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Melissa Roxas' abductors got wrong victim - group


JUSTICE. Militants picket in front of the Court of Appeals in Manila to ask justice for Fil-Am activist Melissa Roxas and other victims of torture and abuse. - GMANews.TV file photo
The real target of the abductors of Fil-Am activist Melissa Roxas was actually a former official of Migrante International, the militant group said Friday. In an interview with GMANews.TV, Migrante chairperson Garry Martinez said that the “Maita" mentioned in the affidavit of Roxas is Maita Santiago, the group’s secretary-general for three years. According to the affidavit, the abductors of the Fil-Am activist called her “Maita" and told her that the Canadian government wouldn’t be able to help her. “He called me, ‘Maita’ and I told him that I was not Maita," Roxas said in her affidavit. Martinez said Santiago is a Filipino-Canadian in her late 30s who migrated to Canada two years ago to settle down with her family. He said both her name and citizenship matched that of the person the abductors might have been mistaking to be Roxas. “Nangangahulugan lang talaga na siya ‘yun (It just means the abductors really were pertaining to Santiago)," he said. Rex Fernandez, legal counsel of Roxas, also seemed convinced that Roxas was mistaken for Santiago. “I think so, they (the abductors) talked of a Maita and the Canadian government. I believe they are referring to her," he told GMANews.TV in a separate interview on Friday. Martinez said Santiago has already found out about this possibility. “Alam niya at siya ay nangangamba (She knows and she’s worried)," said Martinez. Roxas has already sought a writ of amparo – a Spanish word for “protection" – before the Supreme Court on May 28, or days after she was released by gunmen who allegedly abducted her and two others in the northern province of Tarlac. The high tribunal referred her case to the CA, which has yet to reach a decision whether to grant her the writ or not. The writ is a remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty, and security is violated or threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission. It denies respondents, such as government authorities and private individuals and entities, the defense of simple denial. In the affidavit she executed last June, she claimed that at least 15 armed men abducted her and her companions, Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Handoc, at gunpoint while they were conducting a medical mission in La Paz, Tarlac on May 19. Roxas, a member of the US chapter of the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, said her abductors – some of whom she identified as RC, Dex, James, and a “Bossing" – repeatedly beat her up and tried to make her confess into being a member of the communist New People’s Army (NPA). Rep. Pastor Alcover Jr. of the pro-military party-list Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy showed pictures and video footage supposedly of Roxas undergoing armed training at an NPA camp in the Aurora province. [See: Activist Roxas a rebel, claims group linked to ‘Garci’ tapes]. Roxas later claimed she has reason to believe it was the military who abducted her. She also maintained that she was never involved with the rebel group. [See: I’m not a rebel, says Fil-Am activist] - GMANews.TV
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