Moro activist deported by US gov’t seeks DFA help

A Moro human rights activist who was summarily deported by the US government last week has asked Foreign Secretary Alan Cayetano to protest against his inhumane interrogation by authorities at the San Francisco International Airport.

Jerome Aba, 25, national chair and co-chair of the Moro groups Suara Bangsamoro and Sandugo, respectively, also asked Cayetano to hold the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco accountable for not coming to his aid.

Aba said his interrogators from the US Department of Homeland Security and the US Customs and Border Protection wanted him to admit to being a “terrorist” and a “communist.”

During his 28-hour detention, he said he was handcuffed, denied his right to call a lawyer, ordered to strip naked and afterwards forced to sign a blank paper saying he was not tortured. —Dona Z. Pazzibugan