A hundred political prisoners in Negros island will hold another 24-hour fast this coming today to call on the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) National Office to press on with its initial efforts for a thorough and impartial investigation on the numerous human rights violations in Negros since July 2022, which are widely-believed to be an integral part of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s counter-insurgency drive in the island.
It was announced in a press statement by the families and friends of political prisoners organized under the Negros Occidental chapter of Kapatid, or Kapisanan para sa Pagpapalaya ng mga Detinidong Pulitikal sa Pilipinas.
Political prisoners in Negros island number no less than 128 as of April 1, or about 16 percent of the country’s current total.
The CHR in Negros Occidental revealed in March 9 that its efforts to investigate the growing number of human rights and international humanitarian law violations in the island is being stymied by the lack of cooperation by various units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Negros, the press release noted.
It has been 40 days since the said constitutional body made that damning admission, yet until now, the families of victims of these heinous crimes have not been given even the barest minimum attention they deserve from the government, it added.
Kapatid said that this investigation should include a follow through by the CHR on the continued involuntary disappearance of political prisoner Mary Joy Enyong’s daughter Lyngrace Marturillas, who was abducted with three others somewhere in the Hinigaran highway April 19 of last year.
It should at least be able to explain why her companion Rogelio Posadas, an NDF consultant, was surfaced dead by the 62nd IB as a casualty in a highly-suspect encounter they claimed to have had with the NPA the following day, while the fate of Marturillas and their two habal-habal (motorcycle for-hire) drivers Renald de los Santos and Denald Malen remain in limbo, it added.
Since the start of the Marcos Jr. presidency almost two years ago, Negros had seen a sharp rise in human rights and international humanitarian law violations, ranging from last year’s June 14 massacre of the Fausto peasant family in Himamaylan City, to the September 21 massacre of five NPA hors d’ combat and their tricycle driver in Kabankalan City, as well as the military’s February 21 aerial bombing operation this year in Escalante City, allegedly in pursuit of a supposed 5-member unit of the NPA.
Kapatid-Negros Occidental also said the fasting of political prisoners is meant to support the growing call for the Marcos Jr. government to effect the long-awaited resumption of the GRP-NDF formal peace negotiations.
The statement recalled that representatives of the Marcos Jr. government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) made separate announcements November 23 last year from the Norwegian capital city of Oslo, regarding their intention to go back to the negotiating table. The said agreement was shepherded with the Royal Norwegian Government acting as third party.
The resumption of the GRP-NDF peace talks is necessary to once again bring to the national attention the necessary pro-people solutions to the fundamental problems plaguing our country, which continue to fuel the 55-year old armed rebellion of the CPP-NPA-NDF, Kapatid-Negros Occidental said.
The political prisoners are also calling on the Marcos Jr. government to effect the immediate release from the National Bilibid Prison of 75-year old NDF consultant and Negrense former priest Frank Fernandez, who is suffering from various ailments and thus need immediate medical attention.
Fernandez, as well as other sick or elderly political prisoners like 84-year old Gerardo de la Peña (at the National Bilibid Prison), 70-year old Cleofe Lagtapon (at the National Correctional for Women), and 61-year old Corazon Javier (at the Canlaon City Jail), deserve to be released immediately on humanitarian grounds, if only to compensate – albeit partially – for their many years of unjust incarceration, Kapatid added.
Already, two sick or elderly political prisoners have died in the government’s often-cramped and substandard prisons since Marcos Jr. became president. They were 55-year old Marcos Villareal of Camarines Sur Provincial Jail, last December 3, and 66-year-old Generoso Granado at the National Bilibid Prison, last March 8. Human rights groups have recorded at least 95 sick and 75 elderly political prisoners, out of the current national total of 800.*
