Case: Illegal Arrest and Detention
Victim/s: MARIA MIRADEL TORRES
– Female, 26 years old, four months pregnant, member of the Gabriela-Mauban Chapter
Place of Incident: Barangay (village) Ilayang Iyam, Lucena City, Quezon Province
Date of Incident: June 20, 2014
Alleged Perpetrator(s): Joint elements of Philippine National Police Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and Southern Luzon Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Account of the Incident:
On the evening of June 20, 2014, Maria Miradel Torres was arrested without warrant by elements of the CIDG and Southern Luzon Command (Solcom). The men forcibly entered the house where she was staying in IlayangIyam village, Lucena City, Quezon province. A policeman said Torres was under arrest for being a member of the New People’s Army (NPA) using the aliases “Alex,” and “Sydney”. Torres insisted to see the warrant of arrest but she was not shown any.
The police took Torres and brought her to the Camp Gen. Guillermo Nakar Station Hospital at the Solcom headquarters in Lucena City.
Torres, 26, who is four-months pregnant, was confined at a hospital in Quezon province from June 11 to 18 due to profuse bleeding. During her stay at the hospital, several men inquired about Torres. A female who introduced herself as “Flor” and who claimed to be the provincial governor’s aide offered assistance. On June 18, Torres was discharged from the hospital and went home to Ilayang Iyam, Lucena City. While traveling home, she and her companion noticed men following them.
Case: Illegal Arrest and Detention
Victim/s: MARIA MIRADEL TORRES
– Female, 26 years old, four months pregnant, member of the Gabriela-Mauban Chapter
Place of Incident: Barangay (village) Ilayang Iyam, Lucena City, Quezon Province
Date of Incident: June 20, 2014
Alleged Perpetrator(s): Joint elements of Philippine National Police Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and Southern Luzon Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Account of the Incident:
On the evening of June 20, 2014, Maria Miradel Torres was arrested without warrant by elements of the CIDG and Southern Luzon Command (Solcom). The men forcibly entered the house where she was staying in IlayangIyam village, Lucena City, Quezon province. A policeman said Torres was under arrest for being a member of the New People’s Army (NPA) using the aliases “Alex,” and “Sydney”. Torres insisted to see the warrant of arrest but she was not shown any.
The police took Torres and brought her to the Camp Gen. Guillermo Nakar Station Hospital at the Solcom headquarters in Lucena City.
Torres, 26, who is four-months pregnant, was confined at a hospital in Quezon province from June 11 to 18 due to profuse bleeding. During her stay at the hospital, several men inquired about Torres. A female who introduced herself as “Flor” and who claimed to be the provincial governor’s aide offered assistance. On June 18, Torres was discharged from the hospital and went home to Ilayang Iyam, Lucena City. While traveling home, she and her companion noticed men following them.
After her arrest, Torres’ relatives were not informed where she was taken and only found her at the Solcom headquarters on June 23, two days after. Jail authorities refused Torres’ mother to visit her; and denied the relatives’ request to be at Torres’ bedside to assist her on her personal needs.
At dawn of June 25, despite doctor’s order for complete bed rest due to threatened abortion, Torres was transferred to Taguig City Jail in Camp Bagong Diwa (travel time from Lucena to this Taguig detention facility takes four hours). She shares the detention cell with three other inmates. One of the inmates reportedly has tuberculosis. Torres was assigned to sleep on the third deck of the bed.
BJMP personnel confiscated her medicine and supplements for pregnancy upon admission at the Taguig City Jail.
Torres is charged with murder at the Infanta Regional Trial Court, Quezon province. The Alias Warrant of Arrest used to “capture” Torres was issued by the said court only on June 20, 2014, the same day that she was illegally arrested.
UA Date: July 25, 2014
Recommended Action:
Send letters, emails or fax messages calling for:
- The immediate release of Maria Miradel Torres on humanitarian grounds.
- Immediately withdraw the murder charge against Maria Miradel Torres.
- Immediately put Miradel Torres in hospital confinement as she is experiencing a difficult pregnancy.
- The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to observe the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders.
- The Philippine Government to observe the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all the major human rights instruments that it is a party and signatory to.
- To stop political persecution, illegal arrests, detention on perceived enemies of the Philippine Government.
You may send your communications to:
H.E. Benigno C. Aquino III
President of the Republic
Malacañang Palace,
JP Laurel St., San Miguel
Manila Philippines
Voice: (+632) 564 1451 to 80
Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968
E-mail: op@president.gov.ph
Sec. Teresita Quintos-Deles
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP)
7th Floor Agustin Building I
Emerald Avenue
Pasig City 1605
Voice:+63 (2) 636 0701 to 066
Fax:+63 (2) 638 2216
stqd.papp@opapp.gov.ph
Ret. Lt. Gen. Voltaire T. Gazmin
Secretary, Department of National Defense
Room 301 DND Building, Camp Emilio Aguinaldo,
E. de los Santos Avenue, Quezon City
Voice:+63(2) 911-6193 / 911-0488 / 982-5600
Fax:+63(2) 982-5600
Email: osnd@philonline.com, dnd.opla@gmail.com
Atty. Leila De Lima
Secretary, Department of Justice
Padre Faura St., Manila
Direct Line 521-1908
Trunkline 523-84-81 loc.211/214
Fax: (+632) 523-9548
Email: lmdelima@doj.gov.ph, lmdelima.doj@gmail.com, lmdelima.doj2@gmail.com
Hon. Loretta Ann P. Rosales
Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Bldg., UP Complex
Commonwealth Avenue
Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
Voice: (+632) 928-5655, 926-6188
Fax: (+632) 929 0102
Email: chair.rosales.chr@gmail.com, lorettann@gmail.com
Please send us a copy of your email/mail/fax to the above-named government officials, to our address below:
