“Where’s my son?”
A MOTHER’S PLEA
SAN CARLOS CITY—Defying an order by a judge, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office 1 did not present in court last December 9 the 17-year-old witness who recanted his statement in the murder case of Infanta mayor Ruperto Martinez.
The counsel of DSWD Field Office 1Director Marcelo Nicomedes Castillo told Presiding Judge Renato Pinlac of the Regional Trial Court San Carlos City Branch 57 that the witness, Jestin Aquino, is no longer in the custody of the DSWD Field Office 1 and is already in the custody of DSWD Metro Manila since December 3.
The boy’s mother and two siblings, who want custody of the minor, filed a writ of habeas corpus case against Castillo.
Jestin, who previously pointed to Governor Amado Espino Jr. and First District Representative Jesus “Boying” Celeste as among the masterminds in the killing of Martinez and later recanted his statement after running away from protective custody, was turned over to the provincial government by a local radio broadcaster on Nov. 27, 2013.
Thereafter, the provincial government transferred him to the custody of the Lingayen Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO).
Provincial Adminostrator Rafael Baraan, meanwhile, told the media on December 10 that since the Lingayen MSWDO lacks the appropriate facility for Jestin, the boy was again turned over, this time, to DSWD Field Office 1.
HE SAID, SHE SAID
Baraan also recalled that on Dec. 3, he asked DSWD Assistant Regional Director Marlene Peralta that Jestin’s mother, Esther, be allowed to talk or even just see her son.
“Peralta said that Jestin didn’t want to talk to his mother,” he added.
Baraan stressed, “the mother was deprived by the very agency that is supposed to understand the relationship between the mother and child.”
During the Dec. 9 hearing, the respondent’s counsel denied such allegation and claimed that it was the mother who refused to see her son.
Esther denied this saying,“Sino ba namang ina ang ayaw makita ang anak?”
Puzzled and worried over the turn of events, Esther has appealed to Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman to allow her to see her son and “provide him the love and care of home this Christmas.”
Further, Baraan said that before leaving DSWD on Dec. 3, he informed Peralta that the boy claims to have escaped protective custody because he was being maltreated.
“We were in good faith. We went home confident that she would keep Jestin…and that the boy would remain in her custody,” Baraan said, adding, “I’m going to look for an appropriate charge against the DSWD Field Office 1.”
Meanwhile, the judge ordered the respondent to submit a return of writ on Dec. 11, stating when, where, and under what authority the boy has been transferred.
Last Nov. 28, in a press conference after his escape from Camp Crame, Quezon City, Jestin said that he was threatened by Espino and Celeste’s political rivals — former Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza and Atty. Leonido “Bodie” Pulido — to make allegations implicating the two provincial officials along with Zambales Governor Hermogenes Ebdane in the killing of Martinez on Dec. 14, 2012.– Johanne R. Macob with report from PIO
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