Palace exec denies torture raps; many victims recount inhuman, horrifying ordeal

By Charlie Lagasca

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – A Palace official said torture charges filed against his family by alleged victims, were only aimed at discrediting him before the public and President Aquino.

“These are all rehashed and politically motivated charges being highlighted by our political rivals to divert attention from what is really happening in our province,” said Manuel Mamba, head of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office.

Mamba reacted to the call of families of the alleged torture victims for the Court of Appeals (CA) to order government agencies to enforce its order for their protection amid the pending human rights cases they filed against the Mambas.

Marites Bueno, mother of one of four minors allegedly tortured in 2009 supposedly on the Mambas’ orders on suspicion that they were behind thefts in Cagayan’s Tuao town, said the writ of amparo issued by the CA for their protection has yet to be implemented.

Among the respondents in the torture case are Mamba’s younger brothers, outgoing Tuao Mayor William Mamba, and lawyer Francisco Mamba Jr., now the town’s mayor-elect.

William ran in the Cagayan gubernatorial race but lost to incumbent Gov. Alvaro Antonio. 

The Mambas belong to the Liberal Party, and the PLLO chief is the party chairman in Cagayan.

On the other hand, Antonio ran under the United Nationalist Alliance, one of the political groups comprising Team Cagayan of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile.

While Enrile is considered the political kingpin of Cagayan, the Mambas continue to keep their hold in Tuao town.

The two younger Mamba siblings are also facing a case for alleged violation of the Custodial Violation Acts, grave illegal detention, grave threats and coercion before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The alleged torture victims, aged 13 to 17 at the time of the supposed incident in 2009, claimed they were beaten up and suffocated with clear plastic bags, and that metal wires were placed in their private parts, and wax from burning candles was made to drip on their bodies while being forced to admit a theft in Tuao.

The elder Mamba, also a three-term congressman of Cagayan’s third district, denied the charges against them. 

“These allegations of torture and other human rights violations hurled against us only aim to discredit me. I’m not even a respondent to these complaints but our political detractors have been trying to link me to these allegations,” he said. 

Mamba said those behind the smear campaign against his family were the ones responsible for unabated illegal black sand mining along the shores of Cagayan and jueteng operations in the province. 

“You know those who have been controlling Cagayan for so many years… those behind the rampant illegal mining, gambling, smuggling and other illegal activities in the province, which have been generating millions of pesos for their pockets,” he said.