Contact: Rhonda Ramiro
Justice for Melissa Campaign
Email: info@justiceformelissa.org

The Justice for Melissa campaign expresses its deepest condolences to the families of Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio and Ramon Batoy.  The Justice for Melissa campaign condemns the brutal extra-judicial killings of Italian missionary Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio and farmer activist Ramon Batoy, two individuals that were defenders of the Arakan valley, the land and its people.

Fr. Tentorio, an Italian missionary of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), was shot dead within the compound of the Mother of Perpetual Help Parish on October 17, 2011.  Fr. Pops, an anti-mining activist, was also a Board Member of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines Southern Mindanao and the Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation Inc.  Fr. Tentorio answered the humble calling to live a simple life among the people, to serve the people, especially those in most need, the most oppressed. For more than 30 years, Fr. Pops devoted his life to the service of the indigenous “lumads” and peasants of the Southern Philippines.

Within the week of Fr. Pops’ slaying, farmer Ramon Batoy was extra-judicially killed inside his own home in Arakan.  According to the latest reports from the human rights organization, Karapatan, members of Batoy’s family and neighbors were illegally detained, tortured and harassed by the military. The government cover-up of the extra-judicial killing uses the storyline that Batoy and his neighbor were members of the New People’s Army.

“The brutal culture of impunity that reigns in the Philippines does not discriminate.  As an American that has survived enforced disappearance and torture in the Philippines, my heart goes out to the Tentorio and Batoy families and the communities they served.  The civilian death toll under the on-going counter-insurgency program, Oplan Bayanihan, continues to rise, and it is not just Filipino blood that has been shed.  The international community must respond to these latest human rights atrocities that have claimed the life of another Filipino citizen and an Italian priest,” said Melissa Roxas.  “The government’s on-going criminalization and extra-judicial killings of activists and advocates like Ramon Batoy and Fr. Pops must end.  We must continue to advocate internationally, from Geneva to the Vatican, so that peace with justice will one day prevail.”

The Justice for Melissa campaign joins the growing international clamor for justice.  We call for an immediate, comprehensive and fair investigation of these human rights violations.  We call on President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to address the following:

1. The immediate formation of an independent fact-finding and investigation team composed of representatives from human rights groups, the Church, local government, and the Commission on Human Rights that will look into the incident in Sitio Upper Lumbo, Kabalantian village, Municipality of Arakan, North Cotabato, which led to the killing of Ramon Batoy, the arrest of Noli Badol and Celso Batoy, and the forcible evacuation of 48 households from their homes.
2. The immediate release of Noli Badol and Celso Batoy from unjust detention.
3. The military to stop the labeling and targeting of human rights defenders and innocent civilians as “members of front organizations of the communists” and “enemies of the state.”
4. The Philippine Government to withdraw its counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, which victimizes innnocent and unarmed civilians.
5. The Philippine Government to be reminded that it is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that it is also a party to all the major Human Rights instruments, thus it is bound to observe all of these instruments’ provisions.

End Impunity In the Philippines!

Contact: Rhonda Ramiro or Kuusela Hilo
Justice for Melissa Campaign
Email: info@justiceformelissa.org

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — The Filipina Women’s Network has selected Melissa Roxas as one of the 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the United States. While doing community health work in the Philippines, Ms. Roxas was abducted, tortured and disappeared from May 19-25, 2009 at the hands of the Philippine military. Since she was surfaced after the ordeal, Ms. Roxas has advocated relentlessly for justice for all victims of human rights abuses and for an end to U.S. military aid and political support for the culture of impunity which allows human rights violators in the Philippines to escape prosecution. For her courage, the Filipina Women’s Network is honoring Ms. Roxas with the Policymakers and Visionaries award, which recognizes Filipina women leaders who have made or are making a difference in U.S. government policies or laws that impact business, industry, and society and who enrich the lives and careers of others by sharing the benefits of their wealth, experience, and knowledge.

The 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the United States Award™ is a celebration of leadership, inspiration and achievement. It honors Filipina women who are changing the face of power in American communities, organizations and the workplace.

“These influential Filipina American women are dynamic entrepreneurs, rising stars under 40, emerging builders and executives who have moved through the ranks in large organizations, nonprofits and government agencies. They are powerful examples of women doing extraordinary work who will motivate our youth and future leaders,” said Gloria T. Caoile, political director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) and co-chair of the FWN 100 Nationwide Search and Selection Committee. “They were selected from nominations submitted from 19 states.”

