Addendum to the Chronology of Morong 43

April 7, 2010 Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Morong issued an Order granting the transfer
of 38 of the Complainants-Detainees to the PNP Camp Crame in Quezon
(Wednesday) City but adopting the position of the military, over the objection of the
Complainants-Detainees’ lawyers, that five of the segregated detainees
(Barrientos, Carandang, Paulino, Pizarro and Tawagon), remain in the
custody of the military at Camp Capinpin in Tanay. Rizal

April 8 Complainant-Detainee Samson Castillo was challenged around 9:00 am by

Maj. Tabion to perform 50 push-ups each with the loser to be boxed by the
(Thursday) winner 50 times. (Castillo executed and signed a handwritten statement on
this point.)

The RTC clerk of court Atty. Amado Javier, accompanied by the

Complainants-Detainees lawyers Attys. Anton Principe and Dixon Ayon-
ayon of PILC and relatives, personally served on the military officials the
Order of RTC Morong at around 11:00 am.

Warden Maj. Tabion/Navarro, Capt. Maladia and Lt. Celeste Frank

Sayson received the Order and said they will comply, subject to processing
and logistical preparations.

Maj. Tabion told Jigs Clamor, husband of Complainant-Detainee Dr.

Clamor, that defense lawyer Atty. Olalia is probably also an NPA just like
his clients because he used an “alias” in his earlier TV interview with
Channel 2. Mr. Clamor, who is deputy Secretary General of Karapatan, said
that that was an obvious inadvertent mistake of the network in mixing up the
names of the persons the reporter interviewed and in wrongly designating
Atty. Olalia with the name of the Public Information Officer of Karapatan
who was likewise interviewed with him at the same time.

At around 5:00 pm, Complainant-Detainee Eulogio Castillo was spoken to

by Lt. Cabading and said that she (the latter) should not have been included
in the Supplemental Complaint filed with the CHR as her only alleged
purpose in offering him a new lawyer is to help him, despite the fact that she
knew very well that he is already being represented since day one by his
lawyers from NUPL and PILC.

April 9 Around 9:00 am, media reports said that 38 of the Complainants-Detainees
will arrive at Camp Crame at 10:30 am. Atty. Olalia, who was scheduled this
(Friday) morning to go to Camp Capinpin to follow up the transfer, together with
fellow NUPL lawyer Atty. Julius Matibag, was compelled to text Gen.
Segovia to verify what time the Complainants-Detainees will be transferred.
Gen. Segovia texted back and said that 38 of them were already on their way
to Camp Crame.

Attys. Olalia and Matibag decided to proceed to Camp Crame instead to

meet with and confer with the Complainants-Detainees. They learned at the
gates that the Complainants-Detainees arrived at around 9:40 am. They
proceeded to the PNP Custodial Center, only to find out that their clients
have not yet been brought there. They then proceeded to the PNP parade
grounds where the Army buses containing the 38 Complainants-Detainees
individually handcuffed to their military guards and where the military
convoy was parked. But in a few seconds, the buses and convoy started to
move out of Camp Crame. And the media reports said that that they were
going back to brought back to Camp Capinpin.

It turned out that the PNP officers Chief Supts. Herold Ubalde, Rommel
Heredia, and Leonardo Espina together with Army Intelligence Officer Lt.
Col. Zaragosa had just finished giving a press conference a few minutes
earlier at the grandstand.

The lawyers rushed to the grandstand where there were several policemen,
media and relatives milling. They were able to catch Chief Supt. Ubalde,
PNP Chief of Legal, speaking to Renato Reyes of Bayan. They engaged in a
negotiation but ended up with both parties disagreeing. The lawyers were
asking Chief Supt. Ubalde the details of their coordination with the military
but gave tentative details. He said that they had filed a Motion for
Reconsideration the day before of the Morong RTC Order and that they
could not accommodate the 38 as their detention facilities are overcrowded
and that there is no other place they could keep them and that it was the
BJMP who should take them in. The lawyers disagreed with this and
registered their opposition. Before deciding to follow to Camp Capinpin, the
lawyers procured a copy of the said Motion for Reconsideration at the PNP
Legal Office.

