Group furious over SC resolution linking it to activist’s abduction

BAGUIO CITY—The activist group Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) on Thursday said it was outraged by a Supreme Court resolution, which directed the police to pursue the theory that militant members could be behind the 2008 abduction of one of its founding members, James Balao, in La Trinidad, Benguet.

“We went from camp to camp, station to station that we could reach in our efforts to find [Balao], making sure no stone was left unturned … We are the victims here and the blame should not be placed on us,” CPA Chair Windell Bolinget said.

Balao was taken by five men in Tomay village in La Trinidad on Sept. 17, 2008, prompting his family to petition for a writ of amparo to compel the police and the military to bring him out from detention or to find him.

The Benguet Regional Trial Court had concluded that Balao’s disappearance was “due to his political leanings or activities and that the investigation conducted by the public officials concerned was superficial, limited and one-sided.”

The SC gave the police six months to complete the investigation, particularly the CPA angle provided by a police witness, Bryan Gonzales. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon