The case of 2 ‘missing’ girls

MANILA, Philippines—Since the Supreme Court adopted over a year ago extraordinary measures to curb human rights abuses, the Armed Forces of the Philippines has been on the defensive, receiving a barrage of complaints in connection with extrajudicial executions and disappearances.

But in a little publicized case in February, the AFP’s Civil Military Operations (CMO) found itself in an unusual court battle: Helping parents secure information from leftist groups about two missing teenage girls who they believed had joined the New People’s Army (NPA).

The parents of Khristine Calido and Marissa Espedido sought a writ of amparo, from the Spanish amparar—to protect—adopted by the high tribunal from a successful judicial procedure in Guatemala to combat military abuses in the midst of a rash in political killings and kidnappings of activists.

This time, the respondents were leftist groups that, the parents averred, had recruited Calido and Espedido to pave the way for their membership in the NPA.

The girls were barely 18 years old when they left their homes and abandoned their studies, says Col. Buenaventura Pascual, CMO head.

“Filing the writ of amparo was the only solution so that those who knew where the girls were would be compelled to produce them in court,” Pascual says.

The case was lodged in the Regional Trial Court in Antipolo City against leaders of the Kabataan party-list group, Bayan Muna and individuals who included youth leaders accompanying Khristine and Marissa when their parents last saw them before they went missing.

The groups vehemently denied that they were responsible for the girls’ disappearance.

Volunteer educator

One respondent claimed Khristine gave “volunteer education to tribal folks and farmers” in Tanay, Rizal, on Dec. 26, 2007, but that she had never been seen after that.

Pascual says the court case uncovered the lives led by the girls since they joined the leftist youth organization Anakbayan while attending a national high school where they were both enrolled.

Searching among the girls’ belongings, their parents discovered their diaries where they detailed their activities that included joining lightning rallies, “MOBs” or mobilizations, and campaigning for Bayan Muna in last year’s midterm elections.

Khristine wrote that she became a member of the “UG,” or underground group, Kabataang Makabayan in 2006 as “Ka Liway.” Her mother Elizabeth also found several Anakbayan application forms that had been filled out by students as young as 14 years old.

Marissa’s parents presented a letter where, in poetic language Filipino activists are known to use, she lamented how her father worked hard for a measly salary while his employer continued to get rich.

Signing as “Ka Malaya,” Marissa, also a member of Bayan Muna, told her parents that it was better to die fighting than not doing anything for one’s country.

Recruitment process

Pascual, who provided the Philippine Daily Inquirer copies of the court documents, says the story of Khristine and Marissa shows “the process how young people are recruited by these organizations to eventually join the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and NPA.”

He says the seemingly benign school organizations designed for students to gain friends and be part of community services would eventually turn into a “training” ground “to test them how far they will go.”

The girls disappeared intermittently, for spells as long as a month, Pascual says.

He says the leftist recruiters appear to have a preference for young women who are “a bit more emotional,” those who come from broken families, or those whose parents are working overseas.

He says he learned of the missing girls at a high school forum when a teacher asked for help to track down her goddaughter Khristine, a sociology student at Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP).

Marissa went missing about the same time Khristine disappeared, Pascual recalls PUP officials telling him.

Infiltration

“They were perplexed. They did not realize how deep the CPP-NPA had infiltrated the youth organizations,” Pascual says.

He says the petition for the writ of amparo was subsequently dropped after the two girls showed up shortly after their 18th birthday.

In court, both girls chose to remain with their peers and in the unnamed place that they came from instead of going with their parents, Pascual says.

But when Marissa resumed her communication with her parents, it paved the way for reconciliation and a happy ending.

Pascual says that while Marissa’s family was poor, it was the strong bond with each other that ultimately brought her back home.

Khristine, however, has yet to return. She showed up in court with a pastor of the United Methodist Church and told her mother, an overseas Filipino worker, that she did not want to go home. She was placed under the pastor’s custody, and the judge approved the visitation rights of her mother.

“The first two visits went well. But on the third visit, Khristine was again missing. The last information we have on her was that she is already an NPA in the Quezon area,” Pascual says.

By Nikko Dizon Philippine Daily Inquirer