by Joseph
Cuevas
Families and supporters of political prisoners held
a dialogue with Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) National
Headquarters officials on the detainees’ forcible transfer from Camp Bagong
Diwa in Bicutan to local jails, mostly outside Metro Manila, December 4.
According to Kapatid, the organization of families
and friends of political prisoners, the transfer of political prisoners is part
of a bigger scheme “to further restrict the movement and access to much needed
medical attention, legal services, visits and support from relatives and
friends.”
The group added the planned transfer all the more
violates the detainees’ rights as political prisoners, “whose arrest and
detention are unjust from the very beginning.”
Kapatid members were alarmed about the “dispersal”
of political prisoners from the Metro Manila District Jail Annex 4 after
consecutive court motions were filed to move political prisoners to local jails.
They said inmates suffer from severe congestion and
worse jail conditions in the local jails where 11 political prisoners are set to
be transferred.
The dialogue, held during the 14th International
Day of Solidarity for Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War last December 3,
was initiated by the office of Bayan Muna Rep. and deputy minority floor leader
Carlos Isagani Zarate at the House of Representatives in Quezon City.
Zarate along with Rep. Ferdinand Gaite and Rep.
Eufemia Cullamat filed House Resolution 566 in the lower house to investigate
the situation of political prisoners.
Government prosecutors have asked to transfer National
Democratic Front of the Philippines peace consultants Frank Fernandez,
Adelberto Silva and their companion, called the “Sta. Cruz 5”, to the Laguna Provincial
Jail; Rey Casambre to Bacoor Jail; and government union organizer Oliver
Rosales to Malolos City Jail.
Farmer Maximo Reduta from Southern Quezon was
transferred to Gumaca District Jail last week.
Counterinsurgency
move
BJMP Chief for Operations Jail Chief Supt. Dennis
Rocamora said that the transfer of political prisoners is part of decongestion
campaign of jails across the country and several concern of security escort
during court hearings.
He said they received complaints from different
courts about the delayed or postponement of PDLs (Persons Deprived of Liberty) trials
because of distance and security measures set by the bureau.
But Rocamora also admitted that some re-commitment
of political prisoners outside Metro Manila is due to the request of the
Department of National Defense, invoking Executive Order No. 70.
EO 70 created the National Task Force
to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC),
also known as the government’s resurrected “Whole of Nation Approach” against
insurgency.
Rocamora cited the case of
Fernandez and his wife Cleofe Lagtapon whom the DND requested through BJMP
Chief Supt. Allan Iral for their transfer to Sta. Cruz Jail since July 25, 2019.
A copy of court order
transferring Maximo Reduta was also revealed in the dialogue as requested by
the Defense Secretary.
Rights group opposes transfer
Human Rights group
Karapatan asserted the transfer of political prisoners in jails, particularly
in the same area where common offenders or criminals, are detained will
endanger their lives.
“These individuals are
being persecuted already by a government that brands them as enemies of the State.
It is not far-fetched, as in the cases of former Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando
Espinosa and Genesis “Tisoy” Argoncillo, who were both killed in separate
incidents while under detention, that the Duterte administration is cooking up
plans for assassinations of political prisoners while in detention,” Karapatan said
in a statement.
Karapatan also emphasized
that political prisoners were victims of trumped-up charges and arbitrary
arrests.
“Many of them are in jail
because operatives planted evidence in their belongings, are implicated by paid
and expert witnesses, arrested by virtue of defective warrants, and were
targeted because of their affiliation and vocal criticisms,” the group said.
As of November 2019, there are 629 political
prisoners across the country, 382 of whom were arrested under the Duterte
government, Karapatan said. #