Tirad Pass Brigade denounces secret and illegal detention of soldiers

Tirad Pass Brigade Statement

The Tirad Pass Brigade (TPB) strongly denounces the Philippine Army’s secret and illegal detention of 40 soldiers, all enlisted men of the Army’s Special Forces and Scout Rangers arrested for allegedly unauthorized movement on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the EDSA I People Power uprising.

We denounce the AFP leadership for placing these soldiers under conditions very much like the dreaded US Guantanamo prison. Moved from one secret detention camp to another, majority of them were brought to the military stockade at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal on July 24 last year, while a few more were brought there on August 1, and the rest just recently.

These soldiers are already being severely and inhumanly punished even as charges have yet to be filed against them. The Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Office remains at a loss on what actual charges to file against them.

For past 20 months, these soldiers have remained in secret and illegal detention, deprived of the right of access by their families, friends and legal counsel. The TPB demands that these soldiers, who have long been detained without charges, be immediately freed. At the very least, they should be accorded their fundamental rights and allowed to confer with their families and lawyers.

What kind of justice is there in our armed forces and under the present government that indefinitely and secretly detains soldiers and citizens even without charges? What kind of concern, if any, does our armed forces’ top generals, government officials have for its foot soldiers and people?

It is such glaring injustice, cruelty and indifference to the plight of the rank-and-file soldiers and the common folk that are pushing those of us, who can no longer stomach what we see in the service, to rebel and seek to radically change the armed forces and government.

Such dastardly acts of the armed forces and the government only steel our determination to fight for a system of government that truly values, promotes and safeguards patriotism, justice, democracy and the interest and welfare of the foot soldier and the common citizen.

Maj. Rad Pasion
Spokesman
Tirad Pass Brigade