18 April 2008
LEGAZPI CITY—SURVIVING WHAT COULD have been another extrajudicial slaying, former Bayan Muna Albay coordinator Noel Samar, 33, who was abducted by suspected soldiers Tuesday, was dropped off on a highway in Guinobatan, Albay Wednesday by his abductors, who even gave him P100 “so he can take a ride home.”
Vic Mirafuentes, spokesperson of human rights group Karapatan in Albay, said Thursday that Samar was released in Barangay Banao blindfolded, with no traces of physical torture but in a state of shock.
After his release, Samar refused to be interviewed for security reasons, Mirafuentes added.
The victim’s wife, though, Rogelyn Samar, 30, tagged the military as responsible for the abduction, quoting eyewitnesses in the neighborhood, prior to her husband’s release.
Rogelyn told the Inquirer earlier that the family will file a writ of amparo if her husband was not surfaced in two days.
Mirafuentes said the presence of witnesses, the support of militant groups for the victim’s family, and media coverage could have been important factors in Samar’s release.
Samar was an active leader of the League of Filipino Students and became a Bayan Muna coordinator for Albay in 2001.
He was abducted by eight to nine armed men while tending his retail store in Barangay Layon, Ligao City.
Rogelyn said that, according to witnesses, two men with closely cropped hair were seen buying soft drinks from her husband.
She said the same men grabbed Samar and hit him in the head with a .45 cal. pistol.
She added that when her husband lost consciousness, he was handcuffed and carried to an L-300 white Mitsubishi van that fled while being followed by two motorcycles. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
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