By EMMANUEL K. ALVAREZ, JR.

Violations of human rights in the Philippines have been a continuous subject of fiery discussions between critics and supporters of the Martial Law administration.

This article seeks to present crucial information on the human rights issue. It aims to inform the general public of what has transpired since Martial Law was imposed six years ago. Specifically, the article deals with the torture of political prisoners and their prolonged detention without trial.

The Case of Liliosa Hilao

We start with a brief summary of the events leading to the death of Liliosa Hilao and the subsequent arrest, detention and maltreatment of some five other members of her family.

The summary is excerpted from a letter dated November 12, 1974, addressed to the Foreign Relations Committee, Senate of the United States, Washington, D.C.; the letter was originally printed in Political Detainees in the Philippines, published by the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP):

The Raid on our Home

1. 1. On April 4, 1973, at 1:00 p.m., a Philippine Constabulary Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) raiding team forced their way into our family residence in Quezon City. No mission order, or warrant of any kind, was shown by the team to my family. Only a Philippine Constabulary (PC) identification card was shown by Lt. Arturo Castillo, who claimed to be the team leader, to my mother, Mrs. Celsa Rapi Hilao, who was in bed in a cast because of a broken pelvic bone.
   2. During the course of the raid, the team got drunk and became abusive. They molested my sisters Amaryllis, then 20, and Josefina, 18, and manhandled and pistol-whipped them and others present, among them three young men visiting Amaryllis. 
   3. At about 10:00 p.m., my sister Liliosa arrived, escorted by my brother-in-law, Capt. Rogelio Roque (Philippine Army Reserve). After Capt. Roque left, Lt. Castillo inflicted serious physical injuries on Liliosa and mashed her. A cousin of mine present in the house, Arnaldo Podolig, was manhandled when he attempted to prevent Castillo from mashing Liliosa..

The Arrest and Torture of Liliosa and Josefina

1. 1. On April 5, at 1:00 a.m., over the strenuous objections of my family, the team handcuffed Liliosa and brought her to the CANU office at Camp Crame for questioning. At 8:00 a.m., Josefina was also taken there. Josefina saw Liliosa but was not permitted to speak to her; however, she did see that Liliosa’s eyes were bulging and her face was swollen. 
   2. On Friday, April 6, when Capt. Roque delivered some clothes and a pillow to Liliosa at CANU, she complained to him that she was being tortured, and had been deprived of food and sleep since her arrest, and asked him to look at her swollen face.

The Death of Liliosa

1. 1. On Saturday, April 7, at 4:30 p.m., Lts. Castillo and Garcia of the raiding team called on another sister, Mrs. Alice Hilao Gualberto, at her residence at 173-B, K-1st St., in Kamuning, Quezon City, and summoned her to the Cramp Crame Station Hospital where they said Liliosa was in serious condition.
   2. Alice found Liliosa in the emergency room of the Dispensary at Camp Crame, but was allowed to stay less than two minutes inside the room with her. Alice was able to touch Liliosa. She noted that her body was stiff and cold and grayish; her face was disfigured; there was an opening at her throat; she seemed to be making gasping noises. But the dextrose bottle next to her bed was not dripping so that Alice believed that Liliosa was already dead. The room smelled very strongly of formalin. No doctor or nurse was in attendance—only two masked male orderlies who quickly grabbed Alice and brought her outside the room, claiming that the odor in the room might poison her.
   3. Alice then went to the CANU office and saw Josefina, who also complained of having been maltreated. A few minutes later, Lt. Castillo told Alice and Josefina that Liliosa was dead.
   4. Alice and Josefina waited for Col. Felix (CO, CANU), and finally saw him at 8:30 p.m. Col. Felix noted Liliosa’s courteous behavior and superior intelligence. He recalled that he had offered Liliosa amnesty and graduation expenses but that she refused the offer, saying that she had been brought to CANU without charges and that she had done nothing subversive. At 9:00 p.m., Josefina was released. In the course of signing the release papers, Col. Felix asked for and secured the permission of Alice to have the autopsy on Liliosa performed by the PC Crime Laboratory.
   5. The sum of P2,200 was given to the family by the Constabulary, supposedly to help defray the expenses of Liliosa’s burial. If the military felt no sense of guilt for Liliosa’s horrible death, why this “generosity?” The family has not touched a single centavo of this money. However, when some of Liliosa’s belongings were eventually returned, we noticed that there were bloodstains on her undershirt and on the pillow that Capt. Roque had given her. However, her panties, shorts and pants have never been returned to us despite our repeated requests. 

