SC asked to declare ex-AFP outpost site a crime scene

The lawyer of the families of missing University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno has filed a motion asking the Supreme Court to place under custodia legis or “under the court’s custody” an area in Limay, Bataan, where a former military detachment once stood.

In his four-page motion, lawyer Rex Fernandez also asked the SC to declare the area a crime scene.

According to Fernandez, last Oct. 13 and 14, the parents of the missing students, Erlinda Cadapan and Concepcion Empeno, accompanied by Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairman Leila de Lima, the Senate committee on justice and human rights and Raymund Manalo, went to the site in Barangay Bliss, Limay town to investigate the claim that a military detachment was once located there.

The detachment was allegedly used in the detention and torture of persons allegedly abducted by the military.

Last Oct. 7, the Supreme Court affirmed the Dec. 27, 2007 decision of the Court of Appeals granting a writ of amparo to Raymund Manalo and his brother Reynaldo.

The Manalo brothers earlier had told the court that they were allegedly abducted and tortured by soldiers but later escaped.

Raymund testified that while he and his brother were in detention, he saw the two UP students and a certain Manuel Merino being tortured.

According to Raymund, Merino was allegedly killed, burned and then buried by their captors in an unmarked grave at the site in Barangay Bliss.

“There is a need to continue the investigation and dig in the area. The whole camp pointed by Manalo also showed acts to conceal the area and to make (it) unnoticeable as a military camp. Cement flooring slabs were broken down and inverted and some were thrown into the fields. All visible signs of military encampment were erased,” Fernandez said.

In his motion, Fernandez said he received information that unidentified persons have intruded into the site with the purpose of erasing evidence.

He said the Supreme Court should order the Limay municipal government and police to preserve the area as a crime scene and allow the CHR and the human rights group Karapatan to continue monitoring the place to prevent any contamination of possible evidence.

“All of these pose a danger that the area might be entered into again and attempts will be made to take out evidence and clean the place further,” Fernandez said.