Letter to the Editor

De facto Martial Rule

I am writing this to publicize my fears of a de facto Martial Rule now existing in our country.

I am the wife of Romeo Capalla who was finally freed from the Iloilo Rehabilitation Center or Provincial Jail last Sept. 5, 2005 after 32 days of imprisonment for the crime of destructive arson. The court has finally ruled on the innocence of my husband.

Last August 3 elements of the Iloilo Provincial Police and SWAT forces from the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division, Camp Delgado in Iloilo City, Task Force Panay, and Intelligence Task Unit of the Philippine Army arrested my husband Romeo Capalla while he was driving home after his week-day routine of bringing our daughter Katrina Ann to school. No preliminary investigation was conducted before he was handcuffed and brought to jail.

He was charged of burning heavy equipments of the E.C. de Luna Construction Corporation in Guimbal, Iloilo, that happened on May 11, 2004 which incident was allegedly owned by members of the New People's Army. In the complaint filed against my husband, his address written there in is “c/o PNP Guimbal, Iloilo” when our residence for years now is in San Antonio, Oton, Iloilo. His address can be found in the telephone directory. If only due process was observed, my husband could have been spared the agony of being incarcerated. But how can a summons or subpoena reach him with that kind of address?

As a former detainee, he is a member of SELDA (Samahan ng mga Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya) and has availed himself of the government's offer for amnesty. He has been connected with Panay Fair Trade Center (PFTC) for 11 years now and has been the Manager for the last 4 years. A member of the International Federation of Alternative Trade, PFTC exports organic-certified muscovado sugar and organic-certified banana chips, and Romy as Manager has visited business partners abroad, lately this year in France and Germany.

My 93-year old mother-in-law has no idea her son was jailed. My brother-in-law Archbishop Fernando Capalla (outgoing president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines) attests to the innocence of his brother who has since been in the mainstream of society. My job as a nurse in Texas is jeopardized. Having come home last December to visit my husband and daughter, I am home again this time without pay.

Is it too much to ask the government to conduct a thorough preliminary investigation before arresting a person and putting him behind bars?

My fears heightened when Inquirer columnist Neal H. Cruz ended his column thus: “What is happening now is worse than martial law. It is a dictatorship disguised as democracy.” —Corazon Gemarino-Capalla, San Antonio, Oton, Iloilo