Fil-Am Volunteer’s U.S. Lawyer Asks Rights Watchdog To Release Findings

The veil of lies put up by Philippine President Gloria M. Arroyo’s military to hide their role in the abduction and torture of Filipino-American human rights volunteer Melissa Roxas has now crumbled. With their defense in the case now shaken, the investigation and prosecution of military authorities and their commander-in-chief should begin.

Lawyer Arnedo Valera thus said today following the granting by the Philippines’ Court of Appeals (CA) Aug. 26 for a writ of amparo for Roxas upon petition by her lawyers. Denying military respondents’ allegations that Roxas’s torture marks were “self-inflicted and stage-managed” with her abduction perpetrated by the leftist New People’s Army (NPA), the CA also ordered defense and military officials to stop circulating materials intended to link her to the communists.

Valera, Roxas’s counsel in the United States, said the appellate court’s decision bolsters his client’s case regarding her abduction by members of the Philippine military and the torture she underwent. Abducted on May 19 this year in Tarlac province about 120 kms north of Manila, she was tortured before her abductors left her alone — all beaten up and in deep trauma — somewhere in Quezon City six days later. She was on a human rights and medical mission in a farmers’ community when she, together with two male companions, was abducted at gunpoint by armed men.

Valera asked the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to release its findings on the abduction-torture case and to recommend the investigation and prosecution of military men involved. Leila de Lima, the CHR chairperson, has probed into the military’s role in the case. In an ocular inspection at the Philippine Army’s Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija, De Lima confirmed that the description of the place of captivity and torture by Roxas — blindfolded throughout her six-day ordeal — matched that of the military camp.

Ms. Roxas’s lawyer in the U.S. filed a complaint with the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Torture Professor Manfred Nowak under the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland last July 29, 2009 ,by way of an Urgent Appeal and Allegation vs. the Philippine Government.. The case alleged that Melissa Roxas is the first known American Citizen to have become a victim of abduction and torture in the Philippines under President Obama’s presidency. The appeal is also requesting the UN office to review the significant human rights violations committed on Roxas and that an immediate impartial and vigorous investigation conducted consistent with the established procedure under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and other relevant International Human Rights instruments.

The incident is the latest of hundreds of similar cases of forced disappearances and torture perpetrated against Filipino activists since Mrs. Arroyo’s presidency in 2001. Nearly 1,000 activists are also victims of summary executions.

Investigations by international organizations, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Killings, have pointed to the Arroyo government’s responsibility in the human rights violations with generals linked to many cases. Police investigators had blamed the NPA for the killings and abductions as part of its purge campaign against its own members prompting the UN special rapporteur, Philip Alston, to say that Arroyo’s generals should give up on their denial mode.

Mrs. Arroyo earns the notoriety of having faced four impeachment charges filed in Congress for her command responsibility in the atrocities as well as for corruption, election fraud, and other culpable violations of the Philippine constitution. Her presidency is to end in June 2010 but many Filipinos doubt she would step down to avoid facing a barrage of criminal lawsuits as a private citizen.

For Reference: Susan T. Pineda
Legal Coordinator, MHC Legal Resource Program
Migrant Heritage Commission
3930 Walnut St. Suite 200
Fairfax, VA 22030
(703) 273-1196

Melissa Roxas, the first known American Citizen under President Obama’s administration to have become a victim of abduction and torture by military agents in the Philippines, filed through her counsel, Arnedo S. Valera, of the Migrant Heritage Commission’s Legal Resources program, her torture claim by way of “An Urgent Appeal and Allegation vs. the Philippine Government,” before the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture , Professor Manfred Nowak, under the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland . The case was received at the Geneva Office at 4:15 p.m today (U.S. time).

In addition to providing legal services for Roxas in the US, the Migrant Heritage Commission is a carrier of the Justice for Melissa Roxas (J4MR) Campaign, along with several organizations across the nation.

Among the specific answers in response to the questionnaire on the torture of Melissa C. Roxas, 31 years old, were the dates of May 19 through May 25, 2009 as the period during which the incident of torture occurred; and Kapanikian, La Paz, Tarlac, the Philippines identified as the place of abduction. The victim believes the torture was carried out in a military camp in Nueva Ecija, known as Fort Magsaysay. Fort Magsaysay, about 150 kilometers north of Manila, is the largest military camp of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It is home to the Army’s 7th Infantry Division. It also named the Special Operations Group (SOG) and those wearing military uniforms as interrogators and torturers.

The Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights’ ocular inspection of Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija on June 10, 2009 tended to validate Melissa’s physical description of the place where she was tortured.

Submitted also in the Urgent Appeal and Allegation is the description of the form of torture used and injury suffered by Melissa, i.e., torture via asphyxiation using a doubled-up plastic bag, repeated beatings on the face and body, and having her head banged repeatedly against the wall by her interrogators. Melissa suffered multiple abrasions as well as a psychological disorder called Acute Stress Disorder with supporting medical certificates.

The Urgent Appeal is requesting the UN office to review the significant human rights violations committed on Roxas and that an immediate impartial and vigorous investigation be conducted. Consistent with the established procedures under the U.N Commission on Human Rights, in resolution 1985/33, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Urgent appeal and Allegation was filed both online and in a written form. Attached to the document are the affidavit, medical certificate, various appeal letters from faith-based, labor, non-government and human rights organizations, and others.

The Special Rapporteur upon receipt of the information may submit an earnest request to the Government concerned to ensure that the human rights of individuals are respected and to take steps aimed at protecting the right to physical and mental integrity of the person concerned, in accordance with the international human rights standards. The Special Rapporteur urges governments to take steps to investigate the allegations; to prosecute and impose appropriate sanctions on any persons guilty of torture regardless of any rank, office or position they may hold; to take effective measures to prevent the recurrence of such acts; and to compensate the victims or their relatives in accordance with the relevant international standards. The mandate comprises three main activities: transmitting urgent appeals to States with regard to individuals reported to be at risk of torture, as well as communications on past alleged cases of torture; undertaking fact-finding country visits; and submitting annual reports on activities, the mandate and methods of work to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly.

Unlike the complaint mechanisms of the human rights treaty monitoring bodies, the Special Rapporteur does not require the exhaustion of domestic remedies to act. When the facts in question come within the scope of more than one mandate established by the Commission, the Special Rapporteur may decide to approach other thematic mechanisms and country rapporteurs with a view to sending joint communications or seeking joint missions.
Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights clearly states that “No one shall be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. The right against Torture is a non-derogable right and in the same way, Article 2 states that “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”.
“The Philippines always boasts of being a signatory to all major human rights declarations and treaties, it is now time to stop lip service and comply with these international UN instruments”, said Melissa Roxas’ Counsel Arnedo S. Valera, Esquire, Co-Executive Director of the Migrant Heritage Commission based in Fairfax, VA.
Records of the human rights watchdog Karapatan reveal there have been more than 1,016 victims of politically-motivated torture under the Arroyo government since 2001. More than a thousand other activists were victims of extra-judicial killings and hundreds others victims of enforced disappearances. ###

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Reference: Susan Pineda, 202-247-0117
Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC), Inc.
Virginia Main Address : 3930 Walnut Street, Suite 200, Fairfax, VA 22030
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www.migrantheritage.org
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(A 501(c)3 tax exempt , non-profit, national service-oriented non-governmental organization)
Honoring & Serving the Migrants

US Counsel for Melissa Roxas
Migrant Heritage Commission (Legal Resource Program)
Washington, D.C.

Let me thank all the media both in the U.S and the Philippines for this opportunity to present the very compelling case of Melissa. We hope that you will be and will remain our genuine partner in our collective pursuit for justice for Melissa and her family.

Background:

Melissa is a US citizen. She is the first known American citizen to have become a victim of abduction and torture in the Philippines under the new administration of President Barack Obama.

Melissa’s parents and extended families in the U.S. belong to the more than four million Filipino migrants/immigrants in the United States. They are immigrants who have adopted the US as their home. And just like other Filipino overseas, they contribute significantly to the economy of their host country and their country of origin.

It is very difficult indeed, to imagine that Melissa, a US citizen and a member of the immigrant family will be subjected to torture and inhuman treatment in a government headed by a woman President who always religiously profess adherence to human rights law. Obviously, what we see is an affirmation of how the Arroyo govt. play lip service to the cause and promotion of human rights in the Phil.

Torture is abhorrent both to American law and values and to international norms. President Obama himself has made strides in making a stand against torture and ill treatment. He criticized interrogation practices during the Bush administration and promised to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and he wants to clean up the U.S. reputation on human rights after Bush eight years of administration policies . The new President has given the men the clear charge to restore the United States’ record on human rights. “We must adhere to our values as diligently as we protect our safety with no exceptions. We will abide by the Geneva Conventions. We will uphold our highest ideals”, Obama said.

