I met two groups of Human Rights vigilantes today. The first were the bishops of the Catholic Church and the two representatives of the International Commission Jurists, Prof. John Humphrey and Mr. William Butler.
The meeting with the bishops was very demeaning to the church. Archbishop [Antonio] Mabutas presented a list of charges including “the demolition of churches” and “preventing the religious in ministering to their flock” but when I asked for names, time and place, he and Bishop [Joseph] Regan could not answer. They admitted they had merely heard it and they were not even sure from whom and where.
[Jaime] Cardinal Sin was apparently embarrassed specially when Bishop [Jesus] Varela started asking political questions on the regional government he abruptly stood up, said “Please excuse me Mr. President, I have another appointment,” shook my hand turned around and left without saying anything to his companions.
The two Americans were, as usual, curious about process (the SPI, Summary Preliminary Investigations) delays in trial mostly in Davao and Cebu and some cases of torture.
I ordered the lists of those without SPI to be revealed and for a SPI to be immediately given them as fast as possible.
Prof. Humphrey asked “Would you consider the release of student leaders a security risk?”
So we gave a short outline of the studentry reorganizing the New Communist Party of the Philippines and how the communists’ leaders in Asia were mostly students, the number of times the students released from custody had turned against the government. Example—Salak, the new leader of the New People’s Army. He was released twice from custody. The chairman of the Communist Party, Jose Maria Sison, was a student leader (a perennial student leader, in fact) who had been caught in several illegal and violent demonstrations.
“’Our experience with student leaders we released has been sad,” I answered.
No Official Gazette entry for this day.