting the crime. Deportation would not at all absolve them from the unjust charges. They rejected Puno’s offer and let the court decide their fate.

With this collective decision, defense lawyers Jose W. Diokno, Juan Hagad and Francisco Cruz, immediately filed a motion for the dismissal of the case. However, government prosecutor, Lindy Diola, reportedly upon instructions of Minister Puno, opposed this motion. On May 22, Judge Legaspi decided once again in favor of the prosecution although he reiterated his order to release Father Vicente Dangan.

Knowing that it did not have strong evidence to pin down the Negros Nine, a month later the prosecution joined the defense in its second motion for the outright dismissal of the case. This time, Judge Legaspi concurred because, according to him, the prosecution failed to establish the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

Legaspi’s decision aside, it was a popular belief that the termination of the Negros Nine case was the result of many negotiations.

Father Niall O’Brien believed that the Marcos government had yielded to international pressure. The offer of pardon, he said, came when US President Ronald Reagan, on a state visit to Ireland, heard the appeal of the Irish government to exert pressure on Marcos. There was also the consideration of economic and military aid that Marcos was to receive from Australia.

Father Dangan, parish priest of Cabugao, also in Kabankalan, was in fact the slain mayor Sola’s professor, which explains why Legaspi granted him bail first and showed no hesitation to absolve him from the charges. His name appeared on the charge sheet only during the formal filing of the murder charges, presumably after he got involved in a quarrel with a group of powerful people over a land problem.

Among the three priests, Father Gore, who spent 13 of 14 years as a priest in Negros, was the most likely target of military ire. Known for his justice and peace work in the sugarland, Father Gore and his six lay leaders unwittingly challenged the authority of the late mayor and the military when they organized farmers into Basic Christian Communities (BCCs) known as Kristianong Katilingban (KK). In the words of Conrado Muhal, 34, married with two children and full-time KK organizer for Fr. Gore: “We are in jail because the military fear and hate the KKs… In the villages, 100% of the families attend the KK meetings. It makes them one with God and each other. It’s the first program that combines all – the spiritual, economic and political.”

After the filing of the charges against Father Gore, the Commission on Immigration and Deportation summoned him to Manila citing his alleged subversive activities. He said he was not guilty of the charge.

But trouble for Father Gore actually began many years ago. It started in 1979 when a local landlord used a messianic cult leader, Alfredo Salvatorre, to murder a parish lay leader, Lolito Olimpos, a member of the KK, so that he could grab his seven hectares of land. Fr. Gore launched protests against Olimpos’ death as well as against militarization, land grabbing, abusive village officials and corrupt local tax collectors.

Reacting to the upsurge of protests, Mayor Sola sought the help of the government which responded by sending in Constabulary jungle fighters notorious for their abuses. This forced the local church and the military to dialogue. The townspeople say that Sola and the military officials were humiliated in that CLMC dialogue when leaders of a crowd of an estimated 7,000 read to them a long list of the people’s grievances.

Mayor Sola would not let that event pass, and his vengeance was swift. Two parish lay leaders were executed by the jungle fighters and seven farmers, who did not even have KK connections, were buried alive right at the hacienda of Mayor Sola. Farmers who witnessed the burial that night spread the news until it reached the Columban priests in Kabankalan. Bishop Fortich pressured the higher Constabulary officials to investigate the atrocities.

As a result Mayor Sola was indicted for murder, granted bail several months later, was ambushed by the NPA guerillas on March 10, 1982. The then shaky political atmosphere combined with constant military reprisals against the local church, provided the backdrop for the raid on Father Gore’s rectory.

As political prisoners, the Negros Nine did not belong to a privileged class. To authorities, Father Gore was prisoner number 30855, Father O’Brien, 30856 and Father Dangan, 30857. Their cramped cell, with a small window ten feet from the floor, served as their sleeping quarters, comfort room and kitchen.

Reeking of urine, it brought them face to face with the harsh realities of prison life. It was there that Father Gore received threats from intruding armed thugs, got caught in the bloody fight afterwards, and fell unconscious.