“I am thankful to FWN for this honor,” said Melissa Roxas. “The human rights situation in the Philippines and around the world continues to worsen especially in the current economic and political crisis. I am humbled to be recognized for speaking out about human rights, but recognize that there are many more women out there that are the unsung heroes, some of whom dedicated their lives to the cause of human rights and have paid the ultimate price with their lives. The fearless women in the Philippines who dared to speak out have become the victims of political killings and disappearances. It is my hope that by attending events such as FWN, I can keep alive the voices of these women by continuing to speak out and call for justice and accountability.”

The 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the U.S. Award™ is a working recognition award, a dream with a meaningful purpose: double the number of Filipina women leaders by 2012.

“Pinay Power 2012 began in 2006 with a dream to inspire, inform, and advance Filipina women leaders who would influence the Filipino American community’s future. It provides a critical pathway for successful women who care about advancement, achievement, and significance,” said Elena Mangahas, board chair of Filipina Women’s Network. “These women are not only talking about change, but plan to be part of making it happen.”

“FWN will honor these amazing women at a gala dinner awards celebration on Friday, October 14, 2011 at the Stanford Court Hotel in San Francisco,” said Marily Mondejar, president of the Filipina Women’s Network. “The awards gala is the highlight of the 8th Filipina Leadership Summit from October 13 through October 15. Awardees often share this inspiring evening with their daughters, sons, mothers, grandmothers, young women and men from their organizations.”

For additional details concerning Pinay Power 2012 and to attend the Filipina Leadership Summit, call 415.935.4396 or go to www.FilipinaWomensNetwork.org. For additional details concerning Melissa Roxas or the Justice for Melissa Campaign, please email info@justiceformelissa.org.

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About the Justice for Melissa Campaign
The Justice for Melissa Roxas (J4MR) campaign is a broadly-carried initiative of organizations, churches, and individuals who support Melissa Roxas, a Filipina American poet, human rights activist and community health worker, who was abducted and tortured by elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines on May 19, 2009 while conducting community health work in La Paz, Tarlac, Philippines. She was held incommunicado and tortured for six days in a military camp, the first American victim of state-sponsored abduction and torture in the Philippines during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The J4MR campaign supports Melissa Roxas’ pursuit of justice and accountability and justice for all victims of state-sponsored human rights violations in the Philippines. Community members can take action to support the J4MR campaign by signing the online pledge at http://www.justiceformelissa.org.

About Filipina Women’s Network (FWN)
FWN is a national nonprofit professional association founded to raise awareness of the activities, careers and status of women of Philippine ancestry based in the United States. FWN’s mission is to advance Filipina women in the U.S. workplace through programs and activities that enhance public perceptions of Filipina women’s capacities to lead, change biases against Filipina women’s leadership abilities, and build the Filipina community’s pipeline of qualified leaders, to increase the odds that some will rise to the president position in all sectors. More info: Call 415.935.4396 or email filipina@ffwn.org. http://www.filipinawomensnetwork.org

About the 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the U.S. Awards™
The Filipina Women’s Network’s FWN 100 awards program is part of a larger game plan called “Pinay Power 2012″ – a dream with a meaningful purpose – to double the number of Filipina women leaders by 2012. The prestigious recognition is a working award – the winners are asked to femtor a protégée. Both leaders are invited to return to the Filipina Leadership Summit in 2012.

Reference: Justice for Melissa Campaign
Email: info@justiceformelissa.org
Website: www.justiceformelissa.org

Online whistleblower Wikileaks released three classified cables earlier this month which included then-US ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney’s comments on the abduction and torture of Melissa Roxas from May 19-25, 2009 at the hands of the Philippine military. The cables largely confirm what the Justice for Melissa Campaign already suspected: that the US Embassy was more concerned with how Roxas’ ordeal could further expose the relationship between US military aid to the Philippines and the rampant human rights abuses being conducted by the Philippine military, than with investigating the crime and obtaining justice for Roxas. However, the Wikileaks cables also uncovered disturbing inaccuracies in the Embassy’s portrayal of its correspondence with Roxas after she was surfaced, calling into question the sincerity of the Embassy’s even minimal offerings of support.

