8/3/2019 AFAD Statement on the 11th Anniversary of PICOP 6

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Statement on the PICOP 6 Anniversary14 October 2011

The Truth in Plain Sight

Enforced disappearance is an inhuman act of the state and a barefaced concealment ofthe truth. This is the bitter truth that the families of victims of enforced disappearanceface in their search for their loved ones. This is the case of six workers of the PaperIndustries Corporation of the Philippines (PICOP) who were forcibly made to disappearby members of the 62nd Infantry Battalion in Barangay Sta. Maria, Trento, Agusan delSur eleven years ago.

The six workers: Joseph Belar, Jovencio Lagare, Romualdo Orcullo, Diosdado Oliver,Artemio Ayala and Arnold Dangkiasan, accused of being members of New PeoplesArmy by the military, were held at gunpoint and brought inside the army camp gatewhere they were tortured to death. Their bodies were burned to ashes. The parents andrelatives of the six workers looked for their loved ones but the military blatantly deniedhaving them in their custody.

The PICOP 6 case could have been a cold case like many others if it were not for anarmy sergeant, Sgt. Esequias Duyogan who, bothered by his conscience, came forwardfour years after to testify as to what really happened. With his testimony, the PICOP 6case achieved a landmark victory with the conviction of an army corporal as anaccomplice to the kidnapping and serious illegal detention.

The victorious prosecution and conviction of an army corporal has no less proven thatnothing is impossible for those who strongly will. The families of the victims who haveregained the trust and confidence in our criminal justice system later filed a multiple-murder case against 13 soldiers, including the Camp Commander.

However, the glimmer of hope is now fast fading when Col. Duyogan succumbed tokidney illness and died on 9 May 2011 while under the Witness Protection Program ofthe government. With the way the military stonewalled the truth and insulated

themselves with legal technicalities, it appeared that the truth which the families of thevictims seek for died with him.

The Aquino government is quite aware of this case. Human rights groups personallypresented the case information to President Aquino in a face-to-face meeting with him afew months after his assumption to power. PNoy as a commander in chief was evenrequested to take special attention or if necessary make an intervention to ensure thatthe truth will come out. Unfortunately, until now, there is still no action from hisgovernment not only on the PICOP 6 case and all other previous cases of enforced

Asian Federation Against Involuntary DisappearancesRms. 310-311 Philippine Social Science Center BuildingCommonwealth Avenue, Diliman, 1103 Quezon City PhilippinesTelefax: 00-632-4546759; Telephone: 00-632-4907862 Mobile 00-63-9177924058Email afad@surfshop.net.ph website www.afad-online.org

8/3/2019 AFAD Statement on the 11th Anniversary of PICOP 6

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disappearance in the country but most urgently on its continuing occurrence. This is soconsidering that already, ten new cases have occurred under his watch.

Since there is still no law defining and penalizing enforced disappearance, which issupposedly a separate and autonomous criminal offense and that the newly adoptedinternational legally binding instrument for the protection against enforceddisappearance has yet to be signed and ratified by the Philippine government, enforceddisappearance will only keep on happening. It will continue to happen under a prevailingclimate of impunity where perpetrators of serious human rights violations can walk freefrom their criminal responsibilities.

The disappearance case of the six PICOP workers makes all the more obvious the factthat enforced disappearance spares no one. It is no longer just an act of politicalrepression aimed at silencing political dissenters but it has become a threat to the whole

society and the greater humanity.

Unearthing the truth about the past administrations crime against the people includinghuman rights violations is already a truth in plain sight. PNoy should only just accept theinconvenient truth that he did not only inherit a bad government from his predecessor,but also he could make it worse if he continues to put aside human rights from hisgovernments top agenda.

Truth is indispensable for justice and justice is a requisite for good government. Pnoysmatuwid na daan will only lead to nowhere if he does not know where to begin with, inthe first place.

Today, as the families of the victims and the human rights community commemoratesthe 11th anniversary of the disappearance of the PICOP 6 workers, the Asian FederationAgainst Involuntary Disappearance (AFAD) challenges the Aquino government to makea clear resolve in putting an end to enforced disappearance and other forms of humanrights violations by establishing the truth and bringing those responsible to justice. Hecan concretely do so by immediately enacting of an anti-enforced disappearance lawand by signing and ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of allPersons from Enforced Disappearance which are vital steps to rekindle the hope of thevictims and their families for truth and justice.

Signed and authenticated by:

MUGIYANTO MARY AILEEN BACALSOChairperson Secretary-General