Found News Clippings, on December 11, 1974

... a young man was so badly beaten by military elements in Baguio City that he barely escaped death. Arrested 8 Dec. in Baguio City and brought to a safehouse at Aurora Hill, Baguio City, Eduardo Senense was brutally beaten for two day—pistol-whipped, kicked, burned with lighted cigarettes—then left for dead. Baguio City police brought him to Pines Hospital and then to Baguio General Hospital, where he spent 21 days recovering from his injuries, after which he was transferred to Baguio City jail for “safekeeping.”

— from AMRSP

The same day, on Dec. 11, Pres. Marcos was saying on a nationwide radio-television address that:

No one but no one has been tortured … None has reason to complain that his dignity has been violated, or that his convenience has not been looked after. 

— Bulletin Today, Dec. 12, 1974

The day after the President’s speech, some 21 young men and women were subjected to torture in safehouses, before being taken to Camp Olivas, Pampanga. The following are excerpts from the personal testimony of Charlie Palma:

I was arrested while looking for a friend’s house … on 12 December 1974. As I entered the house I was pulled inside, jabbed with a .45 caliber pistol in the stomach, and shoved down onto the cement floor by civilian informer Butch Mandapat. Writhing in pain, I was made to stand up by two of six men in the house who also undressed me.

*

Another civilian informer, Arnold Señeres, boasted that the blood on his shoes (from others in our group) would soon be mixed with mine. The beating stopped upon the arrival of Lt. Alejandro Flores and several others. They then took me to our house … where they conducted a search with a rifle pointed at me.

*

Lt. Alejandro Flores collared me and slapped me. After giving me a few minutes’ rest, Lt. Garcia ordered his men to undress me and forced me against a wall where they mauled me again until I fell down. Abalos came in with a 90-volt cranker telephone and civilian informer Pat Ordoña attached one end of the wire to my thumb and the other end to my penis. Because of the pain, I shouted out loud until they stopped this kind of torture. … 

After another hour of rest, Lt. Col. Valdez, Chief, Metrocom Intelligence (M-2), arrived drunk. He came near me and clapped his hands on my ears. When I fell down from the seat, he kicked me a number of times until he was tired, causing a cut on my right thigh. … 

Around 4:00 p.m., a team with Constable Second Class (C2C) Abalos brought me to our house at Tatalon, a squatter’s area in Quezon City, where he pushed around my sister and my pregnant sister-in-law when he could not get information from them. Outside on the street, Abalos mauled me … On the way back, inside the car, Abalos kept on cursing me while those seated beside me pounded my knees with pistols. 

The car stopped and Abalos sat right beside me. When the car moved on, C2C Abalos opened the door and he tried to kick me out of the car at gunpoint, but I clung on to my seat. Somewhere along Gilmore Street, Quezon City, we stopped. We went down. He drew his cocked caliber .45 pistol, released the safety catch and ordered me to run, or else he would shoot my brains out. One of his companions, however, told him to refer the matter first to the “big boss.” We went to the gasoline station on Ortigas Avenue and C2C Abalos went to a telephone booth and called. He came back saying I was lucky the “big boss” did not approve. His companions explained to me that Abalos gets paid P3,000 per head for putting away “subversives” like me. 