In a cable dated June 29, 2009 Kenney stated that the Chief of the American Citizens Service of the Embassy who spoke to Roxas on May 27, 2009 reported that Roxas “was in good physical condition and that she felt safe at a relative’s home.” In reaction to this statement, Roxas said, “I can not comprehend how they could come to the illogical conclusion that I was in ‘good physical condition’ and ‘felt safe’ when I explained that I had been tortured and was traumatized by what had happened.”

According to Roxas, the Embassy official initially offered three options for her to provide more information about her case: Roxas could go to the Embassy, an Embassy representative could go to the home where Roxas was staying, or they could meet at a mutually convenient location. When Roxas said that she did not feel safe leaving the home and requested the Embassy representative to come to her, the Embassy official withdrew that option and told Roxas that she would have to rely on her own family’s resources to ensure her safety. “Essentially, they told me I was on my own,” said Roxas.

In addition, the Embassy cables depict Kenney’s concern with the public relations ramifications of Roxas’ abduction and torture, rather than concern over the ordeal itself. Kenney refers to “the press” seven times in the cables: in her description of press statements by Roxas’ legal counsel, Roxas’ first public press conference and press reports about Roxas case. Kenney commented repeatedly that supporters of Roxas would use or appeared to be using the incident “in an attempt to draw connections between U.S. military aid and human rights abuses by Philippine forces, with the apparent goal of ending U.S. financial support for the Philippine military altogether.” Kenney raised no opposition to the Philippine government’s quickly-discredited line that the abduction was conducted and “stage managed” by organizations critical of the government to make the military look bad.

The Justice for Melissa Campaign criticizes the US Embassy for abandoning its responsibility to Roxas, an American citizen, and for its lack of any meaningful assistance in pursuing justice for Roxas. The Campaign also denounces the role the US Embassy plays in ensuring the status quo in US-Philippine relations; the Embassy’s handling of Roxas’ case emboldens the culture of impunity which pervades the Philippine military as it shows that the US government will even allow human rights abuses committed against US citizens to go unpunished.

Today, on the 39th anniversary of the declaration of martial law in the Philippines, the Justice for Melissa Campaign draws inspiration from the mass movement of the 1970s and ’80s to end martial law, as we continue our campaign for justice for Melissa, justice for all victims of human rights violations and an end to the impunity which reigns in the Philippines. To take action today, please sign the Pledge of Support for Melissa Roxas and All Victims of Human Rights Violations at www.justiceformelissa.org/pledge.

Related Wikileaks cables:
June 29, 2009
July 24, 2009
August 13, 2009

Contact: Kuusela Hilo
Justice for Melissa Roxas Campaign
Email: info@justiceformelissa.org
Website: www.justiceformelissa.org

What: Justice for Melissa Press Conference; Appeal to UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.

Where: Immanuel Presbyterian Church
3300 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010

When: Thursday, August 25, 2011, 6 PM – 7 PM

*** PHOTO OPPORTUNITY ***

Los Angeles, CA. In commemoration of the International Day of the Disappeared, Melissa Roxas, a torture survivor who was disappeared for six days at the hands of the Philippine military, will file an official appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Professor Juan Mendez to help remove roadblocks to her pursuit of justice. Working with a team of world-renowned international human rights lawyers who have joined the Justice for Melissa Roxas campaign, Roxas will ask the Rapporteur to call on the Philippine government to fully disclose all information regarding Roxas’ case, cooperate with investigations, pursue charges against those responsible for her abduction and torture, and extend an invitation to the Rapporteur to conduct a visit to the Philippines to investigate the human rights situation.

On Thursday evening, human rights defenders and survivors of human rights violations from different countries will join Roxas for a special press conference to shed light on the continuing impunity in the Philippines and hope for justice for all victims of torture and disappearance worldwide. Victoria Don, Esq., Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris Hoffman & Harrison, LLP; Julie Gutman, Executive Director of Program for Torture Victims; Marvyn Perez, survivor of torture from Guatemala; and Rev. David Farley, United Methodist Church, with the Justice for Melissa campaign, will be featured speakers for this press conference.

In May 2009, while doing community health work in the Philippines, Roxas became the first American citizen under the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration to be abducted and tortured by members of the Philippine military. When she surfaced six days later, Roxas became one of only a handful of survivors who lived to recount her ordeal.

BAYAN USA, GABRIELA USA, Program for Torture Victims (PTV), Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC), Habi Arts, Sisters of Gabriela Awaken, Filipino Migrant Center, San Francisco Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, Babae San Francisco, Anakbayan San Diego, Anakbayan Los Angeles and other organizations are co-sponsoring this Justice for Melissa Press Conference.

