KARAPATAN– Southern Tagalog
Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights

306 Brgy. Maahas, Los Banos, Laguna

PRESS RELEASE                                                                                                  

Reference: Mrs. Maria Gumanoy c/o Dorris Cuario

Secretary General (4354146)

July 11, 2008 

'MY ROSE ANN WAS THREATENED AND FORCED,'

SAYS MOTHER OF ABDUCTED DAUGHTER

"My daughter, Rose Ann, was threatened and was forced to cooperate with her abductors. I knew this would happen because my daughter feared the worst for her and her sister, Fatima." This was Maria Gumanoy's, mother of abducted sisters, angry response to the Philippine Army's allegations that her daughters are not being held against their will at the Philippine Army Fort Bonifacio General Hospital. 

Mrs. Maria Gumanoy disclosed that while Rose Ann was undergoing treatment at the V. Luna Medical Center, when she was first abducted in April, the military did not cease, day after day, even hour after hour, of pressing her to cooperate with them.  She was threatened that additional charges will be filed against her, that she will go to jail for life, and many other things might happen to her family. At one point, Maria mentioned, Rose Ann revealed to her that she was almost about to give up for fear of her and her family's life, but she was able to contain herself back then and maintained to stand for the truth. 

"I know that the military is using her sister, Fatima, to blackmail Rose Ann. She is very close to Fatima and I believe she could not bear to see her sister suffering what she had experienced in the hands of these perpetrators," the mother of the two said holding back her tears. 

Fatima, who is a minor at 17 years old, is currently suffering from illnesses which she acquired during their abduction. Maria fears that the Philippine Army is deliberately giving Fatima drugs that weaken her. On July 6, the time Maria saw her at the Philippine Army hospital, Fatima was lying in bed and was constantly guarded by the military. She could barely talk to her mother especially when the military was around. No doctor chosen by the family was allowed to see and check up Fatima.

She also mentioned that even the letter Rose Ann made and showed to them when they tried to see them the day before she was presented to the media was a product of the pressure and threat to her daughter. She is enraged at the idea that her daughters are not allowed to see other family members, their chosen lawyer and doctor, a social worker, and even Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo whom she has sought for help.  The military instead presented Rose Ann to the media, an action which Mrs. Gumanoy thinks is against Rose Ann's will. 

Maria also said that during her last visit, she saw Weng, one of Rose Ann's military watchers while the latter was still at the AFP Medical Center in V. Luna, holding a piece of paper and was forcing Rose Ann and Fatima to write and sign it stating that they were not abducted but voluntarily went to the military for custody. Her daughters refused to sign the paper.  

Dorris Cuario, Secretary General of KARAPATAN-Southern Tagalog said, "From the very beginning, we have already mentioned that the military will try to do everything to save again their neck for what they did to Rose Ann and Fatima.  We are anticipating that the military will force the two to cooperate with them so that the military will be spared from further shame and damage." 

Cuario believes that the AFP would like to clear their involvement in the death of Rose Ann's father, slain peasant leader, Eduardo Gumanoy, and to discredit KARAPATAN's credibility in letting Rose Ann appear to the media and giving statements such as voluntarily putting herself and her sister under military custody and were not under duress.  

"We strongly condemn the Armed Forces of the Philippines for presenting Rose Ann to the media and for manipulating her to cover up their obvious mistake when they took the sisters and held them at the Fort Bonifacio General Hospital, and for holding Fatima without charges. If the Philippine Army is serious in helping them, then the Gumanoy sisters must now be released to their family so that they can live free from fear," Cuario concluded .

Home