IN GOOD HEALTH | “Missing” activists Cedric Casaño and Patricia Nicole Cierva turn up during a mass surrender of former rebels in Cagayan province on June 2, 2023. (Photo from an NTF-ELCAC video)
TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan, Philipines — Following calls to release them from being reportedly held captive, two youth activists from Cagayan province surfaced during a mass surrender of former communist rebels facilitated by the local military unit and the Cagayan Provincial Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (PTF-Elcac) last week.
Youth organizer Patricia Nicole Cierva, 23, a former student of the University of the Philippines Manila (UPM), and Cedric Casaño, 29, a Kabataan Partylist coordinator in Isabela province and a Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) graduate, belied reports that they were victims of enforced disappearance perpetrated by the military.
At a press briefing in Lal-lo town after taking their “oath of allegiance” before Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba and other members of the PTF-Elcac to formalize their surrender on June 2, Cierva and Casaño asserted that they were “not forcibly taken or arrested by the military.”
Encounter
According to the Army’s Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), the two were former members of the New People’s Army’s (NPA) East Front under the Cagayan Provincial Committee and were among the 20 rebels who voluntarily surrendered to the government troops.
Cierva graduated with a degree in development studies from the UPM College of Arts and Sciences. She was a former student council leader and secretary general of the student group Kasama sa UP, while Casaño had been tagged as a former NPA-East Front secretary.
On May 27, rights group Karapatan claimed that Casaño and Cierva were forcibly taken by members of the 501st Infantry Brigade in Cagayan’s Gonzaga town during a supposed encounter on May 18.
UP also issued a statement on Sunday, expressing “deep concern” for Cierva, its alumna, and her fellow activist, Casaño.
The university described Cierva and Casaño as among those who were “wrongly taken and arrested” by the government forces.
UP also raised concern about the disappearances of two of its former student leaders turned community organizers: Gene Roz Jamil de Jesus and Dexter Capuyan, both of UP Baguio.
De Jesus and Capuyan went missing on April 28 while on a trip in Rizal province to seek medical assistance. Later, their families discovered that Capuyan, an indigenous leader often accused by Cordillera police of being a communist rebel, had been on a “Wanted” poster released by the Philippine National Police promising rewards for the capture of suspected communist rebels.
In good health
The ecumenical youth group Student Christian Movement of the Philippines had earlier said Cierva and Casaño were the 20th and 21st activists allegedly taken by state forces under the administration of President Marcos.
But Cierva and Casaño said they were “in good health” and that they were “not manhandled or mistreated.”
The two activists said they joined the armed struggle after they were led to believe communism would help them attain “peace and sustainable development,” but they did not provide details on how they were recruited to join the revolutionary movement.
“Who doesn’t want peace and progress? We all have different perspectives, depending on which side you’re on. Although we’re taking a different path now, our desire for that will continue,” Casaño told reporters.
Army Lt. Gen. Fernyl Buca, Nolcom commander, lauded the surrender of the two former rebels, urging them “to help achieve peace” as they return to the fold of the law and back to their families.