US Embassy mum on scheduled release of Rowe’s killers

The US Embassy is keeping mum over a report that one of the two convicted killers of US Army Col. James Rowe will be released from prison on June 28.

"We don’t have anything official on (Donato) Continente’s release," said Karen Kelley, US Embassy spokeswoman.

Continente has denied any role in the April 21, 1989 New People’s Army (NPA) ambush of Rowe, whose vehicle was sprayed with bullets near his office Quezon City.

The NPA claimed responsibility for the killing of Rowe, a senior officer at the Joint US Military Advisory Group, which provides training and logistical support for the Philippine military.

Continente, a leftist activist, claimed he was tortured by police into confessing he was part of a surveillance team that monitored Rowe’s movements.

Continente and co-defendant Juanito Itaas, who has acknowledged being an NPA member, were both sentenced to life in prison in 1991.

In 2004, the Supreme Court ruled that Continente was only an accomplice in the 1989 murder of Rowe and commuted his sentence to 14 years.

Marie Hilao-Enriquez, human rights alliance Karapatan secretary general, said Continente would have served his maximum sentence on June 28.

Continente has been detained at the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa City for the past 16 years, she added.

In 2004, the government assured communist rebels that it would speed up the release of political prisoners pardoned by Mrs. Arroyo as a confidence-building measure in the peace talks.

The National Democratic Front, the political arm of the country’s communist rebels, demanded in 2001 that the government free 200 political prisoners, among them Continente and Itaas, the two convicted killers of Rowe.

The US government has sent Thomas Hubbard, its former ambassador to Manila, to oppose the release of Continente and Itaas, as part of an agreement with the rebels.

Mrs. Arroyo has ordered the release of 42 political prisoners as a "gesture of goodwill," but she did not authorize the release of Continente and Itaas.

Enriquez said members of Karapatan, friends and supporters would accompany Continente’s family on June 28 to retrieve him from the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa.

"The government must release him on that day," she said.

Continente has been languishing in prison for 16 years because the Philippine government allowed "continued meddling" by the United States government to prevent his release, she added.

Enriquez said that on June 16, 1989, military agents forced Continente into a car parked outside the office of the Philippine Collegian in Vinzons Hall at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

A gun was forced into his mouth and he was forced to admit that he was involved in the killing of Rowe, she added.

Not only was Continente tortured to admit to a crime he did not commit, his brother also died when he jumped from a moving bus to elude military intelligence agents who had been hounding their family to force Continente to admit to the killing of Rowe, Enriquez said. — Pia Lee-Brago, Artemio Dumlao, AP