Release my teenage daughter to me, mom tells Army TJ Burgonio Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 12, 2008
MANILA, Philippines -- The mother of a 17-year-old girl who was allegedly abducted along with her sister more than a week ago pleaded Saturday with the military to release her without conditions.
"They should release Fatima because she's a minor and has not been charged with any case," Maria Gumanoy, 43, said in a phone interview.
She said she was stumped why the military continued to harass her family five years after her husband, peasant leader Eddie Gumanoy, was allegedly killed by soldiers in Oriental Mindoro.
"Why do they keep harassing us? What do we have that they keep hounding us wherever we go? We've lost our rights. We're just ordinary peasants," she said.
Fatima and her sister Rose Ann, 21, disappeared on July 3, the day they were supposed to meet their mother in Alabang, Muntinlupa City. Gumanoy found them in the custody of the Philippine Army in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig two days later.
After undergoing a thorough physical check-up by a lady medical doctor, she was allowed to see her daughters at the Fort Bonifacio General Hospital, where they were being treated for some ailments.
Gumanoy demanded their release, but the military refused, saying they were in better care under their custody.
She and the human rights group Karapatan filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus with the Court of Appeals to get Fatima released after the military barred visitors, including Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo, from visiting the Gumanoy sisters.
The military disputed that they were abducted, claiming that the Gumanoy sisters sought them out.
Rose Ann, on the other hand, had been tagged as a member of the New People's Army, and was charged with rebellion in a local court in Infanta, Quezon in April this year. She was released on bail.
The child rights advocate SalinlahiAlliance for Children's Concerns also demanded the release of Fatima.
“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Fatima from the custody of the AFP. As we know, Fatima has not been charged with any case and should therefore not be held by the military,'' Salinlahi spokesperson Alphonse Rivera said in a statement.
The military, Rivera added, has "no right to deny Nanay (Mother) Maria her maternity right over her daughter because Fatima did not commit any crime."
Gabriela party-list Representative Luz Ilagan made the same demand: "The AFP has no basis for the abduction and continued illegal detention of Fatima, who is a minor."
"There are no charges filed against her, therefore, there is no reason for them to keep her. She should be returned immediately to her mother," she added.
