4 Killed, 2 Abducted
in CL in 3 Days
BY BULATLAT
Posted 2:40 p.m., Aug. 17, 2006
Six victims in three
days.
In a span of two
days, four civilians in this region were felled by ski-masks wearing
gunmen believed to be elements of the military’s death squad while two
others were reported missing since Aug 14.
At about 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 16, Julie Vasquez, a village councilor of Barangay (village) Culong,
Guimba town, Nueva Ecija province (153 kms north of Manila), was shot four
times by gunmen while drinking coffee at a neighbor’s wake.
Roman Polintan,
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) chair in Central Luzon, said Vasquez
was killed a few meters away from the newly-set up detachment of the 71st
Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IB PA). Before his death,
Vasquez was tagged by the military as a former supporter of the New
People’s Army, Politan said.
The murder of Vasquez
was the fourth in the region in less than 48 hours. At around 6:30 a.m. of
the same day, another village councilor from Barangay Sukol, in the town
of Calumpit, province of Bulacan (48 kms north of Manila) was killed by
still unidentified men.
On Aug 15, two more
civilians were killed in the same province. Orlando Rivera, a fisherman
who campaigned against a dumpsite reeking pollution in their community,
was murdered inside his home in Barangay Binuangan in the town of Obando
at around 1 a.m.
Later at 9:30 a.m.,
Sydney Santos, was killed in Barangay Iba Este also in Calumpit.
Polintan said the
killing of de Leon and Santos are still being investigated by human rights
workers in the area.
Abduction
In the evening of
Aug. 14, two individuals were abducted in Barangay San Jose in the town
of Hagonoy, Bulacan province. Polintan said the families of Roderick John
Cruz, a 23-year old tricycle driver, and Marvin Verano, 28, reported to
Bayan that the two were forcibly taken from their homes allegedly by
soldiers.
X Marks
In Pampanga province,
Polintan said soldiers belonging to the 69th IB PA have been
putting X marks in front of the houses of activists in the town of
Mabalacat town (93 kms. North of Manila). Villagers Anding Alejaga, Boy
Garcia and Eman Salazar, all residents of Balaba Phase II, Purok 32,
Barangay Dau, now fear for their lives after soldiers marked their houses.
Meanwhile, the house
of Boy de Armas in Barangay Binuangan, Obando, Bulacan was also marked
with X allegedly by soldiers stationed in the village. A fisherman, De
Armas worked together with Rivera in the campaign against the dumpsite.
This recent series of
human rights violations came in the wake of the Philippine Army’s 7th
Infantry Division (ID) chief Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan’s pronouncements
that he will “cleanse” the region of “communists insurgents and their
supporters” before he retires on September 11.
Polintan said the
killings by death squads targets anybody suspected by the military to be
their enemy, “it doesn’t matter whether you’re an activist, a government
official, or an ordinary civilian.” Bulatlat
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