What: Justice for Melissa Press Conference; Appeal to UN Special Rapporteur on Torture

Where: Immanuel Presbyterian Church
3300 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010

When: Thursday, August 25, 2011, 6 PM – 7 PM

Los Angeles, CA. In commemoration of the International Day of the Disappeared, Melissa Roxas, a torture survivor who was disappeared for six days at the hands of the Philippine military, will file an official appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Professor Juan Mendez to help remove roadblocks to her pursuit of justice.

Working with a team of world-renowned international human rights lawyers who have joined the Justice for Melissa Roxas campaign, Roxas will ask the Rapporteur to call on the Philippine government to fully disclose all information regarding Roxas’ case, cooperate with investigations, pursue charges against those responsible for her abduction and torture, and extend an invitation to the Rapporteur to conduct a visit to the Philippines to investigate the human rights situation.

In May 2009, while doing community health work in the Philippines, Roxas became the first American citizen under the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration to be abducted and tortured by members of the Philippine military. When she surfaced six days later, Roxas became one of only a handful of survivors who lived to recount her ordeal. Human rights defenders and survivors of human rights violations from different countries will join Roxas for a special press conference to shed light on the continuing impunity in the Philippines and hope for justice for all victims of torture and disappearance worldwide.

To mark the 2nd year anniversary of Melissa Roxas’s survival of enforced disappearance and torture and the international campaign to surface Melissa, hundreds of supporters have signed on to an open letter addressing Philippine President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and the Commission on Human Rights in the Philippines.

Two years ago, an international campaign was launched to demand the immediate release of American citizen Melissa Roxas and her two colleagues, who were abducted by the military while doing community health work in Tarlac, Philippines. Because of this worldwide outcry, Roxas was returned to her family that same day. Upon Roxas’ release, it was confirmed that she was a survivor of both abduction and torture.

To this day, Roxas and her two colleagues are just a handful of living witnesses to the government-sponsored enforced disappearances and torture that continues with impunity today in the Philippines. To this day, the perpetrators responsible for this ordeal remain at large, abetted by government cover-ups by officials such as Etta Rosales of the Commission on Human Rights. More importantly, two years later, international protests, petitions and prayers continue for Melissa Roxas and all those who have suffered human rights violations at the hands of the Philippine government. “We will never forget that day in late May, two years ago, when we launched the campaign to surface Melissa Roxas and her two companions. We needed an international campaign to search for Melissa and her colleagues then, and we know we need to continue our international campaign today to seek justice for what was done to Melissa and the thousands of other victims of human rights abuses by the Philippine military,” said Rhonda Ramiro of the Justice for Melissa Campaign.

Since May 19, 2011, supporters of the Justice for Melissa Campaign have been holding solidarity gatherings and protests commemorating the 6 days Melissa Roxas was held incommunicado by the Philippine military. Nationwide, BAYAN USA, a convener of the Justice for Melissa Campaign, led community gatherings and protests to demand justice for Melissa Roxas. Youth, artists, friends of Roxas and community leaders created a special two-year anniversary video in Los Angeles which debuted during an intimate gathering on May 19, 2011 at Rosewood United Methodist Church to break bread and provide bolstering support for Melissa on a day now marked as a day of survival.

“If we have seen the horrible gross, systematic rights violations during the Arroyo regime, we should brace ourselves for the continuation of these violations and the rule of IMPUNITY under the Aquino regime’s Oplan Bayanihan,” so warned Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Chairperson of the human rights alliance, KARAPATAN, commenting on the recent CHR resolution on the case of the alleged torture of Melissa Roxas, a Filipino-American, abducted and tortured for almost a week in May 2009.

“With the CHR resolution, the crime of TORTURE will have its heyday under the Aquino administration. The perpetrators will only have to make sure that they are not identified as State agents and voila, there is no crime of torture!” wryly observed Enriquez. “This is one way of rendering inutile and ineffective the anti-torture law or RA 9745, touted by the previous regime as a way of helping victims to obtain effective remedies. It is no wonder that the AFP feels vindicated. Indeed, this is injustice of the highest order!” added Enriquez.

The CHR resolution was dated February 14 but was only received by the petitioner’s parties on April 19, 2011. It may be recalled that February 14 was the eve of the formal peace talks between the GPH and the NDFP. For KARAPATAN, it is by no means coincidental that the CHR resolution came in the wake of the reported formal opening of the peace negotiations with the NDFP with which the government signed the CARHRIHL, an agreement that binds the two Parties to observe and respect human rights and international humanitarian law.

