2 abducted UP students alive?

The two University of the Philippines (UP) students who went missing following their alleged abduction in Bulacan last year were reportedly seen alive at an Army camp in Pangasinan, Akbayan Rep. Loretta Anne Rosales said yesterday.

Rosales informed Army chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano about this latest development at a forum held at the Ciudad Fernandina in Greenhills, San Juan.

She sought Yano’s help to check on reports that the missing UP students are being held in the camp.

Rosales was referring to Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno, who were allegedly abducted by unidentified armed men suspected to be military agents in Hagonoy, Bulacan last year.

The two were conducting field research while integrating with the farmers in Hagonoy at the time of their abduction.

Cadapan was two months pregnant at the time of the abduction, while Empeno was an active member of the League of the Filipino Students (LFS).

Cadapan showed up at their house in June this year accompanied by several military-looking guys to pick her clothes.

Cadapan and Empeno’s reported presence at an Army camp in Pangasinan, when brought up by Rosales, initially triggered barbed exchanges between her and Yano.

Yano dismissed the information as plain rumor and pointed out that it is not government policy for the troops to engage in enforced disappearances or in extra-judicial killings.

Rosales told Yano that she is disclosing this information to him so the Army could act and verify reports that the two are detained inside an Army camp in Pangasinan.

“I believe you, this is not a government policy. But we may have scalawags. Okay, I’ll take your word for that. I believe you because you say so, but in a situation like this where there are evidences, cannot we go out of our way to Pangasinan to seek out?” she said.

Rosales said if the reports are true, the mothers of Cadapan and Empeno should be allowed to visit their daughters. Their release would be another issue because it would entail the legal process, Rosales said.

Yano told Rosales that she should back her story up because he, as Army chief, does not even have any knowledge about it.

“We have many camps. Just saying that they are in a camp is not enough. Just give us the name of the camp and we will do it. Definitely, if we have suspects from the ranks of the military, I as the commander will be the first one to surrender him,” Yano assured Rosales.