Freed detainee recalls poor sanitation in jail
ILOILO CITY—While saying she has been treated well in jail, alleged communist rebel leader Ma. Concepcion “Concha” Araneta-Bocala raised concern over sanitary conditions in the facility in Pototan town, Iloilo province, where she had been detained.
Bocala, who is among several alleged rebel leaders who were released on bail to take part in peace talks with the government, said the district jail in Pototan, being managed by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), reeks of foul odor because of a defective piping system.
“It’s unsanitary and my ailments worsened because of the foul odor,” she said in a press conference on Wednesday here shortly after her release.
Bocala is among alleged top leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) who will participate in the formal resumption of peace negotiations between the government and the National Democratic Front. The first round of the talks is set on Aug. 20-27 in Oslo, Norway.
Detained for a year at the Special Intensive Care Area of the BJMP District Jail in Pototan, Bocala said she does not blame prison officials for conditions at the facility.
She said this could be due to the low government budget for prison facilities.
“They treated me well,” she said.
Bocala, who turns 66 this month, said her fellow inmates also showed her respect “maybe because I am a woman, a political detainee and a senior citizen.”
She said jail guards and prisoners addressed her as “Nanay, Mommy and Mother.”
Bocala, alleged secretary of CPP on Panay Island when she was arrested, was freed after the courts granted her petitions for bail for five cases including murder, rebellion and illegal possession of firearms in Iloilo, Antique and Aklan provinces.
She has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying these are “trumped-up” charges to justify her prolonged detention.
Police and military intelligence operatives arrested Bocala in a house in Molo District in this city on Aug. 1 last year. She had a P7.8-million bounty for her arrest.