Even as the resolution is couched in the UN language of human rights, it sends a chilling message that violations of State Parties can be effectively concealed and instead turns the tables on the NDFP on the role of so-called non-state actors, a favorite term of the present Chairperson of the CHR.

“If this is the formula of “winning the peace” under Oplan Bayanihan, we hope that the other members of the CHR will not allow themselves to be suck into this counter-insurgency machinations directed by the AFP and US military advisers and swallowed hook, line and sinker by the P-Noy administration,” said Enriquez.

KARAPATAN denounces and condemns this recent move of the regime through the CHR as one way of effectively curtailing the rights of the people. In a twisted, incredible wicked logic, CHR ignored Roxas’ testimonies on her abductors and instead relied on reports from what it called ‘credible source’ but ‘without specific names’ to readily pinpoint to the New people’s Army as the perpetrators of the crime and easily absolved the Armed Forces of the Philippines of any wrongdoing, a line being maintained by the AFP to wash their hands of any accountability in these violations.

“We decry the CHR’s devious, wicked use of the case of Melissa Roxas to wash off the hands of State security forces of accountability in committing human rights violations. Such tactics will entrench the rule of IMPUNITY in such violations. We pledge to fight for justice to the victims of human rights violations,” concluded Marie Hilao-Enriquez.

“How else can victims of human rights violations seek the help of the Commission on Human Rights if the commission screws up on our claims,” Lorena P. Santos, deputy secretary general of Families of the Desaparecidos for Justice said as her group criticized the CHR investigation on the abduction and torture of Melissa Roxas saying that the report is “NOTHING but a COVER UP of the perpetrators.”

Melissa Roxas is an American citizen of Filipino decent who volunteered as a medical worker in Central Luzon.  In May 19, 2008, she was preparing for a medical mission in La Paz, Tarlac when she was abducted together with her two companions by armed men believed to be members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines . She was tortured, coerced and threatened. During her interrogation, she was forced to admit that she was a member of the New People’s Army and was made to “go back to the fold.” To make them stop the torture, she pretended to agree to work with them. She was later dropped off in front of her home in Quezon City on May 25, 2009 by her abductors.

According to the CHR report, “Roxas presented insufficient evidence that elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines  are responsible for the abduction and torture of Melissa Roxas.” This was followed by stating that the CHR “has received information that indicate possibility that members of the NPA committed the kidnapping and other human rights violations on Roxas, et al.” CHR alleges that their source is “credible” without stating who their source is or how it was obtained.

This was reported even with Melissa’s sworn statement saying that she saw the appearances of her abductors and that the place of her detention indicated that they were government soldiers. “The report conveniently disregarded Roxas’ sworn statements that established who the perpetrators were,” Santos said.

She further added that “If the commission refuses to believe the victims, then who else will they want to believe? If that is the case, then it would be impossible for victims to attain justice.”

Desaparecidos stated that they file cases before the courts and related government institutions with the belief that they have the resources to thoroughly get the facts and help victims and their families obtain justice.  “If CHR Chairperson Loretta Rosales will keep on coming out with LAME reports such as this, then she would only succeed in converting the commission into an obstacle for victims who only wants to gain justice. ” Santos concluded.

Former House representative and MAKABAYAN Coalition vice president Liza Maza lambasted the latest Commission of Human Rights (CHR) report signed by its chair Ma. Loretta Ann Rosales absolving state forces from the abduction and torture of Melissa Roxas in 2009.

Maza called Rosales a “coddler of torturers”.

“It is a fact that Melissa was abducted and tortured. This is attested to in the August 26, 2009 Court of Appeals decision on the matter of the petition for the writ of amparo and habeas data in favor of Melissa Roxas which ruled in the affirmative that her rights were violated,” Maza said.

“In Rosales’ mind, there was no torture involved. With the official CHR findings, she has practically coddled the torturers and even presented in her findings the stupid military line that there is a what she calls a strong indication of the involvement of the New People’s Army (NPA),” Maza added.

While the court was hearing the amparo case, ex-army general Jovito Palparan of Bantay party-list and Pastor Alcover of the Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy party-list held a press conference alleging that they received an information from a female NPA rebel that Roxas was a communist rebel. Alcover claimed that said information reached them thru a letter with a photo and a video CD of the supposed NPA training exercises.