In a quite ironic event, during the Migrant Heritage Commission People’s Ball on June 7 to celebrate the 103 years of Filipino Migration to the U.S. and the Philippine Independence Day, democratic Congressman Jim Moran of the 8th of Virginia raised howl over Melissa’s abduction and torture. He said that, “People get kidnapped and just because they’re Filipino-Americans, their country of origin feels some right to kidnap, even to abuse them. The reality is that Melissa is an American just like my daughter is an American.” “The Philippine government or military or paramilitary, whoever it was that abducted her, committed a crime, he said.

For him, there should be a direct link between military aid to a country and the way that country treats its own people and its neighbors. “If a military is going to try to act with impunity whether it be in the Philippines, Indonesia, any other nation whether in Asia, Africa or South America, they should not be receiving military assistance because military assistance is meant to be used to further American values,” Moran added.

The Phil. Government should be ashamed for characterizing Melissa’s ordeal as a “stage-managed” abduction and nothing more than a stunt perpetuated by the petitioner and her handlers to gain tremendous “media mileage” and questioning the petitioner’s truthfulness to the extent of her sanity. These unapologetic and rhetorical comments are highly irresponsible, immoral, absurd and grave insult to the intelligence of the victim and the Filipino people. These fallacies played by government as their defense(s) against Roxas are cynical attempts to displace their direct responsibility and avoid whatever form of culpability for the crimes they have committed vs. Melissa. Melissa was tortured and that is a fact. The government’s position is so absurd and highly improbable, that either their theories) of escaping liability is that: the abduction and torture of Melissa did not happen or that Melissa inflicted unto herself such as to be hanged, punched, choked and suffocated by a plastic bag all alone. Her abduction typify the abductions and enforced disappearances of innocent civilians, allegedly last seen in the hands of suspected state security forces.

The very least that the Philippine Government should have done, if there is still any moral and legal decency left on its sleeves, is to surface the abductors and torturers instead of flat and empty denials. They know what they have done to Melissa. Their act of impunity exhibits little respect for life, freedom, justice and the law of nations. They should be held accountable.

Legal Options:

Since Melissa is a US Citizen, she could file a tort action in Federal Courts for damages for the Intentional Tort of an Unlawful Kidnapping, assault. Etc. Under the Intentional Tort case, Melissa could seek punitive and compensatory damages vs. her identified assailants and if not to initiate the case and litigation against the Philippine Government. A deliberate torture was perpetrated vs. a U.S Citizen, under the color of official authority violates universally accepted norms of international human rights law, and that such a violation of international law constitutes a violation of the domestic law of the United States. There is no doubt that the assailants who tortured Melissa were acting as agents of the Philippine Government, considering that the Arroyo administration has been reported as committing systematic and gross human rights violations vs. its citizens who are expressing legitimate dissent and in the free exercise of their free speech and assembly.

The factual truth is that Melissa was tortured by a group of unidentified military personnel, who were implementing a counter insurgency operations mapped by the military with the stamped approval of President Arroyo. Instead of following the rule of law, they applied on Melissa, the rule of the jungle where his fundamental rights as a U. S Citizen was never respected.

Because the Arroyo administration violated the provisions of the International Covenant Against Torture, The Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Declaration of Human Rights, private complaints can be lodged by Melissa before the appropriate UN agencies or special bodies in charge of investigating this and even go to the extent of recommending prosecution of the guilty military personnel. If indeed there is a finding of gross pattern of human rights violations being committed by the govt. against its citizenry, the Philippine government should be expelled from its membership in the UN Human Rights committee. We can ask the Special UN Rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak to investigate the Roxas case, file a complaint with the State Department against the Philippine government and that a thorough investigation to be done by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

There is a strong legal possibility that because Melissa is a U.S Citizen, extra territorial jurisdiction can be exercised by the U.S to bring the perpetrators over to the U.S for trial under the Convention against Torture and violations of U.S laws.

Yesterday, the international community historically commemorated the UN International Day in Support of Torture Victims. President Obama on this occasion said: “Torture is contrary to the founding documents of our country and the fundamental values of our People.” The US must stand against torture wherever it takes place.”

To all of you who are supporting Melissa and all victims of torture and human rights violations: Let us always remember that Justice is not something that is begged for, it is something that one must aspire and fight for. And this is what we need to do for Melissa as one migrant/immigrant family.

Thank you.