CHR urged: Probe secret prisons

MANILA, Philippines — Rights group Karapatan is calling for an investigation of what it describes as “secret prisons” where state forces keep activists who are missing.

In a statement, Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay urged the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to look into what the group believes are hundreds of secret prisons across the country where activist desaparecidos are being kept.

“We call on the (CHR) to stand by its mandate and initiate a thorough investigation of the state’s network of secret prisons and hold liable those found to be maintaining these prisons
and/or holding victims of enforced disappearance in them,” she said.

Among the missing activists are Dyan Gumanao and Armand Dayoha, who were reported to have been forcibly taken by a group of people claiming to be police officers at Pier 6 in Cebu City on Jan. 10.

For five days, they were blindfolded and detained in different places, including an island, according to Palabay.

Another enforced disappearance took place just last May 18 in Gonzaga, Cagayan wherein Patricia Cierva and Michael Casano were taken allegedly by Army troopers, according to Palabay.

“They were held for 15 days in a secret prison where their captors subjected them to relentless psychological torture to break their will and make them stop fighting for the people’s cause,” Palabay said.

The two were among 20 people presented as rebel returnees on June 2.

Palabay said if the existence of these secret prisons is proven, those responsible can be held liable for violation of Republic Act 10353, or the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012.