“The appeals court refused to accept this,” Maza quoting the decision on the granting of Writ of Habeas Data that “the unregulated dissemination of said unverified video CD or reports of Petitioner’s (Roxas’) alleged ties with the CPP-NPA indiscriminately made available for public consumption without evidence of its authenticity or veracity certainly violates Petitioner’s right to privacy which must be protected by this Court. We, thus, deem it necessary to grant Petitioner the privilege of the Writ of Habeas Data.”

“The CHR Chair, instead of exercising impartiality like the courts, believed her so-called ‘credible sources’ without showing any authentication to her reports. The Commission on Human Rights should henceforth be renamed as the Commission for Hearsay Reports,” Maza said.

Makabayan supports the broad-based Justice for Melissa Roxas (J4MR) campaign of organizations, churches, and individuals to pursue justice and accountability in her case. [http://justiceformelissa.org]

It is a documented fact that Melissa Roxas, an American citizen, was abducted on May 19th, 2009 while on a medical mission in La Paz, Tarlac. Roxas was held against her will and tortured via physical beatings and asphyxiation for the duration of her captivity until she surfaced in Quezon City on May 25th, 2009.

Melissa studied at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and spent a summer studying abroad in San Nicolas de Hidalgo University, Michoacan, Mexico and, in the latter part of her college years, at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. After her research project was completed, she backpacked throughout South America for about two months that included treks through Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina.

Upon graduating Cum Laude at the University of California, San Diego, with a BS in Animal Physiology and Neuroscience; a BA in Third World Studies; and a minor in Healthcare and Social Issues; Melissa worked as a community health youth organizer, a cultural activist with HABI Arts and BAYAN-USA.

Reference: Atty. Edre U. Olalia
National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) Secretary – General
(09175113373)

Human rights lawyers association National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) challenged the resolution of the Commission of Human Rights on the abduction and torture of Melissa Roxas, a Filipino-American activist and Bayan-USA member.

“We are at a loss to interpret such illogical legal reasoning ,” states NUPL  Secretary-General Atty. Edre Olalia. He was referring  to the Resolution’s findings that Roxas was indeed abducted and tortured, but then stops short of holding the military accountable. The resolution further went into unprecedented speculations on who could possibly be behind these human rights violations, pointing at the New People’s Army (NPA).

Roxas was abducted on May 19, 2009 in La Paz, Tarlac. She was repeatedly subjected to physical and psychological torture to force a confession that she was a member of the NPA.

The Resolution states that there was “insufficient evidence” to conclude that military agents were the ones behind Roxas’ abduction and torture. It then, in a leap of inference perhaps betraying a scarcity of objectivity,  went on to say that it has received “information” from unspecified individuals saying that the NPA could have possibly committed the kidnapping and other human rights violations on Roxas.

Atty. Olalia points out that “the CHR is quick to deflect AFP’s hand in Melissa’s torture, while giving credence to flimsy and questionable sources to surmise NPA involvement. However, CHR was not able to produce a shred of evidence to substantiate its incredible claims.”

The CHR itself admits the dubiousness of its findings, adding in its defense, “the failure to identify specific persons to accuse and hold responsible is not fatal to the competence of the CHR to make a finding on the question of the commission of human rights violation.”

The Court of Appeals had earlier granted Roxas’ petition for a writ of amparo, declaring that her testimony was “credible and worthy of belief.” The Supreme Court itself had additionally directed that further investigation be conducted with the use of extraordinary diligence in order to identify the perpetrators behind the abduction and torture. And yet with one stroke of the pen, the CHR aims to remove  the burden of responsibility on the military to prove that it was not guilty of abducting and torturing Roxas. “Where is this extraordinary diligence?” asks Atty. Olalia. “It is downright ironic for the CHR, which is constitutionally tasked to investigate human rights violations, to be the first to mask the AFP’s role in Melissa’s abduction and torture.”

Joining other other human rights victims, their relatives, and human rights advocates, the NUPL tells the CHR, “Stick to the issue: given the facts, pattern, motive, means, opportunity and context of her ordeal, Melissa was clearly abducted and tortured by the State security forces under the Oplan Bantay Laya program of GMA. Ignoring the overwhelming facts will only engender impunity and make perpetrators gloat and swagger like they were her protectors rather than cut them down to size and make them accountable.”