Mother Pleads for Release of Daughters Held by AFP

Trauma

Mañano said the Gumanoy children are suffering from trauma and stress.

She said the children were uprooted from their daily activities; and their intellectual development had been hindered. “They also suffer from lack of security and certainty.”

Mañano said that the AFP cannot claim that it can give protection to Fatima and Rose Ann. “How could they claim that if Fatima and Rose Ann have been traumatized by their harassment?”

Illegal

Gabriela Women’s Party List Representative Luzviminda Ilagan said that the continued detention of Fatima is illegal. “The AFP has no basis for the abduction and continued illegal detention of Fatima. There are no charges filed against her, therefore, there is no reason for them to keep her.”

Ilagan said, “The mother has every right to get her child…[who is] obviously in pain, especially since she is a minor. Apparently, Fatima has already been tortured.”

Ilagan explained that past practices of the AFP show that victims of military abuse are not released immediately to give time for the wounds and other torture marks to heal.

The GWP representative said she would file a resolution next week calling on the House Committees on Human Rights and on the Welfare of Children to conduct an investigation on the arrest and detention of the Gumanoy sisters.

Ilagan added that the AFP should be held accountable for violating the rights of the mother Maria and of the child Fatima. She said the AFP’s actions violated the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act, the Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

She said that Maria’s right has also been violated as the latter was subjected to humiliation.

Alphonse Rivera, officer-in-charge of Salinlahi (Alliance for Children’s Concerns) also said that during their visits, the soldiers refused to identify themselves properly. He said that when Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo tried to see the Gumanoy sisters, the latter was denied entry. He said that the soldiers also refused to provide the name of their superiors.

Not isolated

Rivera said that Fatima’s case is not isolated.

He cited other cases of violations of children’s rights. He recalled the killing of Grecil Buya, the massacre of Blanco family in Oriental Mindoro, the illegal arrest and detention of three minors in Quezon province, among others.

Salinlahi and CRC called on international organizations especially the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to look into these cases. United Nations Special Representative to the Secretary General Raadhika Coomaraswamy is set to visit the country later this year.

Rivera said that children have become victims of the Arroyo government’s counter-insurgency program Oplan Bantay Laya. (Bulatlat)