BY VICTOR REYES
THE Army yesterday said it would release two
UP students and a farmer who were allegedly abducted by soldiers
two years ago, if they are found to be in the custody of any
Army unit.
Initial investigation showed the three are
not in the Army’s custody, said Army spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo
Brawner.
The Court of Appeals, reversing a decision it
issued last year, on Thursday said there is sufficient evidence
to prove the Army’s 7th Infantry Division, based in Fort
Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, abducted students Sherlyn Cadapan and
Karen Empeno and farmer Manuel Marino. The three were reported
abducted on June 16, 2006 in Hagonoy, Bulacan.
Brawner said the Army had been trying to find
the students even before the CA’s latest ruling.
Brawner said officers in the field have
denied keeping the students in their camps.
In its Thursday ruling, the CA reversed its
June 2007 decision dismissing the writ of habeas corpus petition
filed by the families of the three missing persons, based on the
testimony of witness Raymond Manalo, who was a victim of
military abduction and torture, along with his brother Reynaldo.
Manalo’s testimony was considered newly
discovered evidence, on account of his testimony that he and his
brother saw Cadapan and Empeno during their captivity in
Southern Tagalog from February 2006 until their escape in August
2007.
The Army is being blamed for the disappearance of a number of
activists, including Jonas Burgos, son of the late Malaya
publisher Jose Burgos, who was snatched in April last year at a
Quezon City mall.
