Detainees vow to go on ‘strike’

From the Manila Standard Today (Dec 29): Detainees vow to go on ‘strike’

A TOTAL of 491 political prisoners will stage a five-day hunger strike and fasting during Pope Francis’ visit in as many days in January to dramatize their protest against torture and illegal detention under the Aquino administration.

The human rights group Karapatan said the mothers of two detainees, fresh graduates from UP-Pampanga, had written to the pope asking him to help free their children, saying their sons were abducted by the military in August on false charges.

Marita Cadanao and Rowena Salonga, the mothers of Guiller Martin Cadanao and Gerald Salonga, both 23, said the two had volunteered as researchers and organizers of the Kabataan party-list group as “a way of giving back to the people” “to uplift their lives” and “to make it a worthy place to settle in the future.”

Their letters were sent to the pope along with the letter of suspected New People’s Army rebel Andrea Rosal.

The mothers said Guiller and Gerald were gathering data on the displacement of farmers caused by the government projects in Caranglan, Nueva Ecija, when they were abducted by soldiers belonging to the Third Infantry Battalion on Aug. 9, 2014.

They said their sons were subjected to mental torture for more than 10 hours before they were turned over to the police in the morning of Aug. 10, 2014. They said their sons were accused of being members of the New People’s Army and then jailed in San Jose city in Nueva Ecija.

Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary-general, said Guiller and Gerald were among the 491 political prisoners under the Aquino administration. She said 220 of the 491 were illegally arrested and were now still in detention.

“Aquino seeks to hide the political nature of arresting and detaining them by filing criminal charges against them,” said Jigs Clamor, national coordinator of Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto or Selda.

“This is borne out of an unjust societal structure that is propped up by counter-insurgency programs such as Oplan Bayanihan. We support the political prisoners’ appeal to Pope Francis to put an end to these structures that breed injustices.”

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/12/29/detainees-vow-to-go-on-strike-/