Philippine groups support abolition of US-RP accord

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 26, 2010) - The Justice for Gregan Cardeño Movement praised Filipino Senator Miriam Santiago for her effort in ending the continued presence of US troops in the Philippines.

This, after Santiago sponsored Joint Resolution No. 3, expressing the sense of Congress as a whole to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement and directing the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs to give the notice of termination to the United States.

She also said that the US has not recognized the VFA as a treaty because the American Congress never given its advice and consent to the accord.

JGCM, a group formed by relatives of Gregan Cardeño and human rights groups, condemned VFA and blamed it for the slow-moving trial of Cardeño’s case.

“I thought my husband’s work is interpreter but he told me before he died, he was asked to do not the work of an interpreter”, Myrna Cardeño, wife of Gregan disclosed.

Cardeño, a Filipino interpreter to US troops in the southern Philippines, was found dead February 3 inside a military base in Marawi City what security officials claimed was a suicide.

By his family said Cardeño did not commit suicide, but possibly abused by US troops in Marawi City. The victim’s relatives filed a petition for Writ of Amparo which the Court of Appeals granted, but US military commanders simply ignored the order and did not attend any court hearing since July.

“VFA hinders the investigation of Cardeño’s case, government agencies like CHR were not allowed to enter their barracks. In this case, how can justice be served to the victim and his family if the government cannot compel the US troops to explain what happened to Gregan Cardeño and his nature of work,” Bai Ali Indayla, spokesperson of the group said, in a statement.

According to Indayla, VFA clearly violates territorial integrity and breach our national sovereignty. This agreement covers-up US intervention to Philippines, it is unjust and unfair to continue this agreement.

“We are lobbying now to the Congress to favor Joint Resolution No. 3 and terminate immediately Visiting Forces Agreement. The Aquino Administration should also act on this matter to end human rights violations perpetrated by the US troops; PNoy should send home the Yankees,” Indayla said, referring to President Benigno Aquino.

CA orders GIs to explain death of interpreter

MANILA, Philippines – American soldiers implicated in the death of a Filipino interpreter in Mindanao have been ordered by the Court of Appeals to shed light on the incident by filing verified returns to writs of amparo and habeas data issued by the Supreme Court.

The CA’s Special Seventeenth Division noted that Captain Michael Kay of the Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines (JSOTFP), Lieutenant Junior Grade Theresa Donelly of the US Barracks, 103rd Infantry Brigade, a Captain Boyer and Master Sergeant Gines, as well as Tomas Rivera of Skylink Security and General Services, had still not filed their returns despite a Supreme Court order that accompanied its granting the petition for the writs filed by the family of interpreter Gregan Cardeño.

Cardeño was an interpreter hired by the American military through Skylink. He was found dead inside his room at JSTOFP headquarters in Marawi City February 2.

Authorities ruled his death a suicide but his relatives and human rights groups suspect he was murdered.

During the hearing on the petition for the writs last July 7, 2010, the US soldiers and Rivera failed to appear before the CA.

Aside from the US soldiers and Rivera, the petition also named former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Visiting Forces Agreement Commission, Philippine National Police Director General Jesus Versoza, Western Mindanao Command chief General Ben Dolorfino, General Rey Aldo and Colonel Felix Castro of the 103rd Infantry Brigade, Senior Police Officers 3 Ali Rangiris and Mayaman Angintaopan of the Marawi City police, and a police intelligence officer surnamed Mago.

The writ of habeas data is a remedy available to any person whose right to privacy, life, liberty or security is violated or threatened by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity engaged in the gathering, collecting or storing of data or information regarding the person, family, home and correspondence of the aggrieved party.

The writ of amparo is a remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty, and security is violated and threatened with violations by unlawful act or omission or a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity. (Dateline Philippines)


Link: http://dateline.ph/?p=4615

Activists protest continued stay of US troops in the Philippines

Members of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan stage a torch march Friday, July 2, 2010 in Davao City in Mindanao Island in the southern Philippines to demand justice for Gregan Cardeno, a Filipino translator who was found dead February 2 inside his room at the US Joint Special Operation Task Force - Philippines military headquarters in Marawi City in Lanao del Sur province.(Photos by Karlos Manlupig)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 3, 2010) - Members of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan stage a torch march Friday in Davao City in Mindanao Island in the southern Philippines to demand justice for Gregan Cardeno, a Filipino translator who was found dead February 2 inside his room at the US Joint Special Operation Task Force - Philippines military headquarters in Marawi City in Lanao del Sur province.

The group also demanded for the immediate pull-out of the US troops in the country. Cardeno allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself, but his family believes the 30-year translator for American soldiers deployed to help fight terrorism in the South was murdered.

Political activists and various civil society organizations are calling for the pull out of US troops in the Philippines.

US troops have been in Mindanao since 2001 and helping local military defeat terrorism and insurgents. (With a report from Karlos Manlupig)

Writ of amparo granted to kin of interpreter found dead among US troops: GMA News

The Supreme Court has granted extra protection to the family of an interpreter for US troops who died under mysterious circumstances in Marawi City, after they claimed receiving threats for pursuing the case.

The high court issued the writ of amparo to 28 relatives of Gregan Cardeño, led by Gregan’s wife Myrna, sister Carivel and sister-in-law Lorraine, who filed the petition.

Contained in an SC resolution dated June 15 but sent out on June 22, the writ of amparo enjoins government officials to protect Cardeño’s relatives against threats from and acts of surveillance by military officials, who they suspect to be involved in events that led to Gregan’s death and are attempting to cover up the incident.

The SC likewise granted the family’s petition for writ of habeas data, which obliges the police and military to transmit to either the Court of Appeals (CA) or to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) all reports and evidence on the deaths of Cardeño and Maj. Javier Ignacio.