At the M-2 office at around 6:00 p.m. I saw Armando Teng, Arnulfo Resus, Cenon Zembrano, my wife and many others who were also arrested. I heard Teng’s shouts while he was being “electrocuted” with the cranker dynamo and also the pleas of Resus while his head was being banged against the wall. Every now and then one of the men would come near and box me in the head. Around 11:00 p.m., I was brought to the house of Brig. Gen. Tomas Diaz, IPC Zone Commander, somewhere near V. Luna Memorial Hospital.

The general offered to help with my father’s medication and to give me a job if I would cooperate with them. I refused. At this point, I saw Teng. The general ordered his men to bring him to Camp Olivas, Pampanga. I also saw them beat up Teng in the garden. The same night … I was brought to the M-2 office. ...

*

I was also offered a well-paying job and my release, together with my wife’s, by Maj. Patalinghug, if I would cooperate and be a state witness against Fr. Ed de la Torre and others.

A second account is from the personal testimony of Armando Enriquez Teng, 25, a former student of the University of the Philippines (excerpts from AMRSP):

I was arrested together with my wife about 3:30 p.m. on 13 December 1974 at No. 710 Granate Street, Quiapo, Manila. We were about to enter my brother’s house at exactly 3:00 p.m. when we noticed that there was somebody standing at the door. I was about to ask the man where my brother was when suddenly several plainclothesmen with drawn .45 caliber pistols entered.

I was about to ask who they were when one of them (C2C Eddie Abalos) hammered my hand with his gun and told us to keep quiet, or else they would shoot us. I was amazed and began to think they were burglars. Suddenly Abalos told me to stand up and stuffed a sheet of paper into my mouth and told me to swallow it. Then he asked so many questions which I could not understand. All the while he kept hitting me.

At around 6:00 p.m. Abalos and company forced us to go downstairs and, while their guns were aimed at us, told us to obey orders. They dragged and pushed us inside their Toyota Land Cruiser. By this time my wife and I told them to free us because our one-and-a-half-year-old baby was waiting at home. We told them that she would not stop crying unless she saw us. They answered negatively and told us that we would be brought to Crame for interrogation.

*

Then a certain Lt. Clifford Noveras forced me to sit at one corner of the office and connected a live telephone wire to my thumb and penis. He turned the telephone crank-shaft until more than 110 volts of electric current flowed up and down my whole body. He did this several times and again I lost consciousness told me that he would rape my wife.

When I regained consciousness, Lt. Espino dragged me and forced me into the car. He said that they would kill me if I did not admit that I was a subversive element.

Then they brought me to Brig. Gen. Tomas Diaz’ house in front of V. Luna Hospital, Quezon City. Gen. Diaz asked me if I was a certain Nick or Pepe, and I answered “no.” Then I was brought to the garden of the house by a certain Art Gonzales. He aimed his gun at me and said, “Umamin ka na! (Admit it!)” When I said, “Wala akong alam diyan sa sinasabi ninyo. (I do not know what you are talking about),” he boxed me in the solar plexus several times until I fell to the ground, breathless and moaning in pain. Gonzales picked up a big marble stone and hit my shoulder 20 to 25 times … then boxed other parts of my body several times until I again fell to the ground. Then a certain Alejandro Flores told me that we would rape my wife, Leonarda, if I did not confess. Then Lt. Espino dragged me back into the car. He said, “Talagang papatayin ka na namin (We will really kill you).”

It was about 1:00 a.m., December 14. We travelled for about an hour until we reached Camp Olivas.

Last August 1977, a team from the International Commission of Jurists released their report, The Decline of Democracy in the Philippines, an in-depth inquiry into human rights under Martial Law in the Philippines: 

For over a period of one and half years, they visited Filipino prisoners and detention centers and interviewed political detainees, church leaders, and government officials, including Pres. Marcos, the Chief Justice, the secretaries of National Defense and Justice, and the Solicitor-General, as well as other non-governmental sources.

