Daughters of slain peasant leader abducted, says ma
By Nikko Dizon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 10:36:00 07/05/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- The leftwing group Karapatan on Friday claimed that the military had abducted two women who were the daughters of a slain peasant leader last Thursday.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines dismissed the claim as leftist propaganda.
Karapatan said that Rose Anne Gumanoy and her sister Fatima had sent a text message to their mother, Maria, that they were picked up by soldiers and brought to Camp Aguinaldo.
Fr. Diony Cabillas of Karapatan told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone Friday that he and Maria Gumanoy went to the office of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) at the military headquarters to look for Rose Anne and Fatima.
“We were told that they were not there. We have submitted a request letter to the ISAFP asking them (to certify) that they do not have custody of the girls,” Cabillas said.
The priest said the ISAFP would issue a certification in three days.
Cabillas said that last Thursday, Rose Anne and Fatima were on their way to Cavite when they noticed that they were being followed.
They sent a text message to their mother to meet them at a mall in Alabang, Muntinlupa but they never appeared at the meeting place, Cabillas said.
AFP spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres assailed the claim, saying that Karapatan’s allegation was “malicious and obviously a propaganda stunt.”
Torres said that Rose Anne, 21, ran away from her Karapatan custodian and sought refuge among soldiers she befriended while confined at the AFP Medical Center a few months ago.
He said she was at the hospital for treatment of injuries she sustained in a gunfight between New People’s Army rebels and troops from the Army’s 16th Infantry Battalion last April 15 in General Nakar, Quezon.
Rose Anne, a suspected member of the NPA, has been charged with rebellion.
“She felt her life was threatened,” Torres said in a text message.
He added that upon taking custody of Rose Anne, the military gave her medical assistance.
“Coordination is being done by the military with the Quezon court as regards her legal disposition. She is facing a rebellion charge. A warrant of arrest was issued by the court,” Torres said. He added that Rose Anne was accompanied by Fatima.
Cabillas said that Rose Anne had been released on bail upon the orders of an Infanta, Quezon trial court.
The women’s father, Eddie Gumanoy, was the chairperson of Katipunan ng Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK).
He was murdered with human rights activist Eden Marcellana in Mindoro Oriental in 2003, in an attack that activists blamed on retired Major General Jovito Palparan.
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