By RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA
Kodao Productions/Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Human rights groups urged the police and military to respect the rights of Cordillera Peoples Democratic Front (CPDF) Spokesperson Simeon Naogsan who had been arrested in an early morning raid, October 21, in Bacarra, Ilocos Norte.
In separate alerts, the Ilocos Human Rights Alliance (IHRA) and the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) said “Ka Filiw” Naogsan was arrested and initially taken to the Bacarra Municipal Police Station (MPS). But Naogsan has since been transferred to an unknown location by “unknown entities,” IHRA said.
The IHRA said that the police has refused to divulge where Naogsan was taken as the MPS has been “instructed not to give out any information on Naogsan’s arrest and whereabouts.”
The group said that according to Naogsan’s family, the long-time CPDF spokesperson was in Ilocos Norte for medical treatment.
“As he is ill, he should be accorded the status of a hors de combat under the International Humanitarian Law and Comprehensive Agreement on Respect on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL, between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines),” the IHRA said.
“We urge the PNP (Philippine National Police), AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and all state forces involved to respect and uphold his rights under these principles,” the group added.
IHRA also called on the Commission on Human Rights-Region 1 and all human rights monitoring and advocacy organizations to look into Naogsan’s situation and other political prisoners.
Naogsan must also be given access to legal representation, it said.
CHRA meanwhile urged that due process in Naogsan’s arrest be observed and that his location identified.
The Bacarra MPS has not posted any statement related to Naogsan’s reported arrest on its Facebook page.
Naogsan is a member of the Kankana-ey tribe in Mountain Province.
He was once an administrator of the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Commission on Audit (COA) who witnessed how government officials unabashedly pocket or corner government funds for personal gain.
Read: Ex-Gov’t Exec, Now Red Leader, says PTC Goes to the People
The systemic corruption in government was one of the major reasons why he defected to the New People’s Army in 1986, he said in a Bulatlat interview in 2004.
“I could not bear it,” he said of the corruption in government. (RVO)