But the support of their friends was overwhelming. Father O’Brien said that they received thousands of letters from abroad. Countless visitors would bring food, parishioners would offer them prayers, hundreds were willing to testify on their behalf and about 25,000 people signed a petition for their immediate release.

It was a “beautiful expression of human solidarity”, in the words of Father O’Brien, and a “great education in the context of our struggle”, according to Father Gore.

A Filipina writer further observed: “Gore and O’Brien are lucky. They were given special attention by Mr. Marcos, the highest official in the land. Had they been ordinary Filipinos whose arrests could create no international stir, would the same attention be given them? Would Mr. Marcos even think of proposing to give them freedom? Would the government bend over backwards to ease up irritants?”

Bishop Antonio Fortich, who had consistently shown his support for the Negros Nine and the Kristiyanong Katilingban, concluded: “Fidelity to our program of total human and Christian development has been their only crime”.

CASE IN FOCUS - Where is Charlie del Rosario?

(" Where is Charlie del Rosario?" was initially printed in Philippine Human Rights Update Volume 1, Number 9 on May 1986. Mr. del Rosario's whereabouts remains unknown.)

At the Polytechnic University of the Philippines stands the Freedom Hall Building and in that very same edifice is a mini-theater named in honor of Charlie del Rosario. For us to understand who he is, let us go back to the year 1971 shortly before martial law was declared.

In that year, Carlos “Charlie” del Rosario, aged 27, was an instructor of Political Science and History at the Philippine College of Commerce (now PUP) and a ranking member of the Movement for a Democratic Philippines (MDP) secretariat. A former general secretary of the Kabataan Makabayan (KM) and an alleged close associate of Jose Ma. Sison who was branded as the chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Charlie’s role in the national democratic organization was a gadfly in the government’s eyes.

It is important to note that the MDP was one of the few national democratic organizations which were the only legitimate opposition to the then Marcos regime.

On March 19, 1971, Charlie mysteriously disappeared. He was last seen at around 10:00 pm putting up posters at the PCC campus for the upcoming MDP congress.

The national democratic movements issued releases fulminating the government’s involvement in the disappearance. Investigations conducted by the KM and the MDP revealed that Charlie had been shadowed by government intelligence men since January 1971.

Six days after the incident, then KM spokesman Rey Tiquia stated in a press statement that “the movement does not have any concrete evidence that the military has kidnapped Del Rosario, but within the context of the established suppression of the KM, the movement has reason to believe that this is the case.”[1]

The movement further stated that the case was another example of “state fascism” and a “clear indication that the Marcos administration no longer trusts its system of law whose ideal rhetoric cannot thoroughly destroy the national democratic movement.[2]

Such scathing denunciations failed to force the military to produce Charlie or to disclose his whereabouts.

His wife, Francie, expressed doubts that her husband would come back alive. But his involuntary disappearance was not for naught. Contrary to the government’s expectations the incident instead of abating the movement, further intensified its popularity and activities.

Pickets and protest rallies were staged at the Freedom Park in front of Malacañang Palace. One such rally on April 12, 1971 attended by hundreds of concerned citizens wearing T-shirts with Charlie’s faced stamped on them ended violently leaving 18 youths hurt.

Fifteen years has passed and a new government has been installed yet Charlie is still missing. He was one of the first victims of involuntary disappearances and the question that continues to reverberate in our mind is “Where is Charlie?”

Dr. Nemesio Prudente, former PCC president and newly reinstated president of PUP cited in his speech before the first national conference of SELDA last May, 24, 1986, Charlie del Rosario’s dreams of achieving a free, democratic and just society through the ouster of the then Marcos repressive administration.

But Charlie’s dreams have not yet materialized for if he was still with us today, he would be the first to caution the Filipino people on indulging in delusions of freedom, democracy and justice. And he would be right, for the little that we have tasted of it is being stealthily taken from our grasp. Thus, the struggle continues.

