Lawyer to State Dept: Melissa is US citizen

CHICAGO—The lawyer of Filipino-American activist Melissa Roxas who was abducted in the Philippines last year has asked the US Department of State to clarify in its 2009 Philippine Human Rights Report that she is a legitimate US citizen. In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Filipino-American lawyer Arnedo Valera said the “foreign citizen of Filipino descent" mentioned in the report is actually “Ms. Melissa C. Roxas, my client under the Legal Services Program of the Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC), a non-profit service organization based in Washington, D.C." Valera was referring to a portion of the heading “Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from Disappearance" of the State Department’s report. The portion read, “A foreign citizen of Filipino descent claimed that she and two others were abducted and tortured by members of the military in Tarlac. An investigation was ongoing." Valera said the “foreign citizen" to whom the said portion refers is Roxas, a US citizen and a resident of California “on whose behalf we filed a complaint and was acknowledged by the Department of State on Dec. 7, 2009 and the Department of Justice on Jan. 19, 2010." Valera also attached to his March 17 letter to Clinton a copy of Roxas’ US passport to prove her citizenship. “For factual accuracy as well as the importance of acknowledging that it was a citizen of this country alleging the reported mistreatment, kindly rectify the error by specifying her citizenship," Valera wrote. Valera also informed Clinton that he likewise submitted Roxas’ complaint to Special Rapporteur on Torture Professor Manfred Nowak of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland. Roxas is the first known American citizen under President Barack Obama’s presidency to have become a victim of abduction and torture by military agents in the Philippines, according to Valera. Roxas, 31, reported she was abducted in barangay (village) Kapanikian in La Paz town, Tarlac province on May 19 last year. She further said she was brought to Fort Magsaysay, a vast Philippine Army camp in Laur town, Nueva Ecija province, where she claimed she was tortured until May 25. Fort Magsaysay is the largest military camp in the Philippines and is home to the Army’s 7th Infantry Division. The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are submitted annually by the State Department to the U.S. Congress in compliance with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Trade Act of 1974. “The Philippines always boasts of being a signatory to all major human rights declarations and treaties; it is now time to stop lip service and comply with these international UN instruments," said Valera, who is also the co-executive director of the MHC based in Fairfax, Virginia. The State Department report, released on March 11, criticized the Philippine government for its security forces’ involvement in various killings of activists and journalists, as well as the prevailing atmosphere of impunity and corruption. (See: RP scored for killings, state abuses in US gov’t report)—JMA/JV, GMANews.TV