The five companions of abducted UP student Sherlyn Cadapan on the night she visited a relative were military soldiers, her mother-in-law confirmed at the Court of Appeals in the first hearing on the petition for the writ of amparo.

Taking the witness stand during the hearing on November 21, 58-year-old Adoracion Paulino narrated that on the night of April 21, Cadapan briefly visited her home at Brgy. Sergio Bayan, Calumpit, Bulacan. She added that Cadapan was escorted by two military-uniformed men and three women who rode a car with a siren.

Erlinda Cadapan and Concepcion Empeño, mothers of the missing UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño, sought a writ of amparo on October 25 to compel the military to release their daughters from detention if they are still alive or to disclose the location of their graves.

They also asked for the inspection of nine places, including military camps and safehouses, where their daughters have been allegedly detained.

The respondents are President and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Commander in Chief Gloria Arroyo, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Philippine National Police Director General Avelino Razon, retired Generals Romeo Tolentino and Jovito Palparan, Lieutenant Colonels Rogelio Boac and Felipe Anotado, Donald Caigas and Arnel Enriquez, and Lt. Francis Mirabelle Samson.

The writ orders respondents to find and release the victims, and not simply deny the allegations against them. Any aggrieved party, including the family, can file a writ on cases of extralegal killings and enforced disappearances.

No private talk
In her sworn testimony, Paulino said that she and Cadapan, however, did not have the chance to talk in private as her daughter-in-law and the suspected soldiers left five minutes later.

“Bilang ina, naramdaman kong may gusto pa siyang sabihin sa akin ngunit di siya makapagsalita dahil nasa tabi lang niya ang (dalawang) babae (na militar),” she said.

Between 9 and 10 am. the following day, four men went to Paulino’s home and asked her to name her “visitors.” Paulino had recognized that two of them who were armed and clad in military uniform accompanied Cadapan on the night she visited.

She, however, denied she had visitors as she feared that the military would go after her, and Sherlyn and her husband Valentino. When they were about to leave, one man told Paulino, “Nanay, kami po ay babalik.”

In an interview with the Collegian, Cadapan’s mother Erlinda claimed that the military had earlier tagged Cadapan’s companions as members of the New People’s Army (NPA) to make it appear that Paulino is sheltering NPA guerillas.

Paulino, now hiding in Laguna, continuously received threats from the military in her home in Bulacan, which were relayed to her through text messages by her son and relatives.

Supporting testimonies
Meanwhile, farmer-brothers Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo who claimed to have seen Cadapan and Empeño in various camps will testify in the next hearing on December 18.

The Manalo brothers, who were tagged as NPA communists, were abducted from a family home in San Ildefonso, Bulacan on February last year and escaped on August 3.

Erlinda said the testimony of the Manalo brothers will “solve the puzzle” behind the reappearance of Cadapan. Atty. Rex Fernandez, counsel of the parents of Cadapan and Empeño, also said that their testimony will complement the testimony made by Paulino.

In Raymond’s second sworn statement, he said Cadapan planned to escape from the camp by persuading the soldier on duty that she was ready to admit her alleged affiliation with the NPA. Accompanied by military escorts, Cadapan went to Paulino’s home in Bulacan supposedly to surrender hidden firearms.

Inside her pocket, however, was a letter to Paulino saying that she and Empeño were detained at Camp Tecson, San Miguel, Bulacan. The soldiers foiled her plan to give the letter which contained further proof of the military’s involvement in the abduction, according to Erlinda and Paulino.

‘Hearsay’
Asst. Solicitor-General Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, legal counsel of the AFP, however, dismissed Paulino’s testimony as mere “hearsay.” During the hearing, Tang also pointed that if someone wears military uniform, it “does not necessarily mean” that he or she is a soldier.

Tang claimed that the prosecution failed to establish a “direct link” between the alleged threats of the military and the constant fear felt by Paulino since the incident. “It was not based on her actual knowledge (of the threat), but derived from someone else’s,” she said.

Fernandez pointed, however, that it did not change the fact that the military were pursuing Paulino even if she did not directly receive the threats from the military.

“The writ of amparo demands only substantial evidence. Where there is proof to substantiate a claim, that is enough,” Fernandez said, pointing to evidence that Paulino went into hiding after being threatened by the military that they would come after her.

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# Philippine Collegian