State forces are relentlessly harassing the relatives of farmer Rico Endrinal, a resident of Barangay Sugod, Lopez, Quezon, according to the human rights group Tanggol Quezon. This was after the 85th IB and police elements arrested him on April 6 for still unclear reasons.

According to Tanggol Quezon, a few days after the arrest, soldiers have ceaselessly surveilled, intimidated, and threatened Endrinal’s family. The group added that the soldies “virtually encamped at their house for several days after Endrinal was arrested.”

“What I am really asking is for them (the military) to leave my family alone and allow us to live peacefully as we harm no one,” Endrinal’s brother Eduardo Noriesta said in an interview with the group.

The family was threatened with rebellion charges and was prohibited from communicating with human rights groups, particularly Tanggol Quezon and Karapatan.

“Leave us alone, I am already fed up,” Noriesta appealed to the soldiers.

The group also reported that the police have been transferring Endrinal from one detention facility to another. On April 9, when the humanitarian team and Endrinal’s relatives went to the Lopez Municipal Police Station, the police said the victim had been brought to Quezon District Jail.

“As his family, we should have been informed before they transferred our uncle. We do not know now where to go. Where do we search now, where do we go?” said Isel Noriesta, Endrinal’s niece.

“The victim was transferred without notice to the family. The court order supposedly proving proper protocols for the transfer was also not shown to the family and paralegal, according to the group. It added that the family is worried about the transfers because he could be subjected to mental torture, which they say is always done to political detainees.

Endrinal’s relatives are calling for the soldiers and police who violated their rights be held accountable. The intensifying militarization in their town brought them extreme fear and anxiety.

Isel’s call to fellow victims of human rights violations: “if you can seek justice for your relatives who are experiencing violence, fight for it because we all have rights.”