Appointment of Lina Castillo-Sarmiento: “An Insult To The Victims of Martial Law”

The streets of Malacañang have been riddled with cries for justice that echo through from the dark days of Martial Law. It was as if the cold blood of those who had fallen to the Marcos regime had coursed through the indignant citizens of today, turning it into steam that tries to rectify the seemingly yellow-riddled irony of the government.

The Marcos regime proved to be covered in controversy, most of which were not completely revealed to the public. In fact, the ruling of Martial Law is said to involve some of the most heinous and gruesome abuses of human rights. Today, many of those who had fallen to these unfortunate events have not been properly compensated and cared for by the government. To add to the already painful blow, President Benigno Aquino III had made the decision to appoint police general Lina Castillo-Sarmiento as chairperson of the Martial Law Victims Claims Board. Contentiously linked to the Philippine Constabulary, a body that is notoriously linked to some of the gravest abuses of human rights during the time of Martial Law, Sarmiento stands in a pool of controversy that many have openly called out. This has roused a great deal of anger and hostility amongst certain members of the government and many antagonized citizens. The mere decision of President Aquino to appoint someone from a group that is very well known as human rights violators sends out a completely wrong message to those who had been victimized and also somehow lionizes the victimizers.

Sarmiento also lacks sufficient proof of proper qualifications as head of the Law Victims Claims Board. Having joined the police force in 1980, and even having headed Human Rights Affair Office (HRAO) later on, many questions still remain unanswered as to concrete actions Sarmiento has ever taken to further anything towards the direction of human rights.

Aside from the retired police general being heavily unqualified for the position, cries from the petitioners have repeatedly been voiced out to Aquino and his government. Former Bayan Muna Representative, Rep. Satur Ocampo, was one of the petitioners that made sure his thoughts were clearly voiced out. Rep. Ocampo, along with members of the Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detention at Aresto (SELDA), had filed a petition for certiorari at the Supreme Court in order to intensify their grief towards the questionable decision of Aquino to place Sarmiento in command.

The petition stated, “By appointing a former police general to head the Human Rights Claims Board, the President is practically exonerating the entire system that perpetrated the abuses, justified their occurrence, and concealed them with a veneer of impunity.” The petition continued to highlight the lack of qualification of the retired police general including the idea that when she headed the HRAO she, “became part of the machinery, which ‘attempted to deodorize the stench of the internationally condemned cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.”

Sarmiento has also been continually grilled for wrongfully handling the Renante Romagus case, a farmer who was allegedly stabbed, tortured and left dead in the area of the Compostela Valley province. Sarmiento, instead of furthering the investigation, dismissed these actions and completely blamed the victim for not being able to provide sufficient evidence to defend his case.

Sarmiento has also been known to have meddled with certain scandalous affairs of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The extra-judicial killings and numerous disappearances that were said to have occurred during the Arroyo administration have often been brushed off and Sarmiento boldly defended the president and exonerated her actions.

The administration of President Benigno Aquino III seems to have followed in the footsteps of his infamous predecessors by not being able to properly address the situation, one that unfolds as an irony to what his late father, Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. was morally against. Although President Aquino always tried to be about positive change and the nationwide clamor for it, his choice of leadership for the compensation board and lack of care and justice for the victims of Martial Law, has pushed them further behind in any sign of progress moving forward.

With an overwhelming count of about 10,000 people who were regrettably victimized by the apparent abuses of Martial Law, many today continue to feel the waves of pain and suffering those dark times have brought about. The fight for justice continues as more and more are exposed to the tragic occurrences and the unfortunate failure of the current government to dispense appropriate action and heal the wounds of the past. As Rep. Satur Ocampo had fittingly stated, “We want to mark it in our history that never again shall we allow perpetrators of human rights violations go unpunished. Letting a Martial Law relic head the Human Rights Victims Claims Board is a betrayal of that purpose.”