Produce 3 missing activists, SC orders Yano, Calderon

The Supreme Court (SC) ordered Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano, commander of the Army’s Southern Command, and Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Calderon the other day to produce three activists who were believed abducted and held by the military and the police since May.

In two separate resolutions, the SC’s third division granted the petitions of Elizabeth Calubad and Merdeka Limjoco for the issuance of writs of habeas corpus for police and military authorities to produce Rogelio Calubad and his son, Gabriel, and Philip Limjoco in court.

The habeas corpus petitions of Calubad and Limjoco were among the five petitions filed by the families of nine activists who have remained missing since May.

The three other petitions were filed by the families of activists Leopoldo Ancheta, Prudencio Calubid and his wife, Celina Palma, Roland Porter, Ariel Beloy and Gloria Soco. Another division of the SC has yet to act on them.

In its resolution, the SC’s third division ordered Yano to produce the Calubad father and son before the regional trial court (RTC) of Lucena, Quezon.

In another resolution, it directed Calderon to produce Limjoco before the RTC of Angeles City in Pampanga.

The SC directed the executive judges of the Lucena and Angeles City RTCs to immediately schedule the cases for hearing.

It ordered Yano and Calderon to show cause why the Calubads and Limjoco should not be released from their respective custody, and to personally appear in the hearing.

Aside from Yano and Calderon, the other military officials named as respondents in the habeas corpus petitions were Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, Maj. Gen. Bonifacio Ramos, Commodore Leonardo Calderon Jr., Senior Superintendent Romeo Ricardo, Chief Superintendent Jesus Versoza, Chief Superintendent Prospero Noble Jr., Chief Superintendent Ismael Rafanan, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, and Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz.

The elder Calubad and Calubid are believed to be consultants to the National Democratic Front (NDF) peace panel, while Ancheta is a staff member of the NDF peace committee.

In a statement, the human rights group Desaparecidos claimed that a total of 66 civilians, 38 of them activists, have gone missing in the last seven months.