In the meantime, Atty. Olalia called RTC Morong clerk of court Atty. Javier
and verified what happened yesterday. Atty. Javier said he received the
Motion for Reconsideration of the PNP at 5:00 pm and that it is set for
hearing on March 16. He would be calling Atty. Olalia again later and said
that the PNP is amenable to the transfer of the 38 Complainants-Detainees to
Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan. He suggested that the defense lawyers
should not agree that their clients be transferred to the Rizal Provincial Jail as
they would be mixed with common criminals.

The lawyers, together with a big number of relatives and health workers,
proceeded to Camp Capinpin. On the way, they decided to pursue with the
ocular inspection of the farmhouse in question which was earlier scheduled
that morning. They arrived about 1:00 pm and met Dr. Velmonte, her son
Bong and caretaker Bing. (The latter was initially made to line up with the
Complainants-Detainees when the latter were arrested but was instantly
released when she identified herself.)

Dr. Velmonte and her son showed the structures in the farmhouse and
narrated what happened that fateful day of February 6. She was mad at the
military and the police for the intrusion into their property and the highly
questionable search and seizure and illegal arrest of the 43 health workers
who were her guests and to whom she herself had just given a medical
lecture.

At Camp Capinpin, the lawyers and relatives arrived around 3:00 pm. The
lawyers were held up entry because the military gate guards said that Maj.
Tabion still had to clear their entry with his superiors. They were eventually
escorted by Lt. Nelmida to the detention center. The lawyers met and
conferred with 38 of the Complainants-Detainees from 3:15 pm to 6:45 pm.
Again, Maj. Tabion was not around and made himself scarce.

New accounts of intimidation and harassment were relayed by the 38

Complainants-Detainees to the lawyers since the latter’s last visit on March
21. This includes the “visits” by Col. Joey Reyes, Chief of Staff of the 2nd ID
on Complainants-Detainees Doloricon and Gonzales on April 2 and 3. He
repeatedly offered both of them to have a “stroll” outside the detention center
which they rejected. Col. Reyes admitted to them that he was present during
the first days that the detainees were being interrogated while blindfolded
and cuffed. (Doloricon and Gonzales executed and signed today a joint
handwritten statement on these points.)

Also, Maj. Tabion spread the intrigue and falsehood that detainee Dr.
Montes was able to supposedly sneak in alcohol into the detention center
that is why he fell ill with high blood pressure and had to be taken to the
military hospital for some time; that the Complainants-Detainees were
shouted at with expletives and intimidated when they were being forcibly
asked by Lt. Tabion and Col. Zaragosa around 8:00-9:00 pm the night
before to accomplish without their lawyers a personnel information sheet
which solicited unnecessary information or else they would not be
transferred; how the military doctor Lt. Col. Torrelevega together with nurse
Gamboa made a perfunctory questioning of their state of health without any
actual medical check-up and initially asked them to sign his report but
stopped when the Complainants-Detainees refused without their counsels’
presence. (All the 38 detainees executed and signed today a joint handwritten
statement on these points.)

Complainant-Detainee Samson Castillo relayed that his teenage son was

taken by the military and taken to their camp in Quezon for four hours last
March 28.

One of the Complainants-Detainees also relayed how the five segregated

detainees (Barrientos, Carandang, Paulino, Pizarro and Tawagon),
expressed their mixed feelings of fear, distress, guilt, confusion, suffering
and how they are still under duress in the hands of the military; how they are
still subjected to continuing interrogations and forced or coaxed to sign
documents without the presence of their counsel of choice; the vacillation of
the military to let them freely visit their co-detainees; and the refusal of the
military to let them speak to Atty. Olalia and his co-defense lawyers as well
as other details of their ongoing ordeal.

On the way out, the lawyers asked Lt. Nelmida if they can see the five
segregated detainees. He said he cannot decide on this. The lawyers said then
maybe they can just see them and just wave without saying a word. He said it
was not possible. Lt. Nelmida, however, admitted that the five segregated
detainees where just staying at House 101 immediately outside the gate of
the detention center.