NUPL denies kidnapping witness in Sagay shooting

From the Visayan Daily Star (Nov 5): NUPL denies kidnapping witness in Sagay shooting

The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) vehemently debunked allegations that they took the survivor-witness in the shooting of nine civilians, from the Department of Social Welfare and Development office in Sagay City, Negros Occidental.

Katherine Panguban, a member of NUPL and lawyer of human rights group Karapatan, was charged with kidnapping and serious illegal detention for allegedly taking custody of the witness in the massacre in Sagay City.

Vic Pedaso, the father of the 14-year-old witness, filed the charges against Panguban, Chief Inspector Robert Mansueto, Sagay police chief, said.

Pedaso sought police assistance on Oct. 30, claiming that his son has been missing since Oct. 27.

The mother of the boy was reportedly accompanied by lawyers and representatives of various militant groups when he was taken from the custody of the DSWD.

Mansueto said the man received a call from his wife, who claimed they were under tight watch in the area where they were brought.

Panguban said, in a statement issued by NUPL, she “finds this ludicrous yarn as yet another desperate attempt of Sagay authorities to concoct another incredulous story and belittle the legal grounds that a mother has in her favor the custody of her son”.

But Col. Benedict Arevalo, newly-designated commander of the 303rd Infantry Brigade, questioned the move of NUPL and Karapatan in taking into custody the minor, who is a witness to the shooting incident, from the City Social Welfare and Development Office in Sagay.

Arevalo said they deceived the mother of the minor to prevent him from telling the truth about the incident to authorities.

“Now who is hiding the truth? We will not even be surprised that if the child will come out, he will be saying a different tune, as he is being detained for 9 days now,” Arevalo said, adding that “anything is possible as Karapatan is known for distorting the truth.”

To set the record straight, Sagay City Social Welfare and Development Office turned over the custody of the child to his mother, in the presence of her legal counsel, Atty. Katherine Panguban of NUPL Women and Children’s Committee, on October 25 at the City Hall of Sagay, with the turn-over agreement signed by the biological father, the NUPL statement said.

It also said that the minor chose his mother over his biological father, whom he barely knows, as he was abandoned by him when he was only 4 years old.

She added that it is the mother’s instinct to ensure the well-being of her child that prompted her to do all that she sees necessary to protect her offspring from further harm and danger.

Panguban also said that the case of the minor, the victims of shooting and the survivors of the Sagay massacre, fall within the ambit of the mandate of people’s lawyering, adding that NUPL did not think twice to respond when the mother and relatives of the minor sought aid to get him back from the local police and authorities.

Arevalo said NUPL and Karapatan should release the witness, as he can identify the NPA rebels who are perpetrators of the crime.

“You can blame whoever you want. But speaking in behalf of the Army here in Negros, I say, bring out the 14-year-old witness,” he stressed.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2018/November/05/topstory1.htm