Press statement

By the legal defense team of the PILC and NUPL

31 March 2014
Re shameless exploitation of the cats and dogs allegedly owned by the Tiamzons:
While the turnover of the two puppies and one kitten from the CentComm to an animal NGO in
Cebu appears to be a small source of comfort, there is no assuaging the grief caused by the
militarys shameless exploitation of cats and dogs in its propaganda war against the Tiamzons.
We share in the distress of actual pet owner Arlene Panea, the 25-year old caregiver of Wilma
Tiamzon, as her pets are endlessly dragged in the fray and used to portray the alleged excesses of
the Tiamzon spouses. The dogs Jumbok, Whitney, Luffy, Bonbon, Nimbus, Charcoal, Moshi and
the cats Goji ,Hattdu, Champoy, and Pandoy are gifts from friends and have been Arlenes family
for over a year now, and have been showered with love and attention, not with expensive pet food
and accoutrements as the military maliciously depicts in the media.
Worse, the military is nothing short of duplicitous when it has continually failed to account for
Charcoal, a black female mix shihtzu-daschund puppy, who was also in the car with Arlene when
she was illegally arrested last week. This warrants not only anguish but anger and indignation at
the cavalier treatment of the cats and dogs as things you can mercilessly move about, toy around
with, or nay, take and steal.
How one treats those who can least defend themselves animals, children, elders, pregnant
women is a badge of humanity, something which the military has yet to show it possesses as it
persists in persecuting those who do try to defend themselves.#
REFERENCES:
Rachel Pastores
Managing Counsel
Public Interest Law Center (PILC)
+639279219539
Edre U. Olalia
Secretary General
National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL)
+639175113373
Ian Manticajon
Lawyer in Cebu
+639173195687