September 19, 2013
Dear friends,
As I approach my fifth year of unjust detention, I would like to once again appeal for your support to my call since January 2012 that I be immediately removed from solitary confinement and unconditionally transferred to a civilian facility. As it is now, I am the only one among the 400+ political prisoners nationwide languishing in a military camp.
September 19, 2013
Dear friends,
As I approach my fifth year of unjust detention, I would like to once again appeal for your support to my call since January 2012 that I be immediately removed from solitary confinement and unconditionally transferred to a civilian facility. As it is now, I am the only one among the 400+ political prisoners nationwide languishing in a military camp.
To this end, I sent a letter last April to the Cebu Provincial Governor (as attached), as administrator of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC), but has so far not received any word. At the conclusion of my 12-day hunger strike on July 22 (the fifth time and 49th day since being transferred to Camp Lapulapu), the AFP Central Command was finally compelled to itself file a motion in court asking my transfer to the civilian-run CPDRC. I also re-sent recently to the office of the Cebu Governor my earlier April letter.
May I therefore ask that you send letters of concern, via post or e-mail to the following :
Major General Roy Deveraturda, PAF
Commanding General, AFP Central Command
Camp Lapulapu, Lahug, Cebu City
pio_centcom@yahoo.com
Governor Hilario Davide III
Administrator, CPDRC
Provincial Capitol, Cebu City
piocebu@outlook.com
May I also ask that if possible, such letters be sent after the weekend of September 21, when political prisoners would have concluded our nationally-coordinated noise barrage and other activities related to the 41st anniversary of the declaration of martial law.
As for my rebellion case, there is indeed a delay by the court in issuing its decision on the demurrer to evidence filed by my lawyer last February which, in brief, asks for the case’s dismissal. There is however no final legal advise yet on how we should proceed given the said delay.
At any rate, the dismissal of the rebellion case is asked due to the fact that the prosecution, after completing its presentation of evidence on January 2013, failed – in the words of my counsel – to “prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt,” inasmuch as “the prosecution case must rise or fall on the strength of its own evidence, never on the weakness or even absence of that of the defense.”
In my particular instance, the so-called ‘star witness’ of the prosecution – a self-confessed former rebel who surrendered to and remains in the custody of the military – himself testified, as the transcript of stenographic notes show, that I was not present during the incident in question, nor was I a party to its planning.
With regards to the civil case I filed in April 2009 against my military and police torturers ( with a P1.4 million damage claim), it has been proceeding well, with my counsels from the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) having formally manifested in court the end of their presentation of evidence just a few months ago.
Thank you very much for your continued support.
(sgd) RAMON PATRIARCA
Detained peace consultant
Camp Lapu-lapu, Cebu City