Arrest of 13 shows martial law fangs, say church, rights groups

DEFYING MARTIAL LAW Relatives of some of those arrested hold a rally in Cagayan de Oro City. —ERWIN MASCARIÑAS

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—Martial law is making its presence felt in the case of church and militant groups that are now protesting the arrest and detention of 13 of their members and volunteers on Wednesday.

The 13 men and women were arrested by a team of policemen and soldiers on Wednesday evening that forced its way into the venue of a meeting by members of Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), a local church, and volunteers.

IFI Bishop Felixberto Calang, chair of the church’s Visayas-Mindanao Bishops Conference, said a court had granted a petition for bail for the 13 arrested.

But it was yet unclear how many of those arrested have been released.

Ryan Amper, spokesperson for the group Barug Katungod Mindanao, said the raiding team was armed with an arrest warrant for two people that bore no judge’s signature.

Obstruction of justice?

Amper said the persons that were named subjects of the warrant were not in Mother Francisca Spirituality Center, an IFI facility in this city that was raided by the law enforcement team.

Those present during the raid did not even know the persons named in the warrant, according to Amper.

But Supt. Aldrin Gonzales, regional police spokesperson, said two of the 13 detained were “positively the subjects of the warrant of arrest.”

“The 11 others were arrested for concealing the identities of the two suspects and resisting the arresting team,” Gonzales said in a phone interview.

Gonzales said the 11 individuals were charged with obstruction of justice, which is a bailable offense.

Amper said the arrests were part of the “continuing crackdown on peasant and human rights defenders critical of the government.”

Quelling dissent

“It’s part of the government’s effort to silence dissent,” Amper said in a phone interview.

Calang said the group was at a meeting to assess a development project being turned over to the church when the raiding team came.

“This is yet another case of human rights abuse under martial law in Mindanao,” Calang said in a statement.

Amper said the 13 were separated according to gender and detained at two police stations in the city.

Some of those arrested belonged to IFI Visayas-Mindanao Regional Office for Development, the social development arm of Visayas-Mindanao Bishops Conference of IFI, Calang said.

“Why were they arrested when their names were not even on the warrant? It was not for anyone of them,” Calang said in an interview on Friday.

Handcuffed

Among those arrested were Aldeem Yañez, Teresita Naul, Kristine Cabardo, Vennel Chenfoo, Ireneo Ubarde and Datu Jomorito Goaynon.

Some workers of IFI were handcuffed during the raid, according to Calang.

The arrests coincided with the arrests of six women members of a workers’ group in Pangantucan town, Bukidnon province.

Cristina Palabay, secretary general of the human rights group Karapatan, said the series of illegal arrests in Mindanao was proof of abuses under the martial law regime in Mindanao.

Karapatan documented at least 986 victims of illegal arrests in Mindanao since martial law was imposed on the island on May 23, 2017.

Many were members of peasant groups and indigenous peoples.