There are More Melissas and Maitas

BAYAN CANADA, the alliance of progressive Filipino organizations in Canada, is following closely the developments in the Melissa Roxas case. Philippine-born U.S. citizen Melissa Roxas was abducted, tortured and unjustly detained by military agents last May 19, 2009 in the Philippines until international pressure to surface her led to her release after six harrowing days. We are also following Melissa's appearances before the Philippine government House Committee of Human Rights, the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) and the Philippine Court of Appeals for the Writ of Amparo.

The Melissa Roxas case is of grave concern to us here in Canada because what happened to her is a crime and that those guilty of the crime need to be punished, and punished severely. We are doubly troubled because of the reference to the Canadian citizens and the Canadian government. Melissa stated in her affidavit that one of her interrogators was “asking me what was my position in the organization and I was not answering and he told me, “akala mo ba may magagawa ang Canadian Government sa iyo? [translation ours: Do you think the Canadian government can do anything for you?]" and he called me, “Maita" and I told him that I was not Maita.” [Point 26 in the Affidavit of Melissa Roxas, May 29, 2009].

BAYAN CANADA is concerned because of the brazenness of the statements that revealed the interrogator(s) assumed (and mistaken) information that the woman they were torturing and interrogating was a Canadian citizen. Full of themselves and confident that Melissa may not survive her ordeal, they did not realize that these statements and their criminal acts were recorded in Melissa's mind and are now part of her affidavit, a public document for everyone to read and to remember that torture is an unwritten official policy of the Philippine military. We have every reason to believe that the same abusive interrogation of Melissa at the hands of the military would have been meted out to this Canadian citizen.