---

[1] The Manila Times, March 25, 1971

[2] The Manila Times, April 13, 1971

Apatnapu

(Talumpati ni Sr. Crescencia Lucero, SFIC, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP)

Co-Chairperson sa misang pasasalamat para sa ika-40 anibersaryo ng TFDP)

 

Sr. Crescencia Lucero, SFIC, Co-Chairperson of TFDP delivering the homily for the 40th Anniversary Thanksgiving Mass

Apatnapu. Apatnapung taon. Parang kailan lang nang itatag ang Task Force Detainees of the Philippines ng Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP) bilang tugon sa “signs of the times”. Enero ng taong 1974 noong pagkaisahan ng AMRSP na magtayo ng dalawang Task Forces – TFDP at Task Force Data Gathering.

Isinilang ang TFDP sa gitna ng malawakang paglabag sa karapatang pantao. Nagsimula bilang isang inisyatiba ng mga relihiyoso at relihiyosa na naging bukas sa pagsama at pakikilahok ng iba pang denominasyon tulad ng UCCP, IFI, UMC, at ng kinalaunan ay naging “interfaith” na rin.

Dugo at pawis ang naging puhunan para itatag sa buong kapuluan ang TFDP at kumilos para ipagtanggol ang karapatan ng sambayanan. Ilang manggagawa ng TFDP ang kinulong, hinarass, at pinaslang dahil sa pagtataguyod ng karapatan at kalayaan ng taumbayan.

Kailanman ang sakripisyo ng mga kasama ay hindi malilimutan. Apatnapung taon na ang lumipas. Apatnapung taon na din nakaukit sa aming alaala ang lahat ng naging biktima ng marahas at madilim na panahon ng diktadura, ng total war, ng mapanlinlang na Philippines 2000, ng Erap para sa Mahirap, ng Strong Republic ni GMA at ng kasalukuyang matuwid na daan.

Apatnapu. Anim na pangulo.

Labing apat na taon ng pasistang diktadura. Limang libo limang daan tatlumpu’t isa ang tinortyur. Dalawang libo limang daan tatlumpu’t pito ang pinaslang. Pitong daan walumpu’t tatlo ang winala. Dalawang daan tatlumpu’t walo ang mga insidente ng masaker. Siyamnapu’t dalawang libo, anim na raan at pito ang naging biktima ng pag-aresto.

Mendiola Massacre, 1987. File photo from Museum of Courage and Resistance

Anim na taon ng total war ni Corazon Aquino. Limang daan pitumpu’t walo ang tinortyur. Labinlimang libo walong daan at pitumpu ang inaresto. Tatlong daan walumpu’t walo ang winala. Pitong daan at lima ang pinaslang. Dalawang daan labimpito ang insidente ng masaker.

Anim na taon ng MTPDP/Philippines 2000 ni Fidel Valdez Ramos. Apat na libo at tatlumpu ang naging biktima ng pag-aresto. Animnapu’t isa ang winala. Dalawang daan dalawampu’t tatlo ang salvaged. Siyamnapu’t isa ang mga insidente ng masaker.

Tatlong taon ni Erap. Isang libo dalawang daan at tatlumpu ang inaresto. Dalawampu’t lima ang winala. Apatnapu’t lima ang pinaslang. Tatlumpu’t lima ang mga insidente ng masaker. Tatlong daan ang tinortyur.

Siyam na taon ni GMA. Tatlong libo, dalawang daan walongpu’t anim ang inaresto. Isang daan tatlumpu’t apat ang winala. Dalawang daan dalawampu’t siyam ang pinaslang. Limang daan at labing siyam ang tinortyur. Limampu’t siyam ang insidente ng masaker.

Tatlong taon ni PNoy. Tatlong daan walumpu’t walo ang inaresto. Isang daan dalawampu’t walo ang tinortyur. Labing apat ang biktima ng sapilitang pagkawala. Tatlong insidente ng masaker. Dalawampu’t lima ang pinaslang.

