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Issue That Never Was, and Never
Will Be
Jan 2012
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Kapatiran Issue
That Never Was, and Never Will Be, January 2012
FREE
KA BEBOT NOW!
- Luke Coxon
Luke Coxon spent a year in the Philippines, from
September 2009, working as a volunteer for the Kilusang
Mayo Uno ( KMU ) union confederation and the Center for
Trade Union and Human Rights. Ed.
In July 2010 I was able to visit political prisoner
Vincent “Ka Bebot” Borja in Tacloban Provincial
Jail and attend his court hearing. Ka Bebot is a former
factory worker, trade union leader of the Kilusang Mayo
Uno ( KMU ) and the regional coordinator for Anakpawis
(Toiling Masses) party list organisation in Eastern
Visayas. On May 7, 2007 Ka Bebot was illegally arrested
under a defective warrant. He was with other trade
unionists and Bayan Muna Congressman Teddy Casiño, when
military officers from the 19th Infantry Battalion, in
full battle gear, appeared and said they were there to
arrest a “Tata Borja” for the alleged murder of
an ex-soldier. When they were informed that no one with
the name of Tata Borja was present, they proceeded to
arrest Ka Bebot. The Armed Forces of the Philippines had
no reason to be carrying out the arrest, which should
have been a police matter.
Trumped Up Charges & Imprisonment To
Immobilise Legal left
In the months prior to his arrest, Ka Bebot had been
under intense surveillance by the military and was in
fear of his life. When he was arrested, he wasn’t
read his rights, the military men were in vehicles
without number plates and they just pointed a gun at him
and ordered him to come with them. He was told he was
lucky that he was only being arrested (many activists had
been killed in Leyte, especially during former General
Jovito Palparan’s campaign of terror). Because of
the growing strength of the New People’s Army (NPA)
in the area, Eastern Visayas (the islands of Samar and
Leyte), had become a focus of the Government’s
counter-insurgency campaigns Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL)1 and
2 in which legal Leftwing activists had been targeted for
“elimination” (killings) or
“neutralisation” (imprisonment) by State
forces. During my time in Leyte, the activists I spent
time with were constantly being followed, harassed, and
had to take precautions for their own safety. Although
working in the open legal mass movement, they needed to
live and act as if they were in a war zone.
The arrest of Ka Bebot had all the hallmarks of the
workings of the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG).
A component of OBL 1 and 2 is the filing of fabricated
criminal charges against Leftwing activists and
peoples’ organisations by the IALAG, the aim of
which is to immobilise and cripple them. It doesn’t
even matter how ludicrous the charges are, the aim is to
ensure the imprisonment of the victim for as long as
possible. In 2008, the lawyer of Ka Bebot, Attorney
Remigio Saladero Junio., together with 71 other activists
in the Southern Tagalog region, was charged with offences
relating to an ambush carried out by the NPA. All these
charges were later dismissed. The State responded a week
later with filing new charges against Saladero and other
activists from Rizal in relation to another NPA ambush.
Again, these charges were also dismissed as politically
motivated.
Back To Square One
Ka Bebot and his defence have not even been told of the
specific details of the murder that he has supposed to
have been committed. The whole case rests on a State
witness who claims to have seen Tata Borja at the scene
of the murder. The sole witness is not at all credible,
he is believed to be a military intelligence asset, and
claimed that another perpetrator of the murder was a
farmer who had died several months prior to the date of
the murder. In the Philippines, the wheels of justice
work extraordinarily slow and Ka Bebot is still arguing
to get bail three years after being imprisoned. The
prosecution has objected to the granting of bail,
insisting that the witness should appear in court, but in
four court hearings to date the, witness has never
appeared. Often, the judge would cancel the hearings as
he was on holiday or out of town. The case will be
eventually dismissed but the modus operandi of the State
prosecution has been to use delaying tactics to keep
Bebot in prison as long as it can.
Earlier in 2010 Ka Bebot was transferred from Ormoc City
Jail to Tacloban City Jail, and his case was transferred
to the Tacloban Trial Court. The Ormoc Trial Court had
indicated that he would be released on bail as the
prosecution had failed to produce its witness and it had
stated that it would no longer oppose bail. In the new
court hearing in Tacloban, Judge Salvador Apurillo, the
new presiding judge on his case, appeared to not have
read Bebot’s case, knowing nothing about it and
commenting that he was expected to rule on something that
had been handled elsewhere. We were surprised when the
prosecution said it was still opposed to bail as its
witness should have the right to appear in the Tacloban
Court . The judge unfortunately agreed to this and the
prosecution’s witness was requested to appear at a
further hearing in September. It appears we are now back
at square one with the State prosecution continuing to
use delaying tactics to keep Ka Bebot in prison. Ka Bebot
has continued to organise while he is in prison. Workers
visit him to seek his advice on collective bargaining
negotiations and union strategy. He has held union
meetings in prison itself and organises the other
prisoners in campaigns to improve their conditions. He
has been a source of strength and inspiration to the
other political prisoners (there are seven political
prisoners in Tacloban Prison, charged with NPA-related
activities).
Visiting Ka Bebot In Prison
On July 27, I had the privilege of visiting this working
class warrior in Tacoloban Provincial Jail. This was the
third time that I have visited a prison in the
Philippines and you’re always taken aback by the
conditions you witness. It is common for prisoners to die
because of the overcrowded conditions and through
contracting diseases such as tuberculosis. Food and water
are often unfit for human consumption and are in very
short supply. One former political prisoner told me that
he had to share one litre of drinking water with 60
inmates. Prisoners are often cramped into cells and in
some cases need to sleep squatting as they cannot lie
down. Unlike prisons in New Zealand, male and female
prisoners are in the same prison and it is also not
uncommon for kids to be living with their prisoner
parents.
When we arrived at the prison, immediately the guards
welcomed us in and we found ourselves meeting Ka Bebot
not in the visitor room, but in the guard house. The
deputy warden sat on his desk next to us and was
obviously trying to listen to our conversation and he was
even caught trying to read my notes over my shoulder! I
was told that this is the preferential treatment that
political prisoners receive. Despite this lack of
privacy, Ka Bebot told me that the conditions at the
prison were an improvement from Ormoc and that he was
being treated well. He had access to a phone to contact
family and friends, was able to cook his own meals, and
his cell was less crowded and he has his own area. His
health was also good and he was coping with his asthma.
One thousand protest letters had been sent to the judge
in Ormoc as a result of the international campaign for
his release. This had lifted his morale and he asked me
to pass on the following message to his supporters:
“It is necessary to resolutely continue organising
the workers, peasants and other sectors in the struggle.
I challenge P-Noy (Philippine President Benigno Aquino
III) to free all political prisoners and bring justice to
bear for the victims of extra-judicial killings and
enforced disappearances. We must uphold the strength of
the masses and carry on with the struggle, especially the
struggle of the workers. I call on the workers to fight
for security of employment and wider economic and
political change. To the international community who have
been helping me and supporting me in my struggle, I
express my heartfelt thanks. The support raises my morale
in jail and inspires me to struggle on. To my beautiful
family, my wife, children and my friends and comrades:
your support means so much to me, thank you so much. I am
hoping for a speedy trial and that I will soon be
released to be with you all. All political prisoners,
myself and the Morong 43 included, are victims of the
political persecution of the Gloria Arroyo regime. We
must stop all political killings and other forms of
harassment of those who struggle for a just and
democratic Philippines!”
The hardest part of visiting a prison is when you leave
it and leave behind the person that you have visited. It
was sad having to say farewell to Ka Bebot but I also
felt inspired from my brief time with him. Militant trade
union organisers in the Philippines accept that
repression and even death is a likely outcome of the
struggle for workers’ rights. It is also very
humbling to spend time with those who continue to
struggle at great personal cost to themselves and their
families. It is very important that at this critical
juncture that everyone responds to the action alert and
writes to demand the release of Ka Bebot. It is
imperative that the new presiding judge Salvador Apurillo
realises that Ka Bebot has many friends demanding his
release and the end to his persecution. Three years in
prison is a travesty. He has been denied his right to a
speedy trial and has been languishing in prison simply
for being a champion of workers’ rights. Ka Bebot
must be freed now.
Details of how to write protest letters demanding his
freedom and to view the online documentary
“Kagawasan” are at:
http://freekabebot.wordpress.com/.
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