Sunday, December 10, 2006

Footloose punks become rights martyrs
By Tomi Uysingco, The Manila Times School of Journalism

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/dec/10/yehey/top_stories/20061210to0p3.html


I’m a sometime volunteer of Food Not Bombs, a vegetarian antiwar group
set to feed the hungry of the city. The FNB, as we call it, was founded
in the United States and soon sprouted many chapters around the world,
particularly here in the Philippines. Most advocates are from the punk
community. They sport tattoos, wear black outfits and listen to heavy
metal music. But this is not about me nor is it about the FNB; this is
about the FNB comrades who we call the “Sagada 11.”

On February 14, Valentine’s Day, 11 punks—who are regular Food Not Bombs
volunteers—were hitchhiking from Buguias to Sagada, Mountain Province,
after a gig in Tarlac when police stopped their vehicle.

The police arrested them without warrants and brought them to Camp
Molintas in Abatan, a barangay of Buguias. There, they learned that New
People’s Army (NPA) rebels had attacked a military outpost in Cabiten,
Mankayan, on February 10.

The punks found themselves of being part of the rebel team. They
initially denied involvement. But torture, including suffocation,
electrocution, submersion in water and simulated executions sapped their
will and forced them to “confess.”

Follow the above link for the rest of the story.