Missing rights activist ‘alive’:Int’l groups press gov’t: release Balao

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Members of the International Solidarity Mission and local non-government organizations urged the government to “release or surface” rights activist James Balao last week even as his group, the Cordillera People’s Alliance said there were strong indications he was still alive basing from reliable sources.

This as presiding judge Benigno Galacgac Branch 63 of the Regional Trial Court here on Thursday heard statements of witnesses to Balao’s abduction. The hearing was attended by the groups, concerned individuals and clan members.

Beverly Longid, CPA chairperson, said Galacgac earlier subpoenaed President Macapagal-Arroyo to appear during the hearing when the court heard the petition for a writ of amparo filed by Balao’s family and the CPA. Balao, 47 had been missing since Sept. 17.

Balao was believed abducted by operatives the intelligence branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Barangay Tomay here that day.
A witness during the hearing said he saw five men who looked like cops abduct Balao in Tomay.

The witness said the men were armed, wore standard police or army haircut and acted like cops. One of Balao’s abductors reportedly shouted, “Walang makikialam, drug pusher ito,) referring to Balao.

But Balao’s relatives, non-government organizations and his acquaintances said he never had a history of illegal drug abuse.

Longid said during the hearing, Office of the Solicitor General lawyers represented the government and filed a motion to quash the granting of the writ based on technicality. “This is unfortunate, the government should be the one itself which should exert efforts to find Balao and not to hinder this by stopping the granting of the writ based on technicality.”

A writ of amparo is an inspection order directing public officers who control military and police detention facilities where a detainee is allegedly kept to allow authorized persons “to inspect, measure and survey the property or any related object or operation.”

Longid said it was lamentable that military officials were mum on the matter and didn’t want those looking for Balao to enter their camps. The ISM also visited the regional police headquarters at Camp Dangwa here Wednesday where regional police director Chief Supt. Eugene Martin swore he had no complicity or knowledge of the abduction.

He urged ISM members report to him any lead on Balao’s disappearance so the police could track him down and his abductors.

The Commission on Human Rights has also started its investigation into Balao’s disappearance amid growing pressure on the government from both local and international organizations to immediately find him. Maj. Rosendo Armas, spokes­man of the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command, earlier told the media the military will cooperate in the ongoing investigation into Balao’s disappearance, though insisting that they are not keeping the missing activist.

In a resolution Oct.10, the CHR pledged to investigate and monitor developments on the case of Balao, who it considers a victim of enforced disappearance.

“Based on the initial information we have gathered, James Balao and his family have been under regular surveillance by unidentified persons since the first week of June 2008, and (Balao) is allegedly listed in the dossier of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as the head of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Education Bureau in the Ilocos and Cordillera regions,” De Lima said in an article earlier emailed to the Northern Philippine Times.

“The CHR, pursuant to its constitutional mandate to investigate all forms of human rights violations, involving civil and political rights… will continue our investigation and monitoring of this case, as we also strongly condemn the enforced disappearance of James Balao,” she added.

In the same resolution, the CHR asked the Philippine National Police to assist it in the investigation, and the AFP to help locate Balao.

The CHR said it would hold a dialogue with top PNP and AFP officials to discuss Balao’s case and the disappearance of other people alleged to be CPP members.

Balao, a descendant of a large Chinese-Japanese clan in Benguet, is the president of the Oclupan Clan Association. In 1984, he was among those who founded CPA, which advocates the protection and promotion of the rights to ancestral domain and self-determination, especially of indigenous communities. -- AD