Military Deployments in Rizal, Leyte 
Trigger New Spate of Killings

As both chambers of Congress opened their probe on the recent Oriental Mindoro killings, other reports sent by human rights groups reveal other cases of violence perpetrated against activists and suspected leftist guerrillas in other provinces. As in Mindoro, the reports revealed military and paramilitary groups were involved.

BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN
Bulatlat.com

After the reported involvement of the 204^th Infantry Battalion (IB) in human rights violations in Oriental