CAR activist's abductor a cop?

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The abductor of missing Cordillera activist James Balao introduced himself as a policeman, a witness told the court during the first hearing on the petition for a writ of amparo last Thursday.

The witness, identified only as Jun, said Balao, 47, who belongs to the left-leaning Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA), was seized last Sept. 17 allegedly due to his involvement in illegal drugs.

But Chief Superintendent Eugene Martin, Cordillera police director, said they did not take Balao, adding that police were not interested in him.

Martin said Balao’s colleagues are “muddling” the issue while refusing to “cooperate with us.”

He said they were still convincing Balao’s colleagues to identify the people with whom Balao had had direct contact with while he was supposedly traveling from Baguio City to Barangay Tomay in this town where he was reportedly seized.

Police earlier theorized that wranglings within the CPA could also be a motive behind his disappearance.

But the CPA dismissed this, insisting that Balao was snatched by the police or military.