Sa likod ng mga numero at istatikstikang ito ay mga pangalan at nilalang. Mga pangalan at nilalang na ipinaglaban ang karapatan. Inialay ang buhay para sa kalayaan, demokrasya, katarungan at kapayapaan. Mga mandirigma na lumaban para ibagsak ang bulok na sistema. Mga manggagawa, magsasaka, negosyante, propesyonal, kababaihan, katutubo, Moro, maralitang taga-lungsod, kabataan, LGBTs, at marami pang iba.

Political Detainees, Ipil Rehabilitation Center, File photo from Museum of Courage and Resistance

Mga bilanggong pulitikal tulad nina Jose Diokno, Lorenzo Tañada, Teofisto Guingona, Ed dela Torre, Rudy Abao, Satur Ocampo, Noel Etabag, Ted Lopez, Zacarias Agatep, Jose Nacu, Benjamin Cunanan, Brian Gore, Julio X. Labayen, Rebecca Mayola, Mariani Dimaranan at marami pang iba.

Mga tinortyur tulad nina Adora Faye de Vera, Ruben Alegre, Romy Castillo, Bernardo Itucal, Oscar Armea, at marami pang iba.

Mga winala tulad nina Carlos Tayag, Hermon Lagman, Raymundo Abadacio, Rudy Romano, Jessica Sales, at marami pang iba.

Escalante Massacre, 1985, file photo from Museum of Courage and Resistance

Mga pinaslang tulad nina Juan Escandor, Remberto dela Paz, Alredo Limboy, Santiago Arce, Emiliano Ortizo, Alex Orcullo, Lean Alejandro, Rolando Olalia, at marami pang iba.

Mga minasaker sa Escalante, Lupao, Mendiola, Jabidah, Digos, Ozamis, Kabankalan, Butuan, Sipalay, at marami pang iba.

Nais din naming kilalanin ang mga naging biktima ng kilusang mapagpalaya tulad nina Tigre, Banong, Kristo, Benny, Bobby, Carlo, Lito, at marami pang iba.

Apatnapu. Patuloy ang hamon ng panahon na isulong ang karapatan at kagalingan ng sambayanan. Hindi pa tapos ang pagsusumikap na itatag ang malaya at mapagpalayang lipunan. Ito ang patuloy na hamon sa ating lahat.

Kaya’t hanggang may paglabag sa karapatang pantao, hanggat may api at dukha, hanggat may diskriminasyon, hanggat may panunupil, patuloy ang ating pagtatalaga ng sarili para sa kapwa at sa bayan. Patuloy ang paglilingkod para sumibol ang lipunang siksik, liglig at nag-uumapaw sa kalayaan, pagkapantay-pantay, demokrasya, kasarinlan at kapayapaan.

Patuloy ang pagmamahal – sa kapwa, sa bayan, sa kapaligiran at sa buong sangkatauhan.

Sa gabing ito, yan ang aking pangako sa edad na pitumpu’t dalawa. Yan ang ating pangako para sa kapwa at sa sambayanan sa harap ng Diyos ng kasaysayan. Magtalaga ng sarili, maglingkod. Patuloy na magmahal!

A History of Task Force Detainees of the Philippines

A narrative statement of Sr. Mariani Dimaranan, SFIC
(Sr. Mariani's narrative statement was originally created on 1990 and was published in the book "Mariani, A Woman of a Kind" on December 2001. Sr Mariani has been the Chairperson of TFDP from April 1974 to September 1996. She was the honorary Chairperson of TFDP until her death in 2005.)

Sr. Mariani Dimaranan, SFIC. File photo from the Museum of Courage and Resistance

My name is Sr. Mariani Dimaranan. I am 65 years old, a citizen of the Philippines, residing in Quezon City, Philippines, and a member of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, I have been asked by the plaintiff’s counsel to testify regarding torture, summary execution and disappearance in the Philippines between September 1972 and February 1986.

