Rose Anne, Fatima Gumanoy still with military - Karapatan

MANILA, Philippines - Human rights group Karapatan on Monday night said Rose Anne and Fatima Gumanoy - daughters of peasant leader who was killed in April 2003 - are still in military custody as of posting time. In an action alert, Karapatan said the military continues to refuse to release of the two to their mother. Maria. The Philippine Army earlier announced that it will released to the two to the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The Army claimed that they are not forcing the sisters to stay at the army hospital or to remain in tis custody. Karapatan had earlier alleged that the military abducted the two, an accusation denied by the military. Rose and Fatima were reported missing on the morning of July 3, 2008 after they set out to meet their mother Maria in a mall in Alabang, Muntinlupa, south of Manila. They failed to reach their destination and instead sent an SMS (short message system) to their mother that they have been taken by soldiers. Mrs. Maria Gumanoy immediately sought the help of Karapatan-Southern Tagalog (ST) to search for her daughters. On July 4, Karapatan sent a team to the office of the Intelligence Services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP). The ISAFP denied that the military has custody of Rose Anne and Fatima. The team also reported the incident and filed a police blotter report to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police (CIDG-PNP) in Camp Crame in Quezon City. In the afternoon of the same day, Philippine Army spokesperson Col. Ernesto Torres issued a statement denying the abduction of the Gumanoy sisters. He however admitted that the two women are with them but refused to reveal the their whereabouts. The military said that Rose Anne had sought voluntary custody from the military because they were afraid of Karapatan. On July 5, after obtaining information on the whereabouts of her daughters, Maria and the QRT went to the Philippine Army Hospital in Fort Bonifacio where she was able to see her daughters, along with her cousin Emily Abalos. Before she was able to see her daughters, she said the soldiers subjected her to a body search. Karapatan said that during the visit, the Gumanoys were tightly guarded by the soldiers and that the mother and daughters were not given the chance to talk on their own. Karapatan said that when Maria asked her daughters if it was true that they were seeking refuge with the military, a woman soldier by the name of Weng Arcel answered Maria's questions for Fatima. She tried to take Fatima with her but a military doctor who refused to give her name, prevented Fatima from going with her mother, saying that she is under observation for urinary tract infection (UTI). Maria insisted that she would be the one to have her daughter treated and with a doctor of their own choice. The next day, the same doctor told Maria that Fatima contracted German measles. - GMANews.TV