Martial law victim’s son seeks help for mom

Martial law victim Adora Faye de Vera

MANILA, Philippines — Following his mother’s arrest and detention in Iloilo province, the son of martial law victim and political prisoner Adora Faye de Vera has asked friends and colleagues for help in moving her to Manila to seek urgent medical treatment.

In a Facebook post, Ron de Vera said that while they had the funds to cover her legal fees, the team helping his 66-year-old mother in Iloilo was in need of additional money for airfare, the processing of documents, and other expenses.

“Our main push is as follows: (1) dismiss all fabricated charges; (2) release her on humanitarian grounds; (3) immediately transfer her to Manila where she is safer, will have access to proper medical care, and will be closer to her family,” said Ron, who also served as Amnesty Philippines program coordinator.

On Aug. 24, De Vera — who had endured rape and torture under the dictatorship of then-President Ferdinand Marcos — was arrested for the third time in her life, and for the second time under another Marcos administration.

Her arrest brought to 803 the total number of political prisoners in the country, according to Kapatid, a support group for political prisoners. Her first husband and Ron’s father, Manuel “Noni” Manaog, was a community organizer who remains missing after being abducted in 1990.

De Vera, who is also the elder sister of Commission on Higher Education Chair Prospero de Vera III, was first arrested at her house in Teachers’ Village, Quezon City. She was then flown to Calinog, Iloilo, where multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder with the use of explosives had been filed against her and several others over the 2005 ambush of military personnel.

According to Ron, his mother was suffering from “deteriorating bones, chronic asthma and anemia.” He added that she has yet to undergo a proper medical examination after her arrest, except for an x-ray.

The police also gave De Vera some mefenamic acid for what Ron described as “injuries [she] sustained when she was legally arrested.”

Aside from financial assistance, Ron said his mother would also need Vitamin B-Complex and iron supplements for her anemia, calcium supplements for her bones and lagundi tablets for her asthma.

In a statement, Kapatid said it was very worried for De Vera’s safety following the series of “tokhang-style” killings of prominent activists, most of them elderly and sick.

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