Our interviews led us to conclude that the government, especially in cases involving alleged membership in or association with the Communist Party of the Philippines and/or the Moro National Liberation Front, acts in an arbitrary and unreasonable way in that:

1. 1. it fails to obtain the proper arrest warrants and arbitrarily picks up suspects, thereby denying them their legal safeguards;
   2. it detains these detainees without charges in private houses and places known as “safehouses”;
   3. regardless of the disciplinary proceedings mentioned later in this section, it has condoned the infliction of torture by security agents of the military during sometimes very lengthy interrogation processes, using such methods as water treatment, electric shock, isolation for long periods of time chained to beds, etc., and physical beatings. 
   4. we found no instance of torture after the detainee had ultimately been turned over to a military camp or hospital. The most shocking case was the death, as we believe, while under interrogation by security agents, of a 28-year-old girl named Purificacion Pedro, on which we will elaborate further in this report.

Perhaps the best way to document the aforesaid statements is to summarize very briefly the allegations made by 24 detainees, all of whom we found convincing. Four of these detainees are cited below, all of whom detainees had been arrested since January 1976:

Saturnino C. Ocampo, former assistant business editor and economic writer of The Manila Times; vice-president of the National Press Club of the Philippines, 1970-1971, and NPC director-secretary, 1971-72: president of the Business Economic Reporters’ Association and director of his newspapers’ workers’ union. Arrested January 1976 and taken to the operation center of the 1st Military Intelligence Group (IMIG) at Camp Olivas, Pampanga, the headquarters of the First Constabulary Zone; interrogated under duress by Maj. Benjamin Libernes, executive officer of the First Police Constabulary Zone Intelligence Division, and officers of the 1MIG. Fifth Constabulary Security Unit (5CSU), Metrocom-Intelligence and National Intelligence and Security Authority (NISA). Confined in solitary until taken on January 14 to a safehouse, manacled, blindfolded, subjected to electric shocks intensified by the pouring of cola drinks on his body, particularly at the points of electric contact, slapped on ears and nose, esophagus and head. Later burned on nipples and genitals; forced to eat excreta; threatened with castration and death. Transferred to Fort Bonifacio, where he was interrogated by Col. Miguel Aure, Chief of 5CSU, and other officers of NISA and 5CSU. Subsequently abused by Lt. Aguinaldo of 5CSU and Lt. Antonion Baquiran of 1CSU. Kept in the safehouse of 1CSU for seven weeks before being transferred to an isolation cell at Camp Olivas. He was visited by First Police Constabulary Zone Commander Brig. Gen. Tomas P. Diaz, who did not believe Ocampo’s torture reports until shown the marks on his body, then exclaimed “My God!” and promised that Ocampo would no longer be harmed. Ocampo was permitted visitors for one hour a week after two months of detention, and sunning and exercise after the third month. He was kept incommunicado from the other political prisoners. Transferred to Bicutan on July 6, 1976, but the next day was peremptorily taken away and placed in a solitary cell at the HPC Stockade in Camp Crame, where he was held incommunicado for three months, denied sunning, visitors, and some reading material. Transferred to a regular detention area for political detainees at HPC Stockade 4-B on October 1, 1976—nearly nine months after his arrest.

*

Carlos Centenera was arrested January 11, 1976, by elements of the 5CSU; brought to a safehouse and held incommunicado for five weeks, during which time he was beaten, strangulated with bare hands, electric wire, and steel bar, such that his speech was impaired for two months; had bullets pressed between his fingers, hit rifle butts and subjected twice to “Russian roulette”; subjected to water cure for approximately 30 minutes and similarly to electric shocks. Named Lt. Rodolfo Aguinaldo and Lt. Batac of 5CSU, Lt. Elnora Estrada of 5MIG (Intelligence Service, Armed Forces of the Philippines), and Lt. Alvarez of 5CSU as being present and participating in the torture sessions. 

