Episcopal Press and News
Army Unit Harasses Philippine Churchmen
Episcopal News Service. April 11, 1985 [85078]
BONTOC, The Philippines (DPS, April 11) -- Bishop Robert Longid of the Episcopal Diocese of the Northern Philippines, has protested a raid and search conducted by the military at the St. Alfred's Mission in Tambuan, Besao, last January.
Longid sent his protest to Lt. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, acting Armed Forces chief of staff. The Army has denied that the incidents took place.
Longid filed the protest after a Church investigation compiled statements from a number of people involved, including a priest and deacon who were at the center of the harassment.
In its report, the Church team noted the following:
"On Jan. 14, 1985, soldiers began conducting a search at the rectory of St. Alfred's mission. The search was made without a valid search warrant.
"The search was not completed when the Rev. Albert Sapaen, the priest-in-charge of the mission, and the Rev. Gavino Mamilig, a deacon, protested. The soldiers stopped the search, but they posted guards in the rectory from Jan. 14-18. Soldiers also slept in the rectory for four nights, and Sapaen and Mamilig were placed under close surveillance.
"On the morning of Jan. 18th, the soldiers brought their camping and cooking materials to the rectory. The Fact Finding Team from the diocese prevented the soldiers from making the rectory as their detachment camp. The soldiers left the premises of the church rectory the night of Jan. 18th.
"On Jan. 19th, for yet unknown reasons, a certain Sgt. Canias almost shot Mamilig. Fortunately, Mamilig deflected the automatic weapon, which burst in the other direction."
Later during the week, 67 houses of Tambuan were also entered and searched, the bishop reported.
The soldiers detained five young men, including one who was held for over 36 hours, he said.
The search was reportedly conducted by men of the First GHQ battalion. The reports submitted by the Church contained full statements from the clerics, including verbatim accounts of their conversations with the officers and non-commissioned officers involved.
The military unit reportedly branded the church's young people's Christian Fellowship a "subversive organization."