Another activist missing after arrest by NV cops

EDITORIAL

An anti-mining activist from of this province went missing since August 21 in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, the human rights group Karapatan-Cagayan Valley claimed last week.

According to Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP), there had been 35 extra-judicial killings of indigenous peoples since President Benigno Aquino III took office.

Bryan Epa, 34, was reported missing after police allegedly arrested him on August 21 in Barangay Salvacion, Dumlao Boulevard in Bayombong. Human rights groups have aired concern and urged that a full investigation on the matter should be done by government to find perpetrators of  his disappearance.

Barangay official Alfonso Shog-oy reportedly saw six policemen taking Epa aboard their patrol vehicle and announced during the arrest that Epa will be taken into custody because he looked ‘suspicious.’

Shog-oy reported that Epa resisted arrest but was punched in the stomach by two of the policemen, and then hit in the hand by a baton.

The following day, Shog-oy and lawyer Fidel Santos reportedly sought Epa at the police station, but they did not find him there.

Later, the police claimed they released a detained person same night that Epa was arrested, but records showed instead it was another person- Felix Bacsa, Jr.– who was released and not Epa.

Epa has figured in the protest movement in Nueva Vizcaya opposing the entry of Australian mining company Royalco Philippines, Inc.

He is also reportedly among the locals manning the barricades, set up since 2007 to prevent mining equipment.

As such, the Manila-based group KAMP has expressed concern over the disappearance of Epa.

A full investigation should be conducted by the government on the matter to make those responsible for his disappearance accountable.