Forensic experts exhume body of suspected activist

(Update) LABRADOR, Pangasinan - A team of forensic experts from Manila exhumed the body of a woman believed to be that of UP student activist Sherlyn Cadapan. The body was found burned and abandoned in this town eight months ago. Human rights activists and forensic experts from the Commission on Human Rights transported the body back to Manila Thursday for autopsy and DNA testing. Linda Cadapan, Sherlyn’s mother, said the face of the woman has some similarities with her daughter. "Malakas talaga ang kutob ko na s'ya nga ang anak ko dahil magkatulad ang kanilang features," Linda said. (I have a hunch that the body was that of my daughter.) The burned body was recovered by authorities in this town on July 14, 2007. “Halos dalawang taon na akong naghahanap sa kanya," Linda said. Human Rights Commissioner Wilhelm Soriano said an autopsy of the body and DNA testing would determine the woman’s identity. Sherlyn and Karen Empeño, another UP student, went missing on June 26, 2006, after soldiers allegedly took them in Hagonoy, Bulacan. Cadapan and Empeno were reportedly doing volunteer research work for peasants in the province when they went missing with farmer Manuel Merino. "We have reason to believe that Sherlyn is in military custody and that she is under intense physical and emotional torture," said Anakbayan chairperson Eleanor de Guzman. De Guzman told GMANews.TV that some people already met with Cadapan. Cadapan was two months pregnant when she went missing. Her mother said her daughter might have given birth sometime in January last year. Meanwhile, Connie Empeño, mother of Karen Empeño who was abducted together with Cadapan, said there is still no news about her daughter. “Sana kahit patay na ang anak ko ipakita pa rin sa akin (I wish they would still show my daughter to me even if she is already dead)," she said. In November last year, the Supreme Court earlier issued a writ of amparo compelling President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the authorities to disclose information about Cadapan and Empeño, who are suspected of having been victims of enforced disappearance. However, in a 30-page return of the writ, Amparo Tang, assistant solicitor general, told the Court of Appeals’ Special Eleventh Division that public respondents had nothing to do with the alleged abduction of the three individuals. Named respondents in the Supreme Court writ were Mrs Arroyo; Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon; Police Director Avelino Razon; retired Gen. Jovito Palparan, commander of the 7th Infantry Division; Lt. Col. Rogelio Boac, commanding officer of Task Force Bulacan; Maj. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, former commanding officer of Northern Luzon Command; Lt. Francis Mirabella-Samson; and civilian Arnel Enriquez. "Public respondents specifically deny the allegations for lack of knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth thereof," Tang said. Tang also said President Arroyo should not be included as respondent to any civil or criminal case during her tenure of office, thus, her name should be dropped as a party to the case. - GMANews.TV