But when asked where he signed the affidavit, Luisito said it was in Camp Panacan, the regional police headquarters. He was at a loss for an answer when lawyers from the Union of Peoples Lawyers of Mindanao (UPLM), Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) asked him whether there were soldiers around when he signed the document.
In issuing the protective custody, the Judge was momentarily baffled because he said, the protection order is supposed to be granted to a peace officer (probably from the military) or such person or organization, accredited by the Supreme Court.
But I have yet to see any accredited organization, Judge Robillo said. This is a very new rule and no one has yet file an accreditation.
Based on the youths affidavit, the Judge was also concerned against whom Luisito needs protection; whether from the military or from his former comrades?
But minutes after his release, Luisito finally decided to join his mother, whose petition for the writ of amparo was earlier assisted by the human rights group Karapatan.
Later, Luisito explained he was too scared and confused, that he had agreed to cooperate with his captors. They told me that I should tell the Court what they wanted me to say so that no one gets hurt, he told a neighbor, Ederlita Lorenzana, I was at a loss because, how could I memorize everything that they said? It was not true.
Luisito recounted his ordeal after 20 days with his captors. He recalled how they covered his head with plastic (cellophane), making it hard for him to breathe. Once, they rubbed the plastic with hot pepper, making his nose, his eyes and entire face burn. He also said they stepped on his face, and then, on his back. He had been transferred from one safehouse to another during his capture, that it was no longer possible to keep track where he was at a given time. Once, while blindfolded, he said he heard a sack of cement and a spade, being brought in. He said that as he heard the metal blade of the spade mixing a mound of cement, he thought, “If they’re going to bury me alive, it will take a long time before I die.” He said that in the course of his ordeal, he had asked that the chain that bound his feet be removed because he wanted to relieve himself. His request was momentarily granted, which gave him a few moments to peep out of his blindfold and discovered he was at the edge of a cliff. I was thinking of jumping off that cliff if they decided to kill me, he said.
Ubat, known in the area as member of the Cafgu, but who claimed to head the Balogo Bagani Command, said that six days before Luisitos capture, an armed encounter between the NPA and pursuing government troops occurred in Purok Calamitan of Malabogs sitio Pamantawan, about one and a half kilometer away from sitio Balogo. A government soldier was killed during this encounter.
Ubat also said that there is a standing warrant for Luisitos father Dionisio, one of the suspects in an October 6, 2006 ambush of the motorcycle he was riding that killed his pregnant wife. He said he was the target of that ambush. We just came from church, he recalled. We were aboard a motorcycle on our way to sitio Quarry, when we were ambushed and my wife was killed.
He also said that Luisito was brought in for questioning because he was earlier seen carrying an armalite and that he had joined his father.
Lieutenant Colonel Ambal said the military will ensure that no harm will come to Luisito now that he is under the protective custody of the military. He also said that Luisito is now free to move around.
He is now a free man, Ambal said. Nagpaalam naman siya na sa mother na lang niya (He asked to be with his mother), he said. Ingatan nyo, (Take care of him), Ambal waved as Luisito joined his friends and family. Responsibility namin yan.
The human rights group Karapatan was happy over Luisitos release.
If not for the writ of amparo, his captors will not be forced to make him surface, said Kelly Delgado, secretary-general of Karapatan in Southern Mindanao.
Delgado said that the human rights group will subject Luisito to a psycho-social therapy, because of the ordeal that he went through. He said that it was enough triumph for the human rights group that Luisito is still alive. (Germelina Lacorte/davaotoday.com)