*

Erlinda Taruc-Co was arrested January 14, 1976, in Olongapo City by elements of 1MIG (ISAFP), Z-2-1CSU, with her five-year-old son; interviewed by Gen. Diaz and Col. Quila at Camp Olivas, and promised fair treatment. However, early the next morning she and her son were taken to a safehouse where she was separated from her were taken to a safehouse where was separated from her son and incarcerated more twenty-five days, blindfolded and handcuffed to a metal bed, with intermittent torture by punching over the body, beating of the head, and sexual indignities. Was transferred to the Female Detention Center on February 8, her child permitted to join her. More than a year passed before she was given a formal charge sheet and informed that she would be arraigned on February 28, 1977. Her husband has been detained for seven years. She named Lt. Baquiran and Lino Malabanan of 1MIG (ISAFP) as among her torturers.

*

Carcelino Talam, Jr., y Magno was arrested on January 11, 1976, and taken to a safehouse where he saw two other detainees (Leonardo Manalo and Johnny Villegas) being tortured. In the presence of Col. Aure, he was beaten, punched, and kicked; by about fourteen agents, punched and kicked while seated with his arms tied behind while seated with his arms tied behind the back of his chair, lit cigarette butts pressed against his back and eyelids.

*

Maria Alena Ang was arrested on August 5, 1976, by a combined force of 5MIG (ISAFPONISA) agents led by Maj. Uguerra; kept incommunicado for fifteen days at ISAFP headquarters in Bagobantay, Quezon City, and in a safehouse; subjected to electric shock, water cure, sleep deprivation, sexual indignities, pistol-whipping, and threats to her relatives. Named Maj. Uguerra and Maj. Liola of ISAFP Atty. Castillo of NISA, and Lt. Batac of 5CSU as her torturers.

The Case of Purificacion Pedro

There is strong circumstantial evidence that his young lady, aged 28, was killed by the use of excessive force by overzealous security agents, among whom were Colonel Miguel Aure and Lieutenant Garcia, who, with others operating out of the Fifth Constabulary Security Unit, have been repeatedly charged by victims of having inflicted torture from time to time during Martial Law.

The story of the death of Purificacion Pedro as stated below is based on interviews by the Collegian with the sister and brother of the victim, with close friends, and also based in part on the questioning by Mr. Butler and Professor Humphrey, for over half an hour, of the alleged perpetrator of the crime, Colonel Miguel Aure, at offices of the Department of National Defense in Manila, in the presence of the Solicitor General, the Secretary of Defense, and other military officers.

On January 17, 1974, Miss Pedro told members of her family that she was going away for two or three days with friends; after her arrest, she told her brother that these friends were associated with the New People’s Army. They drove into the hills for several hours, and then walked through the night until about 7 a.m., when four others joined the group, all wearing sidearms. At about 10 a.m., the group was engaged in a clash with a patrol of the Philippine Constabulary; Miss Pedro was shot in the shoulder and captured, while her associates escaped.

Miss Pedro was taken to Bataan Provincial Hospital and operated on for her wounds, which were not critical. She was placed under heavy guard in the hospital’s X-ray room. When her family visited her in the hospital, she expressed real apprehension about her safety, and said that she had been interrogated already by seven teams, including Colonel Aure of the CSU. Despite his skepticism, her brother arranged for her sister to stay by her room throughout the next few days. According to the affidavit of Mrs. Carmen P. Gaspar, sister of the detainee, four men in civilian clothes ordered her out of Miss Pedro’s room at about 5:45 p.m. on January 23, 1977. She identified one of the men as Lieutenant Garcia. It was Lieutenant Garcia who, when he emerged from the room at about 6:15 p.m., informed Mrs. Gaspar that her sister was incommunicado. At about 6:30 p.m., the evening meal for Miss Pedro was delivered to the inside guard; a few minutes later the inside guard called to the outside guard. Mrs. Gaspar caught the word “bigti” (“hang”) and rushed in. She was the first to enter the bathroom.

Both feet were on the floor, with her head leaning towards the corner near the towel rack, she was not facing away from the wall. 

