Philippines: From the Senate to the Court of Appeals, state security officers continue their lies

From PNP Chief Razon down to SPO2s, lies spread like manure

The families of victims of enforced disappearance said they expect more lies from state security officers who are set to take a stand at today’s hearing of a petition for a writ of amparo at the Court of Appeals (CA).

“The lies continue, from the statement by PNP chief Avelino Razon Jr. on the Senate ZTE investigation, down to the SPO2s who took the stand at the CA. They spread their lies like manure, the more they talk, the more they stink, and become more obvious in hiding the truth,” said Mary Guy Portajada, spokesperson of the Families of Desaparecidos for Justice or Desaparecidos. The custodial officers of the Army’s Intelligence Security Group have testified yesterday at the CA 8th Division on the amparo-habeas corpus petitions for detained National Democratic Front consultant Elizabeth Principe and her missing spouse Leo Velasco, also an NDFP consultant.

Principe was abducted on Nov. 28, 2007 in Quezon City and is currently detained at the Camp Crame custodial center. Velasco was disappeared after he was abducted Feb. 19, 2007 by suspected agents of the Crime Investigation and Detection Group in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental.

At the CA hearing on Feb. 18, Portajada said that the three police officers – Police Supt. Aunorio Agnila, Chief of South Metro Manila Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), SPO4 Cecillia Garcia and SPO2 Andy Palmiano – who took the stand, were apparently lying, as all three gave inconsistent statements on the time of the arrest briefing, the actual arrest, and even gave inconsistent accounts about the arrest. Agnila even claimed Principe was only “invited”. Principe meanwhile said she saw Garcia on Dec. 1 when she was turned over by her abductors to the custodial center, while she saw Agnilo and Palmiano only in court.

“Unlike PNP chief Razon who had much practice in obscuring facts when he was Task Force Usig chief, these lowly officers were not as sophisticated as inveterate liars,” Portajada said.

She added that denials, disinformation and lies have been standard operating procedures of state security forces side by side with the human rights violations they commit. “They lie as brazenly as they violate the people’s human rights,’” she added.

Under the Arroyo regime, a total of 180 victims were abducted and are still missing. ###

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