Sunday, July 28, 2013

MILF: Aleosan PNP arrests four Moro civilians

Posted to the MILF Website (Jul 29): Aleosan PNP arrests four Moro civilians



The detachment commander of the 40th Infantry Battalion’s detachment at Sitio Tubak, Pagangan, Aleosan, Cotabato   of the Philippine Army, Cpl. Yussof Pasandalan, was ambushed by  unidentified assailant/s on July 22 at 10am while he was onboard his motorbike from their detachment heading towards Pikit town in Cotabato.
   
A Police report says that the victim sustained multiple gunshot wounds on his body and rushed to Amado Doctors Hospital, Midsayap, Cotabato where he perished later.
The report that reached www.luwaran.com says that, immediately after the shooting incident, the police on duty during that day at the Aleosan Municipal Police Station and elements of 40th IB responded to the crime site and seized four innocent civilians in Sitio Tubak, Barangay Pagangan, Aleosan, Cotabato.

When asked about the incident, the four civilians, Shadam “Mama” Patadadon, Patadon Norodin, Musanip Patadon and Musa Adal said that, “They were busy cutting trees in a place more or less 1 kilometer away from the site where the incident happened and not at the ambush site.

On July 24, some Media men, Civil Society Group and Human Rights Watchdog headed by Mindanao Human Rights Action Center (MinHRAC) visited the Aleosan Municipal Police Station in Aleosan, Cotabato to conduct (fact-finding) investigation in relation to the case of the four arrested civilians.
In an interview with Patadon Norodin, 80 and the father of Shadam Patadon, he said that, “At 6:30 in the morning they went to area to cut tress as their source of livelihood together with Musa and son, Shadam, and then at around 10am, suddenly received a message from his nephew that they heard a rapid gun fire near their homes.”

Upon knowing this report, Patadon Norodin, returned back to their village to verify the incident.

He said that a group of military has searched houses in their village including their houses without any search warrant.

“A moment later, the Police came and one of them asked me, where I was during the shooting? Who were my companions? I politely said we’re in the area where we were cutting tress for our livelihood together with my son, Shadam and our chainsaw operator Musa,” Norodin elaborated in the vernacular.

He also disclosed that the Police asked him about name of individuals who have been left home.

“The police asked me many questions until they invited us to the police station for further investigation”, he said. 

“We were onboard a mobile car en route to Aleosan Police Station while the group of soldiers rode with military vehicle accompanied us but they stopped at the road junction crossing [entering municipal hall of] Aleosan,” Norodin added.

The Police detained the innocent civilians in 1345H in the afternoon of 22nd of July at the Aleosan Police Station.

Asked about his feeling on the allegation of the arresting officers, Norodin lamented: “We are deeply hurt. How come that the supposed to be ‘protectors’ of the helpless civilians are the ones who arrested us without any evidence”.

“There is no reason for us to be arrested as we did not attempt to escape or run away”, he added.

Hamsa Landayan, Shadam’s first cousin, said: “The police have promised us to free them in that day, July 22, and they will bring them back home”.

“Because they are an authority, we trusted their words, that’s why we left the police station in the late afternoon, but only to find out, all those words were just strategies for us to leave them and pursue their plan to produce fabricated evidences for our innocent relatives be put at jail”, he added.

“On the 23rd of July, the three civilians including Patadon Norodin were released by the Aleosan Police Officers, however, Shadam Patadon was still detained (without any charge or case filed against him) and continuously interrogated”, Landayan further said.

“They are clear human rights violation committed by the security sector. Justice should be accorded to the victims. Shadam was not able to observe fasting for 3 days”, Landayan said emotionally.

Shadam disclosed that there was a woman who forced him to admit the crime that he has never done.

The Aleosan Police has travelled Shadam from Aleosan to Kidapawan City and vice versa.

“I have no good food to eat here at the detention cell, that’s why I couldn’t fast… I vomited three times while we were on our way to Kidapawan,” he said in a vernacular.
  
On Wednesday, Shadam was brought again to the Hall of Justice in Kidapawan City for an inquest while members of Human Rights Watchdog and media were around to witness the proceedings. The family of Shadam waited for almost a day to determine if the police was to file a case or not but no concrete information given to them.

The para-legal team of MinHRAC told the Shadam family that, “If no case is filed by the arresting officers, your family can file an “Arbitrary detention case” against the Aleosan Police.”

At around 3pm, Shadam’s lawyer arrived and asked the arresting police SPO4 Herberto B. Paculang, SPO4 Jessie C. Albay and SPO2 Russel O. Calibayan, all are members of PNP in Aleosan, and the Provincial Prosecutor of the result of the inquest.

And quickly, the signed document of the Provincial Prosecutor was handed over by one of the arresting officers to the family of Shadam. No further details are available to determine the fate of the arrested civilians whether they were release or not.

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/476-aleosan-pnp-arrests-four-moro-civilians

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