Degamo slay suspects' lawyer seeks CHR probe on alleged rights violations

The legal counsel of the four suspects in the killing of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo asked the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to investigate the alleged denial of legal access and the supposed threats his clients are receiving.

Lawyer Danny Villanueva, legal counsel of suspects Rogelio Antipolo Jr., Osmundo Rivero, Romel Pattaguan, and Danniel Lora, sent a letter to CHR Commissiroeloner Richard Palpal-Latoc dated May 2, 2023, alleging that the suspects were illegally detained at the NBI Security Management Detention Cell in Manila after they were nabbed without warrants of arrest.

Villanueva also said his clients were denied legal access “from the time they were detained” and have been subjected to “threats of violence, both by a certain retired colonel and by the NBI personnel.”

Lawyers who tried to visit the alleged gunmen were likewise subjected to threats and intimidation from the NBI, he added.

“We, the lawyers engaged by the family of our clients… we’re being denied access to them. We were given the run around by the NBI. We’re not allowed to visit, and to talk to our clients,” he told reporters in an interview on Friday.

“So we then keep wondering, and we, of course, also fear for the safety of our clients. We could not tell the actual condition to their family members because we’re not allowed by the NBI to visit or talk to our clients,” he added.

The lawyer said they sent another letter to the Human Rights Commission dated May 9, in which they reported and asked for help as state forces allegedly abducted Rivero’s family in Mayug, Zamboanga del Sur.

He also accused the police of allegedly threatening and torturing Rivero to sign a sworn statement admitting to participating in Degamo’s slay and pinpointing suspended Negros Oriental Representative Arnie Teves as one of the persons behind it.

“Kung sakaling mahanap itong pamilya ni Rivero sa pamamagitan ng tulong ng CHR or maybe ng ating kagalang-galang na Secretary of Justice, makakausap namin itong kaniyang asawa na si Queenie at mga anak para malaman natin kung pano ba sila kinuha sa lugar,” said Villanueva.

“Sa tamang panahon kapag kumpleto na ang aming ebidensiya, definitely, we will file appropriate criminal actions but on Monday, we will file a petition for habeus corpus to compel the government to produce the body of the missing wife of Mr. Rivero and his children,” he said.

“Plano namin isampa sa Regional Trial Court ng Manila sapagkat ayon sa impormasyon na nakarating sa amin, ang asawa at dalawang anak ay narito sa isang safe house na kontrolado ng DOJ at NBI,” he added.

DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, in a separate interview, denied the accusations and said Rivero’s family is under witness protection as per the suspect’s request.

“Naka-witness protection ‘yun para iharap sa kaniya. Request ni Rivero ‘yan. Hinarap sa kaniya ‘yan, dinala sa kaniya ‘yan. Di namin gagawin ‘yun kung di niya request ‘yan,” said Remulla. — DVM, GMA Integrated News