ALERT
UA Date: 30 March 2007
UA Title: Former Political Detainee abducted in
Subic, Zambales, Central Luzon,
PHILIPPINES
UA Case: Enforced Disappearance
Victim: Abner L. Hizarsa
55 years old, store owner
resident of Ilwas village, Subic town, Zambales province
former political detainee, member of SELDA (Samahan ng mga Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya)
Place of Incident: Near the Ilwas Elementary School, at Ilwas village, Subic
Date of Incident: 22 March 2007, around noon
Alleged Perpetrators: Armed men suspected to be military elements
Account of Incident
According to Abner's wife Cris dela Cruz-Hizarsa, on March 22, her husband was driving his tri-bike to Ilwas Elementary School to bring lunch to his daughter, a grade 5 pupil in the school, when he was blocked by armed men aboard a white van, snatched and forced him inside their vehicle. Witnesses said the abductors were "decent-looking" wearing shortsleeved polos and had been waiting at a softdrinks store at the corner where Abner tried to take a turn.
The abduction was witnessed by a retired town policeman who resides near the street corner, and was the one who filed a blotter with the Philippine National Police. A traffic patrolman who was in front of the school also witnessed the abduction, and tried but failed to stop the van when it passed in front of him.
Mrs. Hizarsa said that her husband was a former activist and was arrested and detained several times. He was released in 1992, and became a member of SELDA, the organization of former political detainees which looks after the rights and welfare of political detainees and their families, and advocates amnesty and freedom for political prisoners.
According to Mrs. Hizarsa, soldiers of the 24th Infantry Battalion under the 7th Infantry Division of the Phil. Army were deployed in Subic a few weeks before Abner's abduction. The soldiers had been going from house to house, harassing and threatening the villagers about the presence of members of the New People's Army in the area, and threatening them not to vote for the progressive party-list groups Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela.
Mrs. Hizarsa also learned from neighbors that the week before the abduction, a white van with the last numbers 922 had been parking near the Hizarsa's store at the market, everyday in the early morning when Abner comes to open their store. The neighbors did not give attention to the van, thinking that it was police surveillance for an anti-drug operation. Also a week before the abduction, a beautician at the market told Mrs. Hizarsa's mother that she saw a man taking pictures of Abner at the store.
The Hizarsa family and friends had searched at a military camp in Bataan but has not yet found Abner.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Send letters, emails or fax messages calling for:
1. The immediate formation of an independent fact-finding and investigation team composed of representatives from human rights groups, the Church, local government, and the Commission on Human Rights that will look into the enforced disappearance of Abner L. Hizarsa.
2. The arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators of the crime/s of enforced disappearance.
3. The immediate and proper indemnification of the victims; and
4. The Philippine Government to be reminded that it is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that it is also a party to all the major Human Rights instruments, thus it is bound to observe all of these instruments' provisions.
You may send your communications to:
H.E. Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo
President of the Republic
Malacanang Palace,
JP Laurel St., San Miguel
Manila Philippines
Voice: (+632) 564 1451 to 80
Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968
Cell#: (+ 63) 919 898 4622 / (+63) 917 839 8462
E-mail:
corres@op.gov.ph /
opnet@ops.gov.ph
Sec. Jesus
D. Dureza
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
*Office of the Peace Process
7th Floor Agustin Building I
Emerald Avenue
Pasig City 1605
Voice: +63 (2) 636 0701 to 066
Mobile:
Fax: +63 (2) 635 9579
Gen.
Hermogenes Ebdane, (Ret.)
Secretary, Department of National Defense
Room 301 DND Building, Camp Emilio Aguinaldo,
E. de los Santos Avenue
Quezon City
Voice: +63(2) 911-9281 / 911-0488
Fax: +63(2) 911 6213
osnd@philonline.com
Sec. Raul
M. Gonzalez
Secretary of Justice
Padre Faura Street, Manila
Direct Line
521-8344; 5213721
Trunkline 523-84-81 loc.214
Telefax 521-1614
Email
sad@doj.gov.ph
or log on to http://www.doj.gov.ph/contact.html
Hon.
Purificacion V. Quisumbing
Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Bldg., UP Complex
Commonwealth Avenue
Diliman, Quezon City
Philippines
Fax: (+632) 929 0102
Email:
drpvq@chr.gov.ph
Please send us a copy of your email/mail/fax to the said government official to our address below.
URGENT ACTION Prepared by:
KARAPATAN
(Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights)-National Office
2/F Erythrina Bldg. Maaralin cor. Matatag Streets, Brgy. Central, Quezon City
1100 PHILIPPINES
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> /
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