MANILA, Philippines—“President Aquino is not listening. We believe the pope will,” Nikki Gamara, daughter of a political prisoner, said Wednesday as she wrote a letter of plea for Pope Francis to join their fight for justice.
“We ask Pope Francis to hear our stories. Our stories of oppression, injustice and struggle. Our loved ones were illegally arrested and detained, killed, disappeared for believing that a just and peaceful society is possible,” Gamara said.
Families of political prisoners and victims of extrajudicial killings gathered in Quezon City in a letter-writing activity organized by the human rights group Karapatan on Wednesday.
Gamara’s father Renante has been detained in Camp Crame, the Philippine National Police headquarters in Quezon City, since April 2012 for charges of kidnapping and murder.
“My father has been in prison for nearly three years now, facing a crime he never committed, because this government has great disdain for his political beliefs and activism for the workers,” she said.
Gamara said her family has exhausted all legal means to prove her father’s innocence and has written letters to the government for help to no avail.
Also at the gathering was Annabelle Velez, wife of a human rights leader who was charged with murder.
Velez said her husband Roy disappeared after “false charges” were filed against him.
“I hope the trumped-up charges against him will be dismissed. We haven’t seen him in three years. He’s been hiding. It’s painful,” she said in Filipino.
“My husband is not a criminal. He was just helping the poor,” she added.
Velez, Gamara, and the hundreds of families of political prisoners in the Philippines are calling on the Aquino government to resolve their cases and free their loved ones.
“We want them to be home,” Gamara said.
Karapatan secretary general Tinay Palabay expressed hope that Pope Francis’ visit to the country would bolster their pursuit for justice.
“We are hopeful that the pope will send a message to the Philippine government that it is not right to continue jailing political prisoners, that it is not correct to keep the relatives of the disappeared from uncertainty, and that it is not right to continue the political killings that is still happening under Aquino’s watch. We believe in the pope’s words of justice,” Palabay said.
She said the families of human rights victims would hold activities in the coming days to call on Pope Francis to intercede for the release of political prisoners and justice for human rights violations.
Anabelle Veles, wife of human rights leader Roy Veles, writes his message to Pope Francis during his visit to the Philippines to join them in their pursuit for justice. NESTOR CORRALES
Nikki Gamara hopes that Pope Franics will intercede for the release of her father, political prisoner Renante Gamara detained at Camp Crame in Quezon City. NESTOR CORRALES
PHOTO BY NESTOR CORRALES
PHOTO BY NESTOR CORRALES
Originally posted: 3:06 PM | Wednesday, January 7th, 2015
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