PRESS STATEMENT –
10 March 20
Reference: Lovella de Castro, Secretary
General (Mobile No: 0920-918-2174)
Another case why US troops must not be in
the country?
The government must investigate mysterious
death of Gregan Cardeño in the barracks of U.S. troops in a military
camp in Marawi City
Human rights alliance Karapatan, Kawagib Moro
Human Rights Center and other human rights organizations in
Mindanao, which formed the “Justice for Gregan Cardeño Movement,”
supports the quest for justice of the family of the 33 year-old
Gregan Cardeño, who died under mysterious circumstances on February
2, barely two days after being hired as an interpreter for US troops
under the Joint Special Operations Task Force (JSOTF)-Balikatan in
Camp Ranao, Datu Saber, Marawi City, home of the 103rd Brigade of
the Philippine Army.
Gregan Cardeño, a family man from Ipil,
Zamboanga, applied as an interpreter for the US forces with the
contracting company which hire employees for the troops in Zamboanga
He and his family were very happy that he would have a job that will
earn money for the family.
On February 1, his wife, Myrna, even
accompanied him to the Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga City,
where Gregan was airlifted with three American soldiers, supposedly
to Cotabato City then to his place of assignment in Camp Siongco,
Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat Municipality, Maguindanao.
Two days later, Myra Cardeño claimed her
husband’s body in La Merced Memorial homes in Zamboanga City. Gregan
Cardeño allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself, midnight of
February 2, 2010.
The Cardeño family does not believe that
Gregan committed suicide because the victim had a conversation to
his wife and sister prior to the incident, and he confessed that he
was not brought to Cotabato, but to Marawi City instead, and that
what he was asked to do when he arrived in the U.S. barracks at the
103rd Brigade, PA is inconsistent with the nature of the work that
he signed up for. The family also finds the report of Philippine
police and U.S. troops dubious, because of the wounds they saw on
Gregan’s remains during autopsy.
Based on the following findings of the
fact-finding mission conducted on March 2 to 5, Karapatan, Kawagib
and Inpeace-Zamboanga, human rights advocates of Justice for Gregan
Cardeño Movement, are prompted to conclude that there is foul play
that led to the death of Gregan Cardeño:
1. The lack of investigation, and the
immediate recognition of the US troops on the motive as suicide,
despite the fact that they have been trained with the basics and may
even have experience in more sophisticated forms of investigation.
They did not even secure the crime scene and allowed contamination
of the place where Cardeño’s body was found.
2. The police
concurred with the US troops by immediately concluding that
Cardeño’s death resulted from suicide without adequate and proper
investigation.
3. Material
evidence to the case were deliberately destroyed, apparent to
Gregan’s mobile phone emptied of its contents – phonebook directory,
incoming or sent messages, photos and call register – despite SPO3
Ali Guibon Rangiris even using the phone to contact a family member
on February 3, 2010 to report Gregan’s death; the bed sheet
allegedly used by the victim to hang himself was not in the police
custody.
4. The photos that
were taken by the police after Gregan’s body was recovered in the
crime scene showed that Gregan was wearing green shirt, maong pants
with his underwear partially shown, but when the cadaver was
delivered to the funeral home, it was already without a shirt and
only wearing a camouflaged cargo shorts.
5. Gregan
sustained puncture wounds on the right foot, on the left inner part
of the leg and on the upper right arm, which contradicts the initial
statement of SPO3 Ali Guibon Rangiris that there no defensive wounds
on the arms of the victims when he was found.
Based on these facts, Karapatan believes that
Gregan Cardeño is a victim of a heinous crime inside the barracks of
the U.S. troops. We are one with his family in calling for justice.
We call on our government to address this
incident, as this involves death of a Filipino under the employ of
U.S. forces, inside the barracks of the foreign troops and within a
Philippine military camp. We hope that this will not go like the
previous cases involving US troops.
We call upon the Philippine government to
conduct a thorough investigation, and to help the Cardeño family in
their quest for justice. ###
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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights
organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of
people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the
defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties. It
monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and
defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign. It
was established in 1995.
