Chavit’s aide to file raps vs military ‘tormentors’

BAGUIO CITY — A consultant of former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson, whom government troopers nabbed last month after he was mistaken to be one of retreating communist rebels in Salcedo town, plans to file charges against soldiers who allegedly tormented him while under detention.

Angelica Gonzales-Baleva, a registered nurse, said her husband Joselito had several bruises all over his body when she, along with human rights groups in the Ilocos region, located him in the provincial police command.

Quoting her husband, Baleva said he was on an official business in Barangay Baluarte, a mountainous village in Salcedo town, when he lost his way.

Last July 15, pursuing elements of the 17th Infantry Battalion’s Alpha Company chanced upon Joselito and nabbed him, suspecting him to be one of the New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas retreating after the soldiers overran their camp.

Baleva said her husband was detained for tactical interrogation and transferred to the Alpha Company’s headquarters in Barangay Gaspar, Salcedo town where he was locked up for three days.

Baleva said her husband narrated how the 17th IB members, led by one Lt. Noel Pataray, humiliated, physically abused and threatened to shoot him as they accused him of being the owner of an M-16 assault rifle soldiers found along the rebels’ retreat route.

Baleva said her husband’s request to contact his family was rejected even after he was transferred to the Ilocos Sur police headquarters at Camp Elpidio Quirino in Bantay, Ilocos Sur on July 21.

Baleva said they will file charges against Pataray and his men with the Commission on Human Rights and with the Joint Monitoring Committee on the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in the peace negotiations between the government and the National Democratic Front.

Joselito, a Community Development graduate of the University of the Philippines, worked for Singson as consultant on economic and social projects.