Ignacio, commanding officer of the Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom)’s Military Police, was helping the family conduct its own investigation when he was himself killed.

The SC resolution further directed the CA to hear on July 1 the petitioners’ requests, which include permission to inspect Gregan’s room in Camp Ranao.

The respondents are outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Visiting Forces Agreement Commission, the Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines, Wesmincom Commander Lt. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino, Philippine National Police director general Jesus Verzosa, and 12 other officers of the local police and military, and of the US soldiers stationed at Camp Ranao in Marawi City.

The respondents were ordered to comment on the petition within five days from receipt of the resolution.

Dead inside a US camp

Gregan, 33, was supposed to be assigned as a security guard at Camp Siongco in Maguindanao province, but on February 1 was allegedly brought instead by a US helicopter to Camp Ranao in Marawi, which is also the headquarters of the 103rd Brigade of the Philippine Army.

Barely three days after, however, Gregan’s family received a call from a local police official telling them that he committed suicide by hanging himself midnight of February 2.

The family, however, suspected there was foul play as Gregan was still able to call them before he allegedly killed himself, saying he was not doing an interpreter’s work and that what he was being asked to do was “very difficult."

He added that those with him are “all Americans."

A subsequent autopsy report by the National Bureau of Investigation indicated there were five deep and burnt puncture wounds on Gregan’s feet, on the left inner part of both legs and on the upper right arm.

A Mindanao-based human rights group from which Gregan’s family sought help, however, said the autopsy did not state other injuries that the family earlier noted when they saw Gregan’s cadaver at a Zamboanga City funeral home.

These other injuries, the human rights group claimed, included an enlarged scrotum, the enlarged opening of his anus, a deep wound on the upper right part of his neck and three injuries on his head.

Local police and military officials earlier maintained that Gregan indeed committed suicide based on evidence gathered, including a supposed suicide note he left behind.

Family friend killed

Meanwhile, Ignacio, a close friend of Gregan’s family and Wesmincom’s Military Police chief, reportedly started getting death threats for assisting the family in securing more information on Gregan’s death.

On March 26, just hours after attending the re-autopsy of Gregan’s body conducted by the Commission on Human Rights, Ignacio was gunned down by still unidentified suspects astride two motorcycles in Zamboanga City.

Ignacio sustained gunshot wounds in his back and head, and died on the spot.

To date, local police have yet to determine the motives or suspects behind Ignacio’s death, saying the area where he was shot was experiencing a blackout

Gregan’s family, however, maintained in their petition that Ignacio’s death was part of the attempt to “cover up" Gregan’s death.

Gregan, who was also a Christian pastor, left behind a wife and three children. (Jerrie m. Abella, JV, GMANews.TV)


Link: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/194572/writ-of-amparo-granted-to-kin-of-interpreter-found-dead-among-us-troops

Tropang Kano, na-eskandalo na naman sa Mindanao

MAYNILA (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 9, 2010) - Pormal ng magsasampa ng reklamo ang pamilya ng Pinoy interpreter ng US Forces na di-umanoy nagpakamatay sa barracks ng US Forces sa Camp Ranao ng Philippine Army's 103rd Infantry sa Marawi City, ayon sa mga human rights groups.

Si Gregan Cardeño, 33, ay natanggap bilang interpreter ng US Forces na nagsasagawa ng Balikatan at umalis noong Pebrero 01 nitong taon at kasama ang mga US Troops patungong Camp Siongco sa bayan ng Datu Odin Sinsuat sa Maguindanao province.

Laking gulat na lang ng pamilya ng mapag-alamang sa Marawi City pala ito dinala. Sa huling tawag nito sa kanyang asawa at kapatid ay nabanggit niyang hindi interpreter ang pinapatrabaho sa kanya kaya’t gusto niya nang umuwi.

Kinaumagahan, Pebrero 03, sa pamamagitan ng tawag ng pulisya ay nalaman ng pamilya ni Gregan na nagbigti umano ito gamit ang sariling kumot, ngunit ang malaking ipinagtataka ng mga nagdadalamhating pamilya ay kung bakit may mga tusok sa paa at sugat sa leeg at ulo si Gregan na tila dumanas ito ng tortyur.

Dahil hindi kumbinsido ang pamilya ni Gregan, nagsagawa sila kasama ang mga human rights group (Justice for Gregan Cardeño Movement) ng Fact-Finding Mission noong Marso 03 sa Marawi City. Nakunan ng fact-finding mission team ang Philippine National Police, 103rd Infantry Brigade at US troops team leader na nakilala lamang sa pangalan Capt. Kaye ng magkakaibang salaysay kaya’t mas lalong nakumbinsi ang grupo na hindi nagpakamatay ang biktima kung hindi may foul play na nangyari.

Dismayado rin ang fact-finding mission team lalo na ang pamilya ng hindi pumayag ang US troops na makapasok sa US barracks ang pamilya upang makita ang kwarto ni Gregan kung saan nangyari ang insidente.

Isasampa ng pamilya ng biktima ang reklamo sa tanggapan ni Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Leila de Lima upang maimbestigahan ng husto ang pagkamatay ni Gregan.

Nanawagan rin ang pamilya sa mga kinauukulan na magsagawa ng malayang imbestigasyon upang mabigyang linaw ang nangyari kay Gregan at papanagutin kung sinuman ang mapapatunayang may kinalaman o responsable sa pagkamatay ni Gregan.

Ilang ulit ng na-eskandalo ang tropa ng mga Kano sa Mindanao dahil sa ibat-ibang kaso mula sa akusasyon ng rape ng isang Pinay na tubong-Zamboanga hanggang sa mga paglabag sa karapatang pantao sa nasabing rehiyon.