By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
The NDFP Negotiating Panel vigorously condemns the enforced disappearance of NDFP Consultant Rogelio Calubad and his son Gabriel. Witnesses saw the NDFP consultant and his son being manhandled by elements of the AFP at 7:00 a.m. on June 17, 2006 in Barangay Bangkuruhan, Calauag, Quezon. They were thrown off their motorcycle and made to lie face down on the dirt road. Rogelio Calubad was brutally mauled and then handcuffed and forced into the van, while Gabriel was taken onto a motorcycle behind the van.
By LUIS G. JALANDONI
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
The NDFP Negotiating Panel vigorously condemns the enforced disappearance of NDFP Consultant Rogelio Calubad and his son Gabriel. Witnesses saw the NDFP consultant and his son being manhandled by elements of the AFP at 7:00 a.m. on June 17, 2006 in Barangay Bangkuruhan, Calauag, Quezon. They were thrown off their motorcycle and made to lie face down on the dirt road. Rogelio Calubad was brutally mauled and then handcuffed and forced into the van, while Gabriel was taken onto a motorcycle behind the van.
This brutal abduction and enforced disappearance inflicted on NDFP Consultant Rogelio Calubad is a flagrant violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) both of which remain binding and effective, despite the invalid unilateral suspension of the JASIG by the Arroyo regime. Moreover, this involuntary disappearance of Rogelio Calubad and his son is a violation of the Geneva Conventions and Protocol II additional thereto of which the Government of the Republic of the Philippines has bound itself as a State party.
The Arroyo regime is proving itself to be an international outlaw, inflicting state terrorism on the Filipino people, in utter disregard of its obligations according to the JASIG, the CARHRIHL, and the Geneva Conventions and Protocol II. The NDFP Negotiating Panel calls on all organizations which uphold human rights and international humanitarian law, the International Committee of the Red Cross which is the official guardian of the Geneva Conventions and Protocols, to hold the Arroyo regime accountable for this flagrant violation of human rights and international humanitarian law and assist the family of Rogelio Calubad to secure the immediate surfacing of Rogelio Calubad and his son Gabriel and their unconditional and immediate release.
The Arroyo regime is responsible for more than 180 enforced disappearances, more than 690 extra-judicial killings of unarmed civilians and frustrated killings of more than 200 civilian victims. This murderous regime must be indicted for crimes against humanity.
