BAGUIO CITY (February 18) — The Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) today condemned the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the arrest and torture of 11 backpackers from February 14 to 16 in Buguias, Benguet and called for the immediate release of the victims and the appropriate penalty to the PNP elements involved. The PNP claimed that the victims are New People’s Army (NPA) members responsible for the raid that took place in Mankayan town last week.

“The PNP has proven again its disregard for human dignity, which is manifested in the various forms of physical and mental torture inflicted upon the victims, one of which is a woman”, CPA Secretary General Windel Bolinget claimed in an interview.

The Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) identified the perpetrators to be elements of the 1604th PNP Provincial Mobile Group (PMG), 3rd Coy of the PNP Regional Mobile Group (PRMG), and elements of the Armed Forces.

The victims are Rundren Berloize, Anderson Alonzo, Aldoz Mañoza, Ron Pandino, Ray Lester Mendoza, Jethro Villagracia, Neil Russel Balajadia, Darwin Alagar, Arvie Nuñez, Jefferson de la Rosa, and Frencess Ann Bernal. They come from different parts of the country, as far as Laguna, Quezon and Davao provinces and intended to backpack towards Sagada, Mt. Province.

Reports from the CHRA claim that the victims were punched, slapped and kicked I various parts of the body, blindfolded and tied, made to kneel blindfolded in the heat of the sun, electrocuted, while some were dumped in a hole that was later filled with soil. Other victims’ genitals were whacked with wood, among others.

Bolinget said that Benguet Provincial Police Office Director Senior Supt. Villamor Bumanglag is directly responsible for the acts committed against the 11 victims, the youngest aged 15 years old.

“The PNP has denied due process to the victims. Due process should always be accorded, even if these are criminals or even NPAs, because nobody is guilty of a crime until proven so”, he stressed, adding that the incidence only indicates that the PNP is after spot promotion.

Bolinget added that the same PNP group(s) committed the human rights violations against the Lepanto mineworkers during the strike last year from June 2 to September 10. “The PNP is mandated to serve protect the Filipino people but has proven again otherwise to this occasion,” he said, adding that justice must immediately be served to these victims and that government agencies such as the Commission on Human Rights intervene assist the 11 victims and have them home to their provinces.

“What the PNP did desecrates the Cordillera indigenous peoples’ culture and tradition of warm welcome of guests and visitors, who deserve respect”, he ended. # a.t. bengwayan