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Oldest political prisoner freed; home-bound to give waiting wife a kiss

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By Nuel M. Bacarra

The country’s oldest political prisoner, Gerardo dela Peña, 85, walked free Sunday night from the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City after more than a decade of imprisonment.

A former head of the the Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensiyon at Aresto (SELDA)- Camarines Norte chapter, Dela Peña was arrested on March 21, 2013 by elements of the 49th Infantry Battalion in Brgy. Matango in Vinzons, Camarines Norte and convicted at age 75 for a murder case.

Political prisoner support group Kapatid however said dela Peña’s conviction for allegedly killing his own nephew was wrong as the New People’s Army admitted to the act.

Gerardo dela Peña walks free from the National Bilibid Prison after ‘wrongful arrest and conviction.’ (Kapatid photo)

Thin and frail, he carried a small bag containing his meager possessions and the Certificate of Discharge from Prison issued by the Bureau of Corrections last June 29.

Accompanied by Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim, dela Peña’s son Melchor fetched his father from the NBP after travelling 12 hours from their home province.

In a statement today, Lim said: “Tatay Gerry’s journey to freedom was very difficult because of systematic challenges and bureaucratic delays. Being more than 80 years old and sickly, Tatay Gerry is over qualified to avail of humanitarian basis for release.”

Lim added it is concerning why the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) could not immediately implement its own Board Resolution Number OT-08-02-2023 allowing executive clemency for prisoners who have reached 70 years old and served ten years of their sentence.

“The fact is, Tatay Gerry had already over-served his commutated sentence, serving exactly 12 years and two months as of June 12, aside from the good conduct time allowance he accrued. Every additional minute behind bars is a gross injustice for an innocent man,” Lim said.

The Commission on Human Rights on May 24 also reminded the government earlier of its duty to implement the Mandela Rules sick and elderly prisoners.

Already hard of hearing, Tatay Gerry also suffers from impaired vision, diabetes and hypertension. While in jail, he also suffered a stroke.

Defective judicial system

The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) said dela Peña’s arrest, conviction and decade-long imprisonment were the result of the country’s defective judicial system.

“If there was any proof, I don’t think it was sufficient because somebody else did it and somebody else admitted doing it. It should have mattered to look for that angle,” Atty. Ephraim Cortez, NUPL president, said.

“The fact that somebody else claimed having done it, it is already a reasonable doubt,” he explained.

Karapatan deputy secretary general Roneo Clamor gives newly-freed political detainee Gerardo dela Peña his portrait. (N. Bacarra/Kodao)

In a celebratory gathering for dela Peña Monday afternoon, he said he was very excited to go home to his family and to again work their farm in Camarines Norte.

“Ay, masaya syempre. Hindi na kayang sabihin ang kasayahan ko. Ang kasayahan ko ay pantay langit na,” he exclaimed. (Happy of course. No words can describe my happiness. My happiness is sky high.)

He added he looks forward to seeing his wife Pilar and to give her a kiss.

Dela Peña said he is grateful to Lim and Kapatid, his lawyers, SELDA and Karapatan and other organizations who worked for his release, including Makabayan representatives Arlene Brosas, France Castro and Raoul Manuel.

He also said he hopes for the freedom of all other political prisoners, especially the sick and elderly.

Dela Peña’s son Melchor for his part said: “Pakiramdam namin, may nadagdag sa buhay namin. Masaya kami dahil ‘yung pamilya namin ay nag-aabang doon.” (We feel our lives have been enhanced. We are happy as our family waits for us arrival.)

“Hindi kami nag-i-expect na makalabas pa siya. Sabi naming, wala na. Buti na lang may tumulong sa amin,” he added (We didn’t expect him to be free. We gave up. Luckily, there were those who helped us.)

Father and son are bound for Camarines Norte today. #

Kapatid spox: Why investigate us on ‘dehumanizing’ strip searches?

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Political prisoner support group Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim slammed “harassing invitations” to her by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) about her group’s report of degrading strip and cavity searches implemented at the National Bilibid Prison (NBP).

Lim said that while they welcome announcements of the immediate stoppage of the practice, she said she feels harassed by the two so-called invitations to an investigation issued to her by BuCor’s Intelligence and Investigation Division.

Lim revealed that the first summon is in relation to a supposed complaint by Inmate Visiting Services Unit head Evangeline Rabara who supervises the strip and cavity searches while the second is from NBP Medium Security Camp Commander Ruben Formoso.  

“’Invitations’ from security units are always alarming and even dangerous because they are not truly optional. They are in fact coercive and a form of intimidation to compel obedience yet create uncertainty and anxiety for the individual summoned,” Lim said.

Lim added that she has sought legal representation from the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) on the matter.

FLAG lawyer Evelyn Dominguez already sought clarification from BuCor director Gregorio Catapang to ask if the so-called invitations “were done with his knowledge and approval,” Lim further revealed.

