Phl - Find government spy tagged in activists’ disappearance | Philippines |
By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 17:58:00 02/19/2008
ILOILO CITY -- A Regional Trial Court judge here ordered government lawyers to find a ranking intelligence officer named as one of the respondents in the petition for a writ of amparo in the abduction of two activists in Iloilo.
Judge Narciso Aguilar, presiding judge of the Iloilo Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 33, on Monday directed lawyers from the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to look for Colonel Mariano Perez, one of the respondents in the amparo petition filed by the families of activists Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado and Nilo Arado.
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 17:58:00 02/19/2008
ILOILO CITY -- A Regional Trial Court judge here ordered government lawyers to find a ranking intelligence officer named as one of the respondents in the petition for a writ of amparo in the abduction of two activists in Iloilo.
Judge Narciso Aguilar, presiding judge of the Iloilo Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 33, on Monday directed lawyers from the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to look for Colonel Mariano Perez, one of the respondents in the amparo petition filed by the families of activists Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado and Nilo Arado.
Perez, former head of the Military Intelligence Group (MIG) in Western Visayas, failed to submit a return to the writ of amparo issued by the court on December 17.
But OSG lawyer Gerik Paderanga said it would be difficult to find Perez.
"He is an intelligence officer and his whereabouts and work are confidential," Paderanga told the Philippine Daily Inquirer after the hearing on the petition.
Aguilar, however, said a court summon would be issued to compel Perez to reply to the amparo writ.
Members of the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), who are representing the families of the missing activists, earlier said that Perez's alleged involvement in the abduction of the activists should be investigated because he was relieved from his post and transferred to an undisclosed assignment four days after the activists were abducted.
Armed men took Dominado and Arado in the village of Cabanbanan in Oton town in Iloilo last April 12, after the victims' vehicle was waylaid. Their companion, human rights worker Jose Ely Garachico, was shot and seriously wounded but was left behind.
Arado was the regional chair of the leftwing Bagong Alyansang Makabayan while Dominado was the spokesperson of the Samahan nga mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (Selda) in Panay when they were abducted.
The families and colleagues of the victims have blamed the abduction and shooting on state and military agents but the military officials repeatedly denied the allegation.
Also named respondents were President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr.
Major General Jovenal Narcise, commander of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division; Major Jose Gany Galanza of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP); Captain Lowen Gil Marquez, chief of the AFP's 32nd Civil Relation Unit; Chief Superintendent Wilfredo Dulay Sr., then Western Visayas police director; Inspector Vicente Castor Jr. police chief of Oton town, Iloilo; and Inspector Alexander Rodrigo, police chief of Janiuay town in Iloilo are also named respondents.
The OSG has filed a motion to dismiss the petition and to drop the President among the respondents, citing her immunity from civil or criminal cases during her incumbency.
The OSG, in its motion, said the petitioners failed to back up their allegations that would justify the issuance of the writ of amparo and besides, the filing of the petition did not follow the proper procedures.
The lawyers of the petitioners have filed an opposition to the OSG's petition saying the respondents' reply contained "only general denials" but "failed to explain why the respondents did not exercise extraordinary diligence" in locating the victims and in identifying and arresting the perpetrators.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20080219-119894/Find-government-spy-tagged-in-activists-disappearance
But OSG lawyer Gerik Paderanga said it would be difficult to find Perez.
"He is an intelligence officer and his whereabouts and work are confidential," Paderanga told the Philippine Daily Inquirer after the hearing on the petition.
Aguilar, however, said a court summon would be issued to compel Perez to reply to the amparo writ.
Members of the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), who are representing the families of the missing activists, earlier said that Perez's alleged involvement in the abduction of the activists should be investigated because he was relieved from his post and transferred to an undisclosed assignment four days after the activists were abducted.
Armed men took Dominado and Arado in the village of Cabanbanan in Oton town in Iloilo last April 12, after the victims' vehicle was waylaid. Their companion, human rights worker Jose Ely Garachico, was shot and seriously wounded but was left behind.
Arado was the regional chair of the leftwing Bagong Alyansang Makabayan while Dominado was the spokesperson of the Samahan nga mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (Selda) in Panay when they were abducted.
The families and colleagues of the victims have blamed the abduction and shooting on state and military agents but the military officials repeatedly denied the allegation.
Also named respondents were President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr.
Major General Jovenal Narcise, commander of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division; Major Jose Gany Galanza of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP); Captain Lowen Gil Marquez, chief of the AFP's 32nd Civil Relation Unit; Chief Superintendent Wilfredo Dulay Sr., then Western Visayas police director; Inspector Vicente Castor Jr. police chief of Oton town, Iloilo; and Inspector Alexander Rodrigo, police chief of Janiuay town in Iloilo are also named respondents.
The OSG has filed a motion to dismiss the petition and to drop the President among the respondents, citing her immunity from civil or criminal cases during her incumbency.
The OSG, in its motion, said the petitioners failed to back up their allegations that would justify the issuance of the writ of amparo and besides, the filing of the petition did not follow the proper procedures.
The lawyers of the petitioners have filed an opposition to the OSG's petition saying the respondents' reply contained "only general denials" but "failed to explain why the respondents did not exercise extraordinary diligence" in locating the victims and in identifying and arresting the perpetrators.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20080219-119894/Find-government-spy-tagged-in-activists-disappearance
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