Statement on the PICOP 6 Anniversary14 October 2011
The Truth in Plain Sight
Enforced disappearance is an inhuman act of the state and a barefaced concealment of the truth. This is the bitter truth that the families of victims of enforced disappearanceface in their search for their loved ones. This is the case of six workers of the Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines (PICOP) who were forcibly made to disappear by members of the 62
nd
Infantry Battalion in Barangay Sta. Maria, Trento, Agusan delSur eleven years ago.The six workers: Joseph Belar, Jovencio Lagare, Romualdo Orcullo, Diosdado Oliver,Artemio Ayala and Arnold Dangkiasan, accused of being members of New People’sArmy by the military, were held at gunpoint and brought inside the army camp gatewhere they were tortured to death. Their bodies were burned to ashes. The parents andrelatives of the six workers looked for their loved ones but the military blatantly deniedhaving them in their custody.The PICOP 6 case could have been a cold case like many others if it were not for anarmy sergeant, Sgt. Esequias Duyogan who, bothered by his conscience, came forwardfour years after to testify as to what really happened. With his testimony, the PICOP 6case achieved a landmark victory with the conviction of an army corporal as anaccomplice to the kidnapping and serious illegal detention.The victorious prosecution and conviction of an army corporal has no less proven thatnothing is impossible for those who strongly will. The families of the victims who haveregained the trust and confidence in our criminal justice system later filed a multiple-murder case against 13 soldiers, including the Camp Commander.However, the glimmer of hope is now fast fading when Col. Duyogan succumbed tokidney illness and died on 9 May 2011 while under the Witness Protection Program of the government. With the way the military stonewalled the truth and insulatedthemselves with legal technicalities, it appeared that the truth which the families of thevictims seek for died with him.The Aquino government is quite aware of this case. Human rights groups personallypresented the case information to President Aquino in a face-to-face meeting with him afew months after his assumption to power. PNoy as a commander in chief was evenrequested to take special attention or if necessary make an intervention to ensure thatthe truth will come out. Unfortunately, until now, there is still no action from hisgovernment not only on the PICOP 6 case and all other previous cases of enforced
Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances
Rms. 310-311 Philippine Social Science Center BuildingCommonwealth Avenue, Diliman, 1103 Quezon City PhilippinesTelefax: 00-632-4546759; Telephone: 00-632-4907862 Mobile 00-63-9177924058Email afad@surfshop.net.ph website www.afad-online.org
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