Student Abducted and Tortured: Another Victim of Oplan Bantay Laya?

Last September 8 2010, a 20 year-old Education student at Cebu Institute of Technology, Elke Bacalso, was abducted by two unidentified men. He surfaced after two days of being tortured allegedly by military intelligence agents.

If not for the efforts and quick response of his relatives and the concerned, who know what else could have happened to Bacalso.

So what really happened?

Bacalso was under surveillance even before he was abducted. He noticed unidentified men following him around and even waiting for him outside his school campus. Before September 8, there was already an attempt to abduct Bacalso but he managed to free himself.

After his successful abduction on September 8, he was interrogated and tortured physically and psychologically. After he surfaced, Bacalso was very much traumatized by what happened.

The lingering question here is, "why?" What exactly do these military intelligences need with this innocent boy? What does this continuing abductions and killings imply? With the extension of Oplan Bantay laya under President Benigno Aquino III's adminstration, when will the people of the Philippines ever feel safe?

Why am I asking all these questions? It is because, what happened was just a mystery for me. First of all, Bacalso is not even an activist to start with. Is it because he campaigned for Kabataan Partlist during the 2010 elections? Or is it because he was the son of a former political detainee?

“As long as counterinsurgency programs like Oplan Bantay Laya are being implemented, extrajudicial killings, illegal arrests and torture by state agents are bound to continue. We condemn the continuing spate of human rights violations. We call on Pres. Aquino to immediately withdraw the Oplan Bantay Laya, to punish the perpetrators and to render justice for all victims of human rights violations,” Fr. Dionito Cabillas, Selda national secretary general, said.

- http://www.bulatlat.com/