*

When I heard the guard say the word "Bigti!" before I saw her, I had imagined that I would find her tongue sticking out and with her feet some distance from the floor. But it was not so. As I clasped her body. I noticed that her clothes were not, but the floor was dry, as I was barefoot. I had left my step in the corridor.

The towel rack to which the hanging cord was tied was only five feet five inches from the ground. Someone then cut the hanging cord first, and then the cord tied to her neck, and they carried her (by that time a number of people were on hand to help) to another wing of the hospital. I followed them inside the emergency room but someone led me out. I waited outside crying. About fifteen to twenty minutes later, when the door opened, I knew from their faces that my sister was dead. They brought her back to her room. At around 7:15 p.m. or thereabouts, the doctor came to examine her and confirmed her death. As I was wiping her body after the doctors had pronounced her dead, I found a medal clenched in her right hand. It was the Miraculous Medal which my sister Aurora had given her the day before she died. 

We are citing this case not to imply that these security agents were acting on direct instructions of the government (although we hope that their involvement will be thoroughly investigated), but to illustrate the use of excessive force inherent in Martial Law or any military regime. 

Last June 7, 1978. Task Force Detainees, which is under AMRSP, released a special issue of their Political Detainees Update, titled “TORTURE INCREASING.” The issue included documented torture cases involving six young persons arrested during the months of April and May 1978. Two victims, both of them U.P. students, were cited here.

Melvin Mendez-Cayabyab, 31 years old, a degree holder in social work from U.P. and is completing her masters in social work, narrates:

At about 9 a.m., still at the MISG office and having had no sleep, I was brought inside the comfort room and ordered to strip down to my panty. Lt. Laurico, Pat Ordoña and the other men started taking liberties, touching my body and kissing me on the cheeks. They did these as they threatened to kill my husband and harass my relatives if I did not cooperate with them. When I resisted their advances and refused to answer their questions, they ordered me to squat and alternatingly beat me on the thighs and slapped me on the face.

Not satisfied with this punishment, Laurico and his men applied the electric shock treatment on my fingers. They were about to place the electrodes in my vagina when they found out I was bleeding (I was two months pregnant). I told them I might have just had a miscarriage. This deterred them from further tormenting me. I was taken to the Camp Crame station hospital for check-up and to stop my bleeding. I was aghast when the doctors there merely gave me some tablets, then allowed the MISG men to take me back.

Jose Durn y Angelias, 25 years old, single, fine arts student at U.P., was arrested by the MISG at 5 a.m., on May 24, 1978. This is his torture story: 

I was one of those suspected subversives on the night of May 24, 1978 at the headquarters of the M2/MISG Camp Crame.

* 

When they were through with Rogelio Dagar, they called to me to come near and I saw the telephone cranker that was being used to apply electric shock. Not sooner, they tied the thin wires around my thumbs and cranked the shaft. I involuntarily shouted in pain and fell to my knees. They just laughed and made me stand up. I was told to ”confess” and I refused. I begged them to stop, but they all the more beat me on my sides, causing me to fall down again. I begged them to stop, but all the more they cranked the telephone till I fell down again. I cried out because of the pain that had grown intense from every electric shock.

Because of my yelling, they seemed to have become alarmed. So they took my handkerchief and stuffed it into my mouth so that no sound could escape. The electric shocks were repeatedly applied. I fell down frequently. They kept forcing me to own up, to no avail.

When they would get tired with me, the torturers would turn to Rogelio Dagar. They stopped only when dawn approached. Our bodies had become numb due to the hardships that we had gone through. Our torturers had wanted to dunk our heads into the dirty toilet bowl but they did not proceed because if they did so we would no longer be able to talk due to fatigue and hunger. We were not given food that night.

*

To the firm and active critics and supporters of Martial Law, I dedicate these pieces of information. To the general public, I pose a nagging question: What now? ●

* Apologies to Emmanuel Lacaba. Published in print in the Collegian’s September 20, 1978 issue, with the headline “Human Rights?” The article has been edited for clarity.