While senators accused in pork barrel scam rant about the heat, rats and roaches inside the Camp Crame Custodial Center and Janet Lim Napoles is being detained in a spacious villa inside a Camp in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, political prisoners have it worse.

Human rights groups denounced what they called “double standard” in the government’s treatment of prisoners. While authorities ponder on giving the jailed senators some comfort like air-conditioned units, hospital arrest for Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, another four-month pregnant activist woman was arrested and labelled as member of the New People’s Army.

Maria Miradel Torres, a member of a local chapter of Gabriela in Quezon province, was arrested without warrant on June 20, 2014 in Lucena City by the Southern Luzon Command, the military claimed that Torres is wanted for murder filed before the Regional Trial Court in Infanta, Quezon.

Torres, who was initially detained in Camp General Nakar, was forcibly transferred to Camp Bagong Diwa early morning of June 24. According to Karapatan, Torres’ pregnancy is in delicate situation.

“Prior to her arrest she was bleeding profusely, and the results of her medical check-up also showed that she has infection in her urine, has low placenta and is anemic. Despite these, she was forcibly transferred and forced to endure long hours of travel early morning yesterday,” said Rev. Gil Sediarin, deputy secretary general of Karapatan-Southern Tagalog.

The group also said that the military had refused to allow Torres’ family to visit her inside Camp Nakar despite a demand from her counsel on June 23.

The Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Selda) said that there are already 489 political prisoners, imprisoned mostly due to their political conviction for social change and development.

The group added that government considered them as enemy and threat to the social system. “In Aquino’s view they must be silenced,” said Roneo Clamor, spokesperson of Selda.

Ill-treatment

Clamor said that double standard of treatment is prevalent in many jails, citing the case of Andrea Rosal, as well as and Torres. The group said that instead of heeding to the complaints of political prisoners, jail officials punished them for allegedly violating prison rules.

Selda cited the experience of a female political detainee punished by the Disciplinary Board of the Taguig City Jail for complaining about the condition of inmates inside the jail.

According Karapatan, Loida Magpatoc, a peace consultant for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines wrote a letter of complaint to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on June 1. The letter allegedly caught the ire of jail authorities.

In her letter to CHR, Magpatoc cited the lack of medical facilities and neglect of sick inmates, scarcity of water supply in the female dormitory, and overpricing of materials used to produce crafts for their livelihood. She also accused that personnel of the BJMP collects 30 percent from the sales of their products.

As a result of her complaint, the Disciplinary Board, headed by Deputy Warden Teresa Minda Cabaniero, ordered Magpatoc to clean the toilets of the BJMP employees and personnel, including the kitchen at the rooftop of the female dorm, according to Karapatan. The goup added that BJMP guards earlier confiscated Magpatoc’s first letter of complaint, her complaint was deemed as violation of the BJMP manual.

Magpatoc, in a statement, she said the measure aims to maim the inmates and send the message “bawal ang magreklamo” (“you should not complain”). She also cited that at least two inmates died without proper medical attention and one of them, a certain Leticia Socito suffered hypertension and was brought to the hospital when she fell into a coma.

Strong-arming

Karapatan also said that male prisoners at the male dorm of the Special Intensive Care Area (SICA), including political prisoners, some of whom are NDFP consultants, complain that jail authorities arbitrarily confiscated some of their personal belongings, including their handicraft products.

They accused the BJMP-NHQ of conducting “greyhound operations” on June 12.

The greyhound operations are supposedly done to “search for and confiscate illegal drugs, weapons and similar contrabands”. But the guards instead confiscated a kerosene stove and a bottle of Thyroid Gland Care capsules used as maintenance medicine of political detainee Fidel Holanda.

It was the second time the BJMP guards confiscated the kerosene stove used by the political detainees,” said Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Karapatan chairperson.

The group added that one of the jail guards dumped the medicine bottle onto Holanda’s cot, scattering its content into the floor. On May 1, the BJMP guards also confiscated the transistor radios of another NDFP consultant, Emeterio Antalan, and an inmate. The said transistor radios are still in the possession of jail authorities, according to Karapatan.

In a joint letter signed by NDFP consultants Alan Jazmines, Emeterio Antalan, Tirso Alcantara, Leopoldo Caloza and other political detainees said that the BJMP-NHQ concentrated on “non-contraband, harmless and essentially needed items of detainees, as kerosene stoves, livelihood handicraft production raw materials and finished products, educational and entertainment CDs/DVDs, lighters, sewing needles, ballpens, nailcutters, tweezers, toothbrushes, and disposable shavers.”

Both the political detainees at the SICA and at the Taguig City Jail-female dormitories complained of the guards’ “display of arrogance”. The political detainees have yet to receive a response from the authorities on the said complaints.

“The real enemies of the people are the plunderers of the nation’s wealth, and the worst of human rights violators. They should be the ones held in jail instead of the political prisoners who are the true servants of the people,” added Clamor.

The group also slammed the continued impunity fostered by the counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan. The lawmaker said that in contrast to President Aquino’s promise to give justice to the victims of extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances, many military officials who were implicated in human rights violations during Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s reign were promoted to top military positions.

“With military generals who murder and torture, get promoted and plunderers of the nation’s coffers who receive special treatment in jail, the Aquino government is in full blast promoting impunity. Impunity is fostered by counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, the symbol of killings, torture and other human rights violations,” the group said.

The group cited the latest promotion of Philippine Army colonel Medardo Geslani to brigadier general. Geslani was implicated in the the Maguindanao massacre of 58 people, including 32 journalists and two human rights lawyers, nearly five years ago.