Marcos bends the rules in the Philippines

Press, 30 April 1981, Page 16

Marcos bends the rules in the Philippines

By

JOHN MADELEY

Two thousand political prisoners are languishing "idefinitely and without trial” in Philippine prisons despite the lifting of martial law and the alleged restoration of habeas corpus, according to a Filipino priest, Fr Edicio de la Torre, who was once a political prisoner himself. Habeas corpus was restored in January on the eve of the Pope’s visit to the Philippines but Fr Torre says President Ferdinand Marcos has framed over 100 exceptions to it and can effectively hold in jail anyone he wishes. People now detained include a trade union leader, Mr Ernesto Arellano, who was arrested last July after forming a new union, the First May Movement. The union has grown to 150,000' members, mostly textile and transport workers. ‘‘Arellano is one of

four trade union leaders in jail,” says Fr Torre, “none of whom has any chance of being brought to trial.” Trade unionists, he says, “tend to be picked up and hauled into prison every time they go on strike.” Thirty-six-year-old Fr Torre, a leading exponent of liberation theology, was released last year after five years and a half in jail. No charge was ever brought against him, but his ‘crimes” were believed to include organising lectures for Christians interested in radical change. Fr Torre maintains the only difference the lifting of martial law has made is that “you just may not be arrested when you demonstrate.” Opposition to the Marcos regime is increasing, says Fr Torre, with the leading opposition group, the New People’s Army, active in over half the Filipino provinces.

He believes that since martial law was imposed in 1972 more than 80,000 people have been imprisoned without trial for their political beliefs and about two-thirds of them have been tortured. He himself was tortured in several different prisons. “I’ve done a comparative study of Marcos’s jails,” he says without bitterness. No priests are thought to be held at present, but Fr Torre believes there may be a new purge and detention of priests after elections due to be held on June 7 this year. Fr Torre was released from jail on the eve of President Marcos’s visit to the United States on condition that he went to Rome to study theology. “Marcos will only survive as long as the United States Government backs him,” says Fr Torre.— Copyright, London Observer Service.