In a May 10 memorandum, Catapang ordered all BuCor superintendents to stop strip and cavity searches among jail visitors following revelations made by Kapatid in a press conference at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) last week.

BuCor chief Catapang’s memorandum ordering a stop to strip searches in jails.

“In view of the ongoing review of the BuCor’s Procedures and Protocols on Strip Search and Cavity Search on PDL (persons deprived of liberty) visitors, you are hereby directed to immediatelystop the conduct of such searches until further notice,” Catapang’s order reads.

READ: Political detainees’ wives reveal humiliating strip search at Bilibid

The CHR last May 8 urged the BuCor to ensure that such searches “are reasonable and carried out with the utmost respect for human dignity.”

“While we recognise the importance of maximum security inspection to ensure the safety and security of correctional facilities, it is vital that these security measures do not jeopardize visitors’ fundamental human rights. Inspections must be conducted in a way that respects the dignity, privacy, and rights of all individuals involved,” the national human rights institution said.

CHR pointed out Rules 51 and 52(1) of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, or the Mandela Rules, which state that security searches “shall not be used to harass, intimidate, or unnecessarily intrude upon a prisoner’s privacy” and that “intrusive searches shall be conducted in private and by trained staff of the same sex as the prisoner.”

It also reminded BuCor of its January 19, 2023 statement that strip and cavity searches in jails “should not be directed at the families of political prisoners.”

Lim, through FLAG, told BuCor about her reluctance to appear in the “troubling investigations” and shall instead by represented by Atty. Dominguez.

“At any rate, this matter is already the subject matter of a separate complaint lodged with the (CHR). Hence, it is no longer within the purview of your intelligence office,” she added.

Lim however said she welcomes the BuCor’s response to their complaints and hopes that the order will permanently translate into full compliance with international human rights standards that prohibit the use of strip and cavity search as a routine and regular policy measure. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Political prisoners, other PDLs oppose transfer to new ‘Guantanamo-style’ jail inside Bagong Diwa

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Political prisoners and other detainees at the Metro Manila District Jail Annex 4 (MMDJ-4) in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City are appealing against their transfer to a newly constructed prison facility, which a support group of political prisoners dubs the “Philippine Guantanamo.”

In a written petition presented at a meeting convened by the Makabayan bloc in Congress with the head of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) last Wednesday, March 20, the detainees said they request reconsideration of the decision to transfer them to the newly constructed jail facility at the MMDJ-Main.

“We, the detainees of MMDJ Annex 4, Camp Bagong Diwa, have come together to request to remain in MMDJ Annex 4 because we only number 305 PDLs (persons deprived of liberty) here, and overcrowding is not an issue,” they said in a handwritten letter addressed to BJMP chief Gen. Ruel Rivera.

Written in Filipino, the letter was signed by eight “mayores” representing various groups that include the political prisoners, Moro organizations and prison gangs in the MMDJ-4 facility.

The letter written by the PDLs to BJMP. (Supplied by Kapatid)

Political prisoners support group Kapatid described the new facility as a “Guantanamo-style prison” that features cramped two by three meter cells.

Kapatid  spokesperson Fides Lim told BJMP chief Gen. Ruel Rivera that families of political prisoners support the PDLs’ appeal as congestion does not seem to be the primary issue for transfer amid “disturbing” reports that the political prisoners and Muslim PDLs will be incarcerated in the “bartolina-type” cells on the seventh floor of one of the new buildings in the MMDJ Main.

Guantanamo is the notorious prison operated by the United States of America in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for those it considers as its enemies and so-called terrorists. It has become notorious for torture, harsh interrogation techniques, indefinite detention without trial and other human rights abuses and violations of international law as well as lack of transparency and accountability.

Kapatid said the solitary isolation cells smack of the notorious US prison camp.

“Is Guantanamo now being transplanted into the Philippine jail system? But ‘confinement in solitary cells’ is considered among the ‘acts of torture’ explicitly prohibited under Republic Act 9745 or Anti-Torture Act of 2009 and similarly proscribed under the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, also known as the Mandela Rules,” Lim said.

The meeting between the BJMP and the Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives. (Supplied by Kapatid)

ACT Teachers Party Rep. France Castro also questioned the reported involvement of an agency under the US Department of Justice, the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP), in the funding, construction and operation of the new huge jail compound located beside the MMDJ Annex 4 building.

BJMP chief Gen. Director Ruel Rivera said the “ICITAP is only involved in training” of local jail personnel and that he “opposes the practice of solitary confinement because this is prohibited under the Mandela Rules.”

Rivera pledged to conduct an “ocular inspection” of the new facility and provide the Makabayan representatives with “complete background information” about it, including funding source and the BJMP’s logistics development plan around 2016.

Castro and the other Makabayan partylist members, Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas and Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel, said they will also push for an ocular inspection of the new facility together with the House committee on human rights.

They said this is part of the oversight functions of the legislature to review and monitor public sector agencies to ensure their compliance with constitutional and legal prescriptions, especially on the protection of basic rights. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)