Militant female leader abducted by army men; charged for murder

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan – A 55-year-old peasant leader in Northern Luzon was reportedly abducted by still unidentified camouflage-wearing armed men at a bus terminal, here March 22 around 6.30 p.m.

Her abductors who were later found out to be members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines later filed charges for murder here at the Regional Trial Court against Myrna Abraham, a native of Isabela.

Abraham was forcibly taken by the still unidentified armed men of the AFP after she came from Baguio City and had a stopover in Tuguegarao prior to proceeding to Pamplona, which is her work assignment.

Human rights groups said Abraham was on her way to Sanchez-Mira and was supposed to get off in Claveria but she slept in the bus that she missed her bus stop. When she woke up, it was already 6:30 p.m. and she was already in Cauginganan, Pamplona.

She immediately got off the bus. As she alighted from bus, four men wearing white shirts with the word “police” grabbed her. They also shouted that they were police to stop bystanders from helping Myrna. They then pushed her into a white van. Two more men were waiting inside the van sitting in front. Then the van sped off towards the direction of Abulog.

Inside the van, Myrna struggled but was easily overpowered by her abductors. She was blindfolded and handcuffed. They traveled for about two hours. She was brought to an unknown place where she heardsounds of pigs and of airplanes taking off or flying. There her captors started interrogating her. Her main interrogator introduced himself as Raymond Wong who claimed to “belong to the Philippine Government”.

Abraham replied that they have something in common since she is also from the government. She asked them what she had done. They told her she did something against the government. They were forcing her to tell her real name.

The groups said her interrogators did not believe her when she told them that Myrna Cruz- Abraham was her real name and she's from Pasig City. They reportedly insisted that she was Nel Villanueva. They would allegedly bring her home if she admitted that she is Nel Villanueva and tell them her address.

On the following day, she was brought to a hospital for medical checkup and at around 11:30 a.m., was brought to the Regional Trial Court Branch 3 for inquest procedure for alleged violation of Commission on Elections Resolution 8714 as well as for murder of a certain Johnny D. Belo of Amulong, Cagayan on Oct. 23, 2002.

The 17th IBPA reportedly filed a case for alleged violation R.A. 8714 because allegedly they found two hand grenades among her things.

Abraham denied that she had hand grenades in her possession and said that these were planted on her belongings.

The murder charge was against a certain Saturnino Hagunoy, et.al. Nel Villanueva was one of the accused in the said case.

A certain Celyflor de la Cruz allegedly identified Myrna as Nel Villanueva.

Her abductors took all her three bags – one envelop bag, a utility bag, handbag, her wallet, all identification cards, credit cards, ATM cards, cell phone, a hard drive, and a USB flash disk. They reportedly didn’treturn all this to her and only gave her some of her toiletries.

At around 5:30 p.m. of that same day, she was brought to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Cataggaman,Tuguegarao City where she awaits the arraignment of the murder charge set on April 21, 2010 8:30 a.m. at RTC Branch 3 under Judge Beltran.

Militant groups said her abduction was “another affront to the effort of cause-oriented groups to serve the different sectors which are not being properly attended to by concerned government agencies.”

Numerous militant organizations in the different parts of Northern Luzon joined peasant groups in condemning the kidnapping of Abraham, who is working as a peasant coordinator in Pamplona town.

They said described it as a “cowardly act of the military to neutralize the existence of grassroots leaders.”

The Cordillera Human Rights Alliance cited the disappearances of influential militant leaders in different parts of Northern Luzon as alarming.

The CHRA said that it pictures the current state of the country and its officers who are allegedly involved in corrupt practices that have affected the country’s significant economic growth.