Two Magdalo officers allegedly tortured by Army custodians

By Ronron
January 4, 2007 (Thursday)

Two officers of the Philippine Army who are implicated in the 2003 Oakwood mutiny are reportedly being tortured mentally by their custodians for them to turn against their alleged coddlers while they were on the run almost a year ago from government hands.

According to their wives, 1st Lieutenant Sonny Sarmiento and 2nd Lt. Aldrin Baldonado have been locked up in solitary confinement at the Army’s Intelligence Security Group (ISG) Compound since their re-arrest in July last year.

“He lost a lot of weight and has turned pale. He is weak,” Venus Sarmiento said of her husband in a phone interview with Defense reporters Wednesday.

Wilma Baldonado said the same of her husband in a separate interview.

The two wives claimed that their husbands are being pressured into signing an affidavit that would point to certain personalities as their coddlers while they were hiding from authorities from January until July 2006.

Sarmiento and Baldonado were among those arrested at a townhouse in Quezon City last July 7, 2006. Sarmiento was among four Magdalo officers who escaped on January 17, 2006 from their detention cell in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, while Baldonado went on Absence Without Official Leave (AWOL) in the same month.

Their wives claimed that the two are being forced to sign a statement prepared by the Philippine Army leadership that would implicate personalities from the political opposition in their escape and being fugitives last year.

They said that when Sarmiento and Baldonado manifested their intention to sign the document in November last year, the treatment on them suddenly changed – they were served more delicious viands, and they were allowed to see the sun.

But when they changed their minds, the treatment became harsh again.

“My husband did not sign it because he was thinking about our family, that those personalities he would implicate might get back on us,” said Mrs. Baldonado.

The wives said that apparently, their husbands are being groomed to follow what 1Lt. Lawrence San Juan, a fellow Magdalo officer, did on July 14, 2006 when he turned against his fellow mutineers.

San Juan was with Sarmiento when the latter escaped in January last year. He was re-arrested a month later in Batangas, after allegedly meeting with communist rebels to forge a plan to overthrow the Arroyo government.

“If possible, they be removed from their present detention,” Mrs. Baldonado appealed.

Sought for comment, Army spokesman Maj. Ernesto Torres, Jr. told reporters in a phone interview that there is no “solitary confinement” at the Army headquarters, denying the wives’ claim.

“They are not in solitary confinement. They are being treated well, according to their rights,” Torres said, adding that the mutineers are being held at the Custodial Management Unit of the Army headquarters.

He said he has no knowledge about the alleged affidavit for signing, and referred the matter to the Department of Justice and the National Bureau of Investigation.

“The role of the Army is only for their custody,” Torres said.

Both Sarmiento and Baldonado are facing criminal charges at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court for having in their possession last July 7, 2006 a number of firearms and explosives.

Sarmiento is also among the 29 officers and two enlisted personnel being tried at the Makati City Regional Trial Court on coup d’ etat charges stemming from the Oakwood mutiny. He is facing being tried at the General Court Martial for the same activities./DMS