I am an educator by training, I received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Santo Tomas in 1952, a Masters degree in Education from De La Salle University in 1970 and I am currently completing a Masters degree in Theology at the Maryknoll School of Theology in Ossining, New York. Prior to the 1970’s, I was Registrar and head of the Social Sciences Department at St. Joseph’s College. In 1974-1975, I was Dean of Our Lady of the Angels Seminary in Novaliches.

Following Marcos’ declaration of Martial Law in September 1972, I became deeply involved in the documentation of human rights’ abuses in the Philippines. As a member of the Catholic Church, I began visiting political detainees incarcerated in military camps in the Metro Manila Area. In October 1973, I was arrested and detained in a prison camp by the Philippine military on the alleged ground that my activities were subversive. During my incarceration, I was interrogated and I learned, first hand, about the large number of persons detained as well as the fact that many had been tortured by the Philippine military. Because the press was both censored and controlled by Marcos, almost no information was publicly available on the number of persons arrested by the military or the abuses they endured after arrest. The Catholic Church was virtually the only institution in the Philippines not controlled by Marcos at that time. Based on conditions observed and information collected by Church workers like myself, the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP) conducted survey in September 1973 on the effects of Martial Law on farmers and the poor, including torture and detention. The survey showed an alarming number of human rights abuses.

Sr. Mariani visiting political detainees. File photo from Museum of Courage and Resistance

As a result of the survey, a group now known as Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) was formed by the AMRSP in January 1974 to investigate human rights’ abuses and, where possible, to intervene with the military to release detainees. I was elected chairperson in 1975 and continued in that position until mid-1990. During that period, I worked full-time for TFDP. I was chairperson of TFDP’s Board of Trustees. TFDP was the first Filipino human rights group dedicated solely to investigating human rights’ abuses. It could operate under Martial Law because it was under the protective umbrella of the Catholic Church. TFDP collected information from Churches of all denominations, from relatives of detainees, from detainees themselves and from many other sources. As a result of my experience with Philippine human rights matters, I have lectured frequently in the Philippines and abroad on human rights abuses. I am a Board Member of several organizations in the Philippines and am a Founder and first Chairperson of Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, a coalition of human rights organizations in the Philippines.

I would like to tell you about how TFDP operated between 1974 and 1986. Martial Law was in effect in the Philippines and there were laws against demonstrations and rallies and printing of statements, critical of the government of Marcos. TFDP decided to document and publicize human rights abuses. It was my belief that by publishing human right abuses to the outside world, I could protect present and future detainees from additional abuse. But there were many problems in documenting the abuses. Usually TFDP was notified by frantic relatives or eye witnesses that a person was seized and taken away by the military.

Locating and contacting the detainee was often difficult since incommunicado detention was the rule, and it was the biggest difficulty TFDP had to contend with. “Incommunicado” meant that the military would not permit any friend, relative or attorney to contact the detainee. Often the military would not confirm custody of the detainee, of his or her whereabouts even though we would receive information from relatives or eyewitnesses that the individual was taken away from them. Because of the large number of military camps and the various military commands, it was difficult to locate a detainee until the military admitted custody. In addition, many detainees were not taken to military camps after arrest. Instead, they were taken for interrogation to secret, non-military locations such as farm houses or apartments rented by the military. These were known as “safehouses”. Typically, detainees were held for days, weeks or even months while the military denied access to their families or that they had the detainees in custody. It was my practice to appeal to military commanders to confirm the custody and location of detainees and demand access to them.

Even after the military admitted holding a person, the family or TFDP had difficulty getting to see him/her.

When we did get access, we did the documentation process. Virtually, all detainees had been interrogated by the military before I or other TFDP representatives met with them. Not every detainee was tortured, but torture during interrogation was common and the military had a term for this known as “tactical interrogation”. Various types or torture were routinely employed. Beatings were the most common form of torture. Detainees, while their hands were tied and frequently blindfolded, were punched, kicked and hit with the butt of rifles. Often, their heads were banged against the wall or floor. Another method of torture was called the “telephone”. The detainee’s ears were clapped simultaneously producing a ringing in the detainee’s ears. Bullets were inserted between the fingers of the hand and were squeezed. Two types of water torture were common. The “wet submarine” submerged the head of a detainee in a toilet full of excrement. The “water cure” consisted of placing a cloth over the face of a detainee who was lying face up and water was continuously poured over the cloth. The effect was to cause the detainee to inhale or swallow water when he tried to breathe. It gave a sensation of drowning. A “dry submarine” placed the detainee’s head in a plastic bag to suffocate him/her. Cigarette burns on the detainee’s body were also common. Detainees’ hands were used as ashtrays. Sometimes the detainees were often stripped and sexually molested or raped, sometimes by multiple soldiers. It was not uncommon for detainees to be forced to stand naked before an air conditioner or sit on a block of ice. This induced pneumonia and also aggravated tuberculosis, a common disease in the Philippines. Though less common, truth serum was also injected into some detainees.

Electric shock torture was also used by the military. Electrodes were attached to sensitive parts of the body or extremities such as breasts, genitals, fingers or toes. The electric shock was often generated by cranking a standard-issue military field telephone. When former U. S. Attorney General, Ramsey Clark, was in the Philippines in August 1977, TFDP gave him the location of a room in a military camp where detainees had been tortured by electric shock. In his tour of that camp, he forced his way into the room and photographed the field telephone with electrodes attached to it and a metal chair nearby.

Frequently, detainees were subjected to multiple forms of torture. At Christmas, 1974, I visited Cenon Zembrano at Camp Olivas in Pampanga. He had been arrested by the military two weeks earlier. He had been beaten and given electric shocks. When I saw him, there were cigarette burns on his face, hands and chest and scars from electric shocks on his hands and around his eyes. The sole of one foot was blackened with burns from a flat iron. He could not walk.

In 1976, I documented the torture of Elena Ang who was arrested on her way to Church by military intelligence. They tortured her with beatings, sexual molestation, water cure and repeated sessions of electric shock. She was made to drink water to intensify the pain.

In 1982, I visited Boy Morales at Camp Bago Bantay. He had been arrested and tactically interrogated for weeks by the military who employed beatings, the water cure, electric shock. He was also placed dripping wet in front of an air conditioner.

Psychological torture was very common. The barrel of pistols and rifles were stuck in a detainee’s mouth or put to his heads or genitals. With the “Russian Roulette”, a single bullet was placed in a revolver and the pistol trigger was pulled while aimed at the detainee. In the San Juanico Bridge, a detainee was forced to support himself with his shoulder on one chair and his feet on another. If he slumped, he was beaten. In other instances, detainees were driven to remote locations by armed soldiers and told to escape only to be shot. In addition, there were verbal threats made during the tactical interrogation that the detainee would be salvaged or disappear. “Salvaging” was a term for secret summary execution of a detainee by the military. It meant saving the information and disposing of the body. “Disappearance” occurred when a person arrested by the military and was never seen or heard from again. TFDP’s emphasis on obtaining access to detainees as soon as possible after the arrest was intended to prevent salvaging and disappearance.

TFDP began documenting these abuses in 1975 in the Greater Manila Area where about one-sixth of the country’s population lived. TFDP gradually expanded its operations to all major regions of the Philippines because of the large number of requests for help. By 1986, TFDP had 65 local offices and four regional offices, all coordinated through the head office in Quezon City, which is in the Greater Manila Area.

I placed a great emphasis on visiting detainees, and I personally visited over 100 military detention facilities. Especially in the early years, I usually entered detention facilities with relatives of the detainees. I interviewed the detainees and saw their wounds.

As TFDP activities became more widely known and I became more recognizable, I was sometimes denied access to certain detention camps or to specific detainees. TFDP also collected information from family members or eyewitnesses, especially in cases of suspected salvaging and disappearance, to document the military unit that arrested the individuals. Sometimes, our information about arrest came from persons who were arrested but managed to escape. In addition to documenting abuses, TFDP also tried to assist detainees in getting medical attention, legal assistance and release from custody. Some detainees were held for months or years without formal charges or active prosecution after they were charged.

In 1976, TFDP published its first book entitled Political Detainees in the Philippines describing the ordeals and case histories of persons who were tortured, salvaged or disappeared. Because printing and publishing were closely controlled by the military under Martial Law, the book had to be printed secretly. TFDP distributed the book in the Philippines and to other countries, to the United Nations, foreign embassies, different religious groups and international human rights’ organizations. In 1977, TFDP published its second and third book under the same title, Political Detainees of the Philippines, chronicling torture, summary execution and disappearance in that year. In 1980 and 1986, TFDP published two more books under the title Pumipiglas. Loosely translated from Filipino, Pumipiglas means “struggling to be free”. Each of the books contained a commentary on the type of human rights’s abuses being committed, identified some of the more notorious military units responsible, and gave statements or case histories of specific individuals. Both were distributed in the Philippines, internationally to human rights’ groups, embassies and to the United States.

TFDP compiled statistics of torture, summary executions and disappearances for the period, October 1972 to February 1986. The statistics for 1972, 1973 and 1974 are partial since TFDP only started in 1974. Torture statistics for 1975 and 1976 were not compiled.

Sr. Mariani showing photos of victims of human rights violations. 

The statistics show that there were at least 5,531 instances of torture by the military and para-military units between October 1972 and December 1985. On the average, over 500 people were tortured each year from 1977 to 1985. Although TFDP’s compilations for the years September 1972 to 1976 are incomplete, very large numbers of persons were arrested for political offenses: over 6,000 in the last three months of 1972, over 29,000 in 1973, over 19,000 in 1974, over 9,000 in 1975 and over 5, 000 in 1976. The arrest figures for those years were obtained from the unit of the Philippine Military which was responsible for the custody of detainees. Political offenders’ arrest-statistics for 1977 also came from the military. For the other years, arrest statistics were compiled by TFDP. Based on my knowledge and experience as a detainee and in documenting torture most of those years, it is my opinion that at least 500 people were tortured annually between 1972 and 1976.

The torture statistics reflect documented cases. Torture was often not reported because of intimidation and fear of reprisal or because of the nature of the torture, such as rape. As I stated earlier, it was common for detainees to be threatened by the reported more consistently, although TFDP did not compile statistics for the years 1975 and 1976. Tragically, the statistics show a gradual escalation of salvaging and disappearance from 1977 to 1985. Between January 1977 and February 1986, there were 2,537 summary executions and 783 disappearances.

Sometimes the disappearance of individuals, after being last seen in military custody, would result into salvaging. TFDP received information from time to time about unmarked graves. TFDP also helped relatives in exhuming salvaged victims to identify the bodies through rings, clothing or physical characteristics. This situation occurred in 1977 when six persons, including Bong Sison, were exhumed from a public cemetery in Quezon Province and were identified. They had last been seen in military custody, two weeks earlier in Metro Manila.

Based on my extensive personal participation in documenting human rights’ abuses in the Philippines between 1974 to 1986, it is my opinion that torture, summary execution and disappearance perpetrated by the Philippine military and para-military were routine, systematic and widespread. “Tactical interrogation” was common-place, and detainees were tortured singly or collectively. I documented cases were electric shock was given to detainees. In other cases, detainees were interrogated and beaten with fists and rifles. These abuses occurred in all the regions although there was greater frequency in some regions particularly in the Greater Manila Area and in Mindanao and in certain provinces like Cebu, Pampanga, Bicol, Laguna, Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental. Likewise, there was a greater frequency of abuse where the military intelligence units were involved or presidential arrest orders were issued.

It is my opinion that political dissidents are frequently the target of torture, salvaging and disappearance. Members of the Catholic clergy who were arrested were tortured, some were salvaged or disappeared. The same lot fell on journalists, students, labor leaders, and human rights lawyers who were critical of Marcos policies.