Posted: 17 Jul 2013 01:09 AM PDT
The organization of former political detainees and human rights defenders demanded the release of a political prisoner who is now in critical condition at the Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center (JRRMMC) in Manila after he suffered a stroke.
The Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto ( SELDA) identified the political prisoner as Oscar Belleza, a 56-year-old peasant leader from Samar and has been detained at the Manila City Jail for three years now. Belleza is a co-accused in the multiple murder case along with former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and Jose Ma. Sison for the alleged mass graves found in Leyte in 2008.
Marie Hilao Enriquez, chairperson of Selda said Belleza was only transferred last Monday, July 15 at the JRRMMC after being unconscious and confined at the jail’s infirmary for three days. According to Enriquez, attending doctors suspect possible brain hemorrhage.
“We demand that Belleza be immediately released on humanitarian grounds. His condition does not give any justification for him to be brought back to jail,” Enriquez said.
The group also demanded that the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology-Manila City Jail shoulder the medical expenses for Belleza’s hospitalization. “Poor conditions in the jail, including the inadequate budget allotted for nutrition and healthcare services for prisoners, have aggravated Belleza’s condition,” Enriquez said.
She added that political prisoners, like all prisoners in jail, suffer the same conditions. The government only spends three pesos per inmate for medical services, according to the group. “We cannot tolerate another loss of life. He was a victim of a trumped-up case because he fought for genuine land reform. He should be released before it’s too late.” Enriquez said.
Enriquez mentioned the case of Crisanto Fat, a political prisoner in Negros Occidental, who died in 2011 after being in and out of the hospital due to a heart ailment. He was charged with illegal possession of firearms and illegal possession of explosives which, according to members of his family who witnessed his arrest, was all made up by the military.
SELDA has been demanding the release sickly and elderly political prisoners on humanitarian grounds but the Aquino government continues to ignore the plea.
Meawhile, a National Democratic Front (NDF) peace consultant who is currently detained at a military camp at the Central Command Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Camp Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu went on hunger strike since July 11.
Ramon Patriarca said in a statement that the Aquino government did not honor its obligations to review and free all political prisoners.
“No review of the court cases of political prisoners was ever conducted. Instead, the illegal arrest, torture and detention of social activists and suspected revolutionaries were intensified, such that the number of political prisoners nationwide has almost doubled now to more than 400,” he stated.
Patriarca was referring to the announcement of Malacanang to review the cases of more than 200 political prisoners last December 2010 and the succeeding informal talks that started in signing the Oslo Joint Statement of both parties (GPH and the NDF). He said the move might strenghten major peace documents between the governmen and the revolutionary group, and would be a yardstick on the Aquino government’s willingness to fulfill GPH obligations made on the negotiating table with the NDF.
“Halfway through his six-year term, there is no doubt that President Aquino has failed miserably in advancing the cause of a just and lasting peace in the country,” Patriaca said.
The detained NDF leader said there was no review ever conducted and instead the ranks of deatined consultants increased.
“Worse, in imposing the latest termination of the GPH-NDF peace negotiations, Malacanang made it appear that the imperative of releasing detained NDF peace consultants is nothing but a ‘precondition’ capriciously imposed by the NDF, instead of the GPH obligation that it really is,” he said.
Partiarca will end his hunger strike on July 22, the day President Aquino delivers his third State of the Nation Address.
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