Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances

Rms. 310-311 Philippine Social Science Center Building Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman, 1103 Quezon City Philippines Telefax: 00-632-4546759; Telephone: 00-632-4907862 Mobile 00-63-9177924058 Email afad@surfshop.net.ph website www.afad-online.org

Statement on the PICOP 6 Anniversary 14 October 2011 The Truth in Plain Sight Enforced disappearance is an inhuman act of the state and a barefaced concealment of the truth. This is the bitter truth that the families of victims of enforced disappearance face in their search for their loved ones. This is the case of six workers of the Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines (PICOP) who were forcibly made to disappear by members of the 62nd Infantry Battalion in Barangay Sta. Maria, Trento, Agusan del Sur eleven years ago. The six workers: Joseph Belar, Jovencio Lagare, Romualdo Orcullo, Diosdado Oliver, Artemio Ayala and Arnold Dangkiasan, accused of being members of New Peoples Army by the military, were held at gunpoint and brought inside the army camp gate where they were tortured to death. Their bodies were burned to ashes. The parents and relatives of the six workers looked for their loved ones but the military blatantly denied having them in their custody. The PICOP 6 case could have been a cold case like many others if it were not for an army sergeant, Sgt. Esequias Duyogan who, bothered by his conscience, came forward four years after to testify as to what really happened. With his testimony, the PICOP 6 case achieved a landmark victory with the conviction of an army corporal as an accomplice to the kidnapping and serious illegal detention. The victorious prosecution and conviction of an army corporal has no less proven that nothing is impossible for those who strongly will. The families of the victims who have regained the trust and confidence in our criminal justice system later filed a multiplemurder case against 13 soldiers, including the Camp Commander. However, the glimmer of hope is now fast fading when Col. Duyogan succumbed to kidney illness and died on 9 May 2011 while under the Witness Protection Program of the government. With the way the military stonewalled the truth and insulated themselves with legal technicalities, it appeared that the truth which the families of the victims seek for died with him. The Aquino government is quite aware of this case. Human rights groups personally presented the case information to President Aquino in a face-to-face meeting with him a few months after his assumption to power. PNoy as a commander in chief was even requested to take special attention or if necessary make an intervention to ensure that the truth will come out. Unfortunately, until now, there is still no action from his government not only on the PICOP 6 case and all other previous cases of enforced

disappearance in the country but most urgently on its continuing occurrence. This is so considering that already, ten new cases have occurred under his watch. Since there is still no law defining and penalizing enforced disappearance, which is supposedly a separate and autonomous criminal offense and that the newly adopted international legally binding instrument for the protection against enforced disappearance has yet to be signed and ratified by the Philippine government, enforced disappearance will only keep on happening. It will continue to happen under a prevailing climate of impunity where perpetrators of serious human rights violations can walk free from their criminal responsibilities. The disappearance case of the six PICOP workers makes all the more obvious the fact that enforced disappearance spares no one. It is no longer just an act of political repression aimed at silencing political dissenters but it has become a threat to the whole society and the greater humanity. Unearthing the truth about the past administrations crime against the people including human rights violations is already a truth in plain sight. PNoy should only just accept the inconvenient truth that he did not only inherit a bad government from his predecessor, but also he could make it worse if he continues to put aside human rights from his governments top agenda. Truth is indispensable for justice and justice is a requisite for good government. Pnoys matuwid na daan will only lead to nowhere if he does not know where to begin with, in the first place. Today, as the families of the victims and the human rights community commemorates the 11th anniversary of the disappearance of the PICOP 6 workers, the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearance (AFAD) challenges the Aquino government to make a clear resolve in putting an end to enforced disappearance and other forms of human rights violations by establishing the truth and bringing those responsible to justice. He can concretely do so by immediately enacting of an anti-enforced disappearance law and by signing and ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance which are vital steps to rekindle the hope of the victims and their families for truth and justice. Signed and authenticated by:

MUGIYANTO Chairperson

MARY AILEEN BACALSO Secretary-General