Swiss Organization Is Alarmed By Case Of 2 Arrested NGO Workers In South RP

NORTH COTABATO (D. Mondelo / 12 Nov) - A prestigious Swiss organization that has been extending assistance to several development organizations in the Philippines has written a strong letter to the Philippine embassy in Switzerland to protest the recent arrest of two Filipino relief workers, the independent online publication Bulatlat reported on Sunday.

It said the Bern-based Theresa-Ladeli Jegenstorf, a rare recipient in 2001 of a Presidential Award from then President Joseph Estrada for its outstanding development work in the Philippines, asked the Filipino ambassador in Switzerland to intervene in the arrest of the two relief workers belonging to its partner agency.

Aside from this, the group has further asked the intervention of the Swiss embassy in Manila, the Swiss Foreign Affairs Department and the Swiss Department of Justice on the case of the two relief workers.

The two women, Lourilie Naiz, 22, and Mary Bernadette Solitario, 21, staff workers of the Davao City-based Disaster Response Center, Inc. (DIRECT), were allegedly abducted last Nov. 4 while on field work in Tulunan town in North Cotabato by the 27th and 39th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army.

They were taken to a military safehouse where they were interrogated, ordered to take off their clothes, and forced to admit to being members of the Communist Party of the Philippines' New People's Army (CPP-NPA). The two, who suffered shock during their interrogation, are detained at the Tulunan Police Station, the report said.

Theresa Ladeli spokesperson, Monika Baumann, said DIRECT is a disaster relief NGO (non-governmental organization) that they have been supporting for more than 10 years. She said DIRECT's work involves helping victims of landslides, typhoons, floods or bombings by the Philippine military in the mountains of Mindanao island.

"I know all those people and they are highly committed to help all those suffering people. They work day and night to give relief, food and shelter," Baumann stressed in their letter.

"I count on your help, on your intervention, that justice will be given to those women, that your military will stop (harassing) their own people, that your President Gloria Arroyo will stop this crazy all out war!," Bulatlat quoted Baumannn's letter as saying.

Earlier reports by the state-owned Philippine News Agency said masked gunmen clad in camouflage uniform seized the two women in Batang village in the town of Tulunan.
It said no group claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, but the two were on their way to investigate recent clashes between troops and communist insurgents.

The town's mayor, Nestor Taasan, has confirmed the kidnappings and said the duo had been taken by motorcycle gunmen, the report said.

"The workers were scheduled to monitor and evaluate last November 4 a DIRECT project in remote Barangay Batang where clashes between government troops and New People's Army rebels were going on when they were abducted," the PNA said.

No group claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. The Interfaith Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights (IFAAPR), a local human rights group, has condemned the incident. "Such matter is a clear manifestation of human rights violation," IFAAPR senior officer Pastor Ernesto Estrella said.

Solitario is a native of General Santos City while Naiz is from Kidapawan City, all in Mindanao. The town was scene of clashes this month between government soldiers and insurgents, who raided a military detachment and carted 21 assorted weapons.

But Maj. Gen. Ernesto Boac, commander of the Army's 10th Infantry Division, strongly denied the reports and said the two were not kidnapped or arrested, but had been briefly interviewed by soldiers about their background after villagers informed authorities about their presence.

"The villagers are aware of the threats of terrorism and the authorities were informed about the presence of new faces in the area. The women were briefly interviewed for purposes of verifying their identities and soldiers let go off them afterwards," Boac said. "There is no truth to all these allegations about our soldiers. We are here to protect the citizens and their safety and the public in general."

The province was also bombed twice last month by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants where six people had been killed and more than 40 others wounded. (With a report from Juan Magtanggol/Mindanao Examiner)