Pa bewails DOJ inaction on Ericson Acosta

A father whose son has been in military detention in Samar for the past 22 months has asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) why it has not issued a resolution on his petition for a review of his son’s allegedly illegal arrest and detention.

In a letter to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Isaias Acosta said he and his 80-year-old wife had been “waiting in vain” for 22 months for the release of their son, poet and activist Ericson Acosta, who was arrested without warrant by the Army on Feb. 13 in San Jorge, Samar.

The military suspected Ericson of being a communist guerilla and filed a case of illegal possession of firearms and explosives against him after supposedly seizing from him communist documents and a hand grenade, among other things.

Ericson, a researcher for two nongovernmental organizations in Samar, has been detained at the Calbayog City subprovincial jail for 22 months now, according to his family.

In his letter, Acosta said he filed a petition for review with the DOJ more than a year ago but the department has yet to take action on his son’s case.

“The standard 60 days of waiting have now stretched into 446 tortuous days,” Acosta said.

“This has been punctuated by two more motions to seek the immediate resolution of the original petition; dozens of letters of appeal and thousands of petition signatures gathered from various activities of concerned organizations and supporters from all over the world; and three-week-long hunger strikes by Ericson. [There has been] not a line or page of any formal opposition from Ericson’s military accusers, yet the justice department still cannot issue a resolution. Why does it now seem that this government cannot swiftly dispense justice?” he said.

Acosta said the family is concerned for the safety and health of his son while in prison.

He said the family has been trying for several months to get a private doctor for Ericson who in July “complained of sharp pains while urinating.”

Last August, the regional trial court in Gandara, Samar denied the family’s petition for Ericson to undergo an immediate medical checkup.

According to Acosta, getting a doctor to see Ericson was not only financially draining for the family, but they also have to deal with “the very real but unspoken viciousness of military threats and harassment.”

“It is precisely the fear of earning the ire of the military that has discouraged doctors from visiting Ericson,” Acosta said.

He said that since October, they have been receiving text messages warning that their son’s life was in danger in prison and that they, too, his parents, were “targets for assassination.”

When they reported these to the authorities, they were told that more soldiers had been sent to the jail to ensure their son’s safety, giving rise to even more apprehension over Ericson’s safety.

“We are now more anxious and restless knowing only too well that increased military presence in and around the subprovincial jail is the primary threat to our son’s life and well-being,” Acosta said in his letter.