Solon invites Fil-Am activist to inquiry

MANILA - The chairman of the human rights committee in the House of Representatives has urged Filipino-American activist Melissa Roxas to appear before investigating bodies in the Philippines and tell the story of her abduction last month, saying she was a living testimony that torture exists in the country.

Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tanada III said he met Roxas on June 10 in Los Angeles when he was in the United States to speak at the Independence Day celebration of a Filipino community there.

Two months after her abduction, Roxas appeared in a news conference in Los Angeles on Sunday morning (Manila time) and recounted how a group of men, whom she suspected were soldiers, tortured her.

“I told her that if you plan to come back, then maybe you may also consider appearing or meeting with the Commission on Human Rights because they are interested in your case, also if it’s possible to agree to appear in House committee, should a resolution be filed to investigate the case,” Tanada told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.

Tanada said Roxas’ was a “special case,” because it was only one of two cases of torture in the country where the victim survived. The other case involved Raymond Manalo, a farmer who disappeared for two years but escaped from his captors, believed to be from the military.

“I told Melissa that she has a very important role to play in showing and exposing that tortures still happen and that things have to be corrected and that government should not always come out with blanket conclusions that no abduction or torture that took place,” the congressman said.

Tanada said the House was prepared to provide Roxas security should she agree to appear in the chamber.

Arnedo Valera, Roxas’ lawyer in the United States, had also said his client would seek damages in a US federal court against the Philippine government. He said his group would file a complaint before the US Department of State and the United Nations.

In the Philippines, Roxas has filed a petition for a Writ of Amparo and has been instructed by the Court of Appeals to appear in a hearing on July 24.

A bill on torture has been passed on third reading in both the House and the Senate. Tanada said he hoped the bill would be approved by the bicameral committee when session resumes next month and would immediately be sent to Malacañang for signing.

Another bill, on enforced disappearance, has been passed on third reading in the House, but was still being debated in the Senate.

Roxas was visiting the Philippines for an “exposure program” last month when she was reported missing in La Paz town, Tarlac province on May 19. She escaped on May 26.

Roxas is a member of the US chapter of the left-wing Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).

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