of the Philippines the criminal justice system is - Article 2

Detective Management on 27 February 2006 after the country
was placed under a state of national emergency. During martial
law under the Marcos regime his name was also reportedly
included on a list of “subversives”. He was twice arrested, brutally
tortured and illegally detained.
89
VICTIMS:
1. Riel Custodio
2. Axel Pinpin
3. Enrico Ybanez
4. Michael Mesias
5. Aristides Sarmiento
INCIDENTS: Abduction;
illegal detention
ALLEGED PERPETRATORS:
Unidentified police
personnel
DATE: 28 April 2006
AHRC UA-143-2006
90
VICTIM: Ronald Intal
INCIDENT: Disappearance
ALLEGED PERPETRATORS:
70th IB personnel
DATE: 3 April 2006
AHRC UA-127-2006
92
Riel Custodio & others: Never arrived in Batangas
Riel Custodio, Axel Pinpin, Enrico Ybanez, Michael Mesias and
Aristides Sarmiento have been missing since 28 April 2006 when
they left Barangay Tolentino in Tagaytay City for Bauan, Batangas
around 6:25pm, Tagaytay City, south of Manila by car. They could
not be contacted by phone after 7pm.
The families of the victims learned that the five might be
detained by the elements of the 740th Philippine Air Force,
located in Fernando Air Base, in Lipa City, because Aristides
Sarmiento sent an SMS message on April 30 from the same area
where the army camp in Batangas City is located. Family and
friends immediately went to the army camp with a lawyer. When
they arrived around 3pm, the army officers at the camp denied
any knowledge of the men. The families asked to enter the camp.
Sergeant Dimaculangan at first accepted their request; however,
when they approached the entrance of the detention facilities,
they were refused permission to go further.
Meanwhile, a group of people from the Batangas chapter of
human rights group Karapatan arrived at the camp and urged
camp officials to help to locate the victims. After seeing this group,
the army officers asked the families and friends of the victims
whether they were associated with that group. Even though they
said no, the army officers threatened to arrest them if they were
connected; they were allowed out of the camp shortly after that.
The Commission on Human Rights later found out that the
victims were arrested without warrants and jailed, facing charges
of rebellion. Riel and Axel were in fact peasant activists working
for the Kalipunan ng mga Magsasaka sa Kabite (Farmers’
Federation in Cavite).
It has since been alleged that it was the police who abducted
and detained the victims, not the military.
Ronald Intal: “His appointment is not yet over”
Ronald Intal (24) was forcibly taken by armed men at around
11am near a motorcycle terminal in Barangay Balete, Hacienda
Luisita on 3 April 2006 and taken towards 70th Infantry Battalion
headquarters in Aqua Farm of the barangay.
The victim’s father Gonzalo went to the military headquarters
on April 8 to inquire about his son’s whereabouts, but the military
denied having him in their custody. Gonzalo and his wife Lourdes
then sought the assistance of Tarlac City Vice-Mayor Teresita
Cabal.
Vice-Mayor Cabal told them that their son was being held by
the army’s Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) and that he would
only be released after Major General Jovito Palparan, then head
article 2 • February 2007 Vol. 6, No. 1