From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Jan 26): Wife shows hubby’s PhilHealth, SSS cards to prove he’s no Red
The wife of a security guard arrested by the military for being a Communist
Party of the Philippines (CPP) leader called on the Court of Appeals Friday to
release her husband, whom she said was a victim of “mistaken identity.”
Appearing before the Court of Appeals’ 5th Division, Marites Chioco submitted
her common-law husband Rolly Panesa’s birth certificate, baptismal certificate,
school records, records of his employment, Social Security System and PhilHealth
cards, driver’s license and NBI clearance to refute the military’s claims that
he has been leading a double life.
Cioco also submitted a certificate showing that Panesa underwent training for
the government’s Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit, an irregular auxiliary
force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“These are all government-issued documents and not one government agency has
come out to say that these are fake. The AFP should admit its error because of
arbitrariness in arrest Panesa,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of the
human rights alliance Karapatan, who attended the hearing.
Presiding Justice Rosemarie Carandang ordered the AFP lawyers to present the
military’s dossier on a certain Benjamin Mendoza in the next hearing set Feb. 5.
Palabay said Panesa would sit on the witness stand the same day.
Panesa was arrested in Quezon City by AFP Southern Luzon Command operatives
on Oct. 5, 2012. The military claimed he was Mendoza, alleged secretary of CCP’s
Southern Tagalog regional committee and a member of the CPP’s central committee.
Chioco claimed her husband was tortured to admit he was Mendoza, showing to
the media a picture of her husband with a swollen face and bruised eye and lips.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/347605/wife-shows-hubbys-philhealth-sss-cards-to-prove-hes-no-red
This case shows the legal difficulty of proving that an ordinary citizen may in fact also have a nom-de-guerre and be a member of an underground insurgent organization. CPP human rights front, Karapatan, along with family members, are steadfastly sticking to the "mistaken identity" theme in asserting that Rolly Panesa is not Benjamin Mendoza, the undergound CPP leader.
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