A human rights group condemned the latest harassment of former political prisoner and acclaimed poet Adora Faye de Vera, citing an unwelcome visit by unidentified persons at her residence last November 7.
The Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) revealed that two suspicious persons, one of them a woman, visited de Vera ostensibly to talk to her about her “insurance.”
But the two refused to identify themselves, insisting they were at the right address and merely gave a description of a woman they were looking for.
They likewise did not answer when De Vera asked them what insurance company they were from, SELDA said.
De Vera talked to the two persons only through a peephole on her door and refused to disclose any personal information since they did not identify themselves, the group added.
The prolific writer recalled the she was last arrested in August 2022 when two women claiming to be from the Bureau of Fire Protection knocked on her door, claiming they smelled smoke from her unit.
Minutes later, a team of raiders barged into her unit, dragged her to a waiting vehicle and brought her by plane to Iloilo.
“I had been detained for three days before they showed me a warrant,” she said of her fourth arrest.
She was unjustly detained in an Iloilo jail for close to two years until she was eventually acquitted of the trumped-up murder, frustrated murder and rebellion charges slapped against her.
De Vera had also survived abduction, rape and torture under Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s martial law.
TWO ADORA FAYE DE VERA POEMS
1. Para sa kanila, hindi tayo mabibigo
She is currently an active member of SELDA and Desaparecidos, as her husband Manuel Manaog was disappeared in June 1990.
Aside from contributing to various poetry anthologies, de Vera was also the author of the 1993 book “Ang Gabriela sa pagsusulong ng kilusang kababaihan sa Pilipinas,” published by Karapatang Mapaglathala.
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“Is ‘insurance’ the military’s new pretext for illegally gaining entry into Adora’s home to do her harm?” asked SELDA spokesperson Bonifacio Ilagan.
Ilagan added: “This nefarious practice of targeting former political prisoners for harassment and persecution must stop.”
“The government should focus on jailing the corrupt and lay its hands off human rights defenders and former political prisoners like Adora,” Ilagan said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
