The Supreme Court has been asked to order the Philippine Army to produce alleged student-activist Alexandrea Pacalda who was reportedly arrested illegally and had been in the military custody since Sept. 14.
In a 10-page petition for writ of habeas corpus, Pacalda’s father Arnulfo appealed to the SC magistrates to order concerned Army officers to release Alexandrea from detention for illegally arresting his daughter.
Impleaded as respondents in the case were PA 2nd Infantry Division commander Brigadier General Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr., 85th Infantry Battalion commanding officer Colonel Arnold Gasalatan, 201st Brigade officer-in-charge Colonel George Joel Lalaquil, 201st Brigade civil-military officer Captain Benedict Alfonso Cagatin, and 85th Infantry Battalion intelligence officer 1st Lieutenant Randy Bobis.
“Wherefore, it is respectfully prayed of this Honorable Court that a Writ of Habeas Corpus be immediately issued directing the respondents to have the body of Alexandrea Paradilla Pacalda produced before this Honorable Court, and after notice and hearing, an Order be issued directing her immediate release from detention,” Arnulfo told the SC magistrates.
The petitioner claimed that his daughter was “illegally arrested and tortured, and that the respondents illegally restrained her liberty and causing her continued detention without any legal cause for which she is entitled to the privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus under Rule 120 of the Revised Rules of Court.”
Reports showed that Alexandrea is being detained on the suspicion that she is a member of the New People’s Army.
Pacalda is a former managing editor of “The Luzonian”, the official student publication of the Manuel Enverga University at Lucena, Quezon. She is also a volunteer of the Pinag-isang Lakas ng Magsasaka sa Quezon (PIGLAS-Quezon), a local peasant organization in the province.
Allegedly without a warrant, the student-activist was arrested at around 6 p.m. of Sept. 14 in Barangay Magsaysay, Gen. Luna, Quezon province by six armed men in civilian clothing, who were later identified to be from the 85th Infantry Battalion.
She was boarded into a blue van without a plate number and was taken to the 85th Infantry Battalion headquarters located in Barangay Villa Principe, Gumaca, Quezon.
In the military camp, Bobbis, along with Alex Capio, Cheche Mortero, and others, reportedly interrogated her without the assistance of a lawyer of her choice.
Alexandrea was asked how she was recruited as an activist and was reportedly forced to identify alleged NPA members.
The next day Arnulfo went to see his daughter at the Gen. Luna Police Station and saw that she was weak, starved and was deprived of sleep.
Arnulfo claimed that he was duped by the police and the soldiers to sign the certification of a police report stating that she voluntarily surrendered, and in return, she would be released.
However, instead of being set free, Pacalda was taken to the headquarters of the 201st Brigade in Camp General Alfredo Santos in Barangay Rizal Ilaya, Calauag, Quezon.
On Sept. 17, reportedly without her mother Susan’s knowledge, she was taken out of the camp to appear before a notary public and have the affidavit she allegedly executed signed and notarized.
The petitioner later told her lawyer Sol Taule that during the time that she was not in full control of her mental faculties because of sleep and food deprivation, psywar, and mental torture, the soldiers allegedly forced her to sign three affidavits, including the Affidavit of Voluntary Surrender.
She reportedly was not given enough time to read and understand the contents of the documents that she was told to sign.
Taule and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) had already asked the 201st Brigade to release Pacalda.