Two Government Employee Union Organizers Illegally Arrested and Detained in Camarines Norte; 2 Other People’s Organization Leaders Named in an Arrest Warrant in Luzon, Philippines

Urgent Action Case :
Abduction, Illegal Arrest and Detention
Violation of the Rights of Arrested or Detained persons
Threat, Harassment, Intimidation

Victim :
Abduction, Illegal Arrest and Detention (violation of RA 7438)
RANDY “Daniel” VEGAS
36 years old, married

RAUL CAMPOSANO
51 years old, married, former court sheriff
Founding member of the Judiciary Employees Association (JUDEA)
Former president of the Makati Association of Court Employees
Former president of the Makati Sheriffs Association

Both are national organizers of the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE)

Threat, harassment, intimidation (Filing of Trumped-up charges)
AMELITA GAMARA
58 years old, married,
Deputy Secretary General of Kilusang Mayo Uno-National Capital Region (KMU-NCR) and a long time trade union leader

ROY VELEZ
45 years old, married
Chairperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-National Capital Region (BAYAN-NCR), KMU-NCR
Fifth Nominee of the Anakpawis partylist

Place of Incident :
Randy Vegas and Raul Camposano: abducted in separate locations in Metro Manila; detained at the Camarines Norte Provincial Jail in Daet, Camarines Norte

Date of Incident :
December 3, 2012

Alleged Perpetrators :
Police and military elements

Account of the Incident:
On December 3, the staff of COURAGE national office reported that their organizer, Randy Vegas, also known as Daniel, did not make it to an 8 am meeting on that day with another staff. Daniel left home at 6:30 am, and at 7 am, had texted his co-employee that that he was on his way. In the evening of Dec. 3, another organizer, Raul Camposano failed to make it home after attending a protest action by the union of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) employees that day. After failure to contact or locate them, the COURAGE national office had began searching for Daniel on Dec. 3 and for Raul, on Dec. 4.

On December 5, at about 4 pm, Raul’s wife received a text message from a police officer supposedly from the Camarines Norte Provincial Jail, informing her that her husband is detained at the said jail. Daniel’s wife received the same message at about the same time, on the same date.

It turned out that the two were abducted separately from Metro Manila on Dec. 3 and brought to Daet, in the Bicol region, some 220 kilometers south of Manila. The two were named in a warrant of arrest for murder and frustrated murder, supposedly in connection to an attack by the New People’s Army on an army detachment in Maot village, Labo, Camarines Norte, where several soldiers were killed and another wounded. The warrant was issued by Judge Rolando De Lemios Bobis, of Branch 64, Labo Regional Trial Court on October 18, 2012.

Also named in the warrant were 30 other people, including two leaders from the National Capital Region, namely, Roy Velez and Amelita Gamara. Roy is the chair of BAYAN-NCR, KMU-NCR, and the Save Freedom Islands Movement. He is also the vice chair for Luzon of Anakpawis partylist, of which he is also the 5th nominee. Roy is also a national council member of KMU.

Amelita has been a union organizer since the Martial law era, and is currently the deputy secretary general of KMU-NCR, a board member of Defend Job-Philippines, convenor of Sagip Manila Bay, and a member-at-large of BAYAN-NCR. She is also the wife of Renante Gamara, consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines who was arrested in April and remains in detention.

COURAGE president Ferdinand Gaite decried the arrest of their two organizers, which was timed on the day of the protest by the MMDA employees union. Daniel and Raul had been assisting the MMDA employees in their struggle for the release of their benefits, which the MMDA management kept holding back but is actually provided in their 2010 collective negotiation agreement.

Karapatan condemned the abduction, illegal arrest and detention of the COURAGE organizers, and the harassment on the two leaders of the National Capital Region, as part of the government’s counterinsurgency program that targets civilians and members of legitimate, progressive organizations, such as COURAGE, BAYAN and KMU.


read Bulatlat news article
read Pinoy Weekly news article


Urgent Action Date :                                        
Dec. 8, 2012

Recommended Action:
Send letters, emails or fax messages calling for:
1. The immediate formation of an independent fact-finding and investigation team composed of representatives from human rights groups, the Church, local government, and the Commission on Human Rights that will look into the abduction and illegal arrest and detention of Randy Vegas and Raul Camposano, and the filing of trumped up charges against the two victims, as well as for Amelita Gamara and Roy Velez.

2. The military to stop the labeling and targeting of human rights defenders as “members of front organizations of the communists” and “enemies of the state.”

3. The Philippine Government to withdraw its counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, which victimizes innocent and unarmed civilians

4. The Philippine Government to be reminded that it is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that it is also a party to all the major Human Rights instruments, thus it is bound to observe all of these instruments’ provisions.

You may send your communications to:

H.E. Benigno C. Aquino III
President of the Republic
Malacañang Palace,
JP Laurel St., San Miguel
Manila Philippines
Voice: (+632) 564 1451 to 80
Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968
E-mail: corres@op.gov.ph / opnet@ops.gov.ph

Sec. Teresita Quintos-Deles
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP)
7th Floor Agustin Building I
Emerald Avenue
Pasig City 1605
Voice:+63 (2) 636 0701 to 066
Fax:+63 (2) 638 2216
osec@opapp.gov.ph

Ret. Lt. Gen. Voltaire T. Gazmin
Secretary, Department of National Defense
Room 301 DND Building, Camp Emilio Aguinaldo,
E. de los Santos Avenue, Quezon City
Voice:+63(2) 911-9281 / 911-0488
Fax:+63(2) 911 6213
Email: osnd@philonline.com

Atty. Leila De Lima
Secretary, Department of Justice
Padre Faura St., Manila
Direct Line 521-8344; 5213721
Trunkline 523-84-81 loc.214
Fax: (+632) 521-1614
Email: soj@doj.gov.ph

Hon. Loretta Ann P. Rosales
Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Bldg., UP Complex
Commonwealth Avenue
Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
Voice: (+632) 928-5655, 926-6188
Fax: (+632) 929 0102