Group asks PNP to release 'abducted' UP students

MANILA, Philippines -  Rights group Hustisya is calling for the release of two University of the Philippines- Pampanga students, who were reported abducted Saturday afternoon in a town in Nueva Ecija province.

 

The two students were later found at the Philippine National Police Provincial Public Safety Company Headquarters in Cabanatuan City.

 

“The PNP should be accountable for their illegal arrest and detention. We demand for their immediate release,” Hustisya secretary general Cristina Guevarra said.

 

Initial reports showed that unidentified men onboard two vehicles took Gerald Salonga and Guiller Cadano, who both studied in the UP Diliman Extension Program in Pampanga, in the afternoon of August 9.

 

“This is a rotten tactic of the PNP and AFP (Armed Force of the Philippines). They will abduct activists. After they have planted evidence, then they will file obviously trumped-up charges against those arrested,” Guevarra said.

 

She said the PNP should be condemned for its “rotten tactics” of filing trumped-up charges against activists, which resulted to the arrest and detention of more than 200 political prisoners under the Aquino government. 

 

There are currently 499 political prisoners under President Benigno Aquino III, according to another rights group Karapatan.

 

According to initial reports gathered by Karapatan Central Luzon, the two will be charged with illegal possession of firearms.

 

Karapatan scored the  Aquino administration for continuing illegal arrests and filing of trumped-up charges against activists, including youth and students, while it has not arrested retired Army general Jovito Palparan over the case of missing UP students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan.

 

Karapatan has been assisting the families of Empeño and Cadapan who have filed a case before the Malolos court against Palparan and other military personnel allegedly involved in the disappearance of the two students.  

 

“The Aquino government has never rendered justice for the victims of human rights violators in the past. President Aquino is equally accountable now for human rights violations committed under his watch. You should arrest Palparan and not these youth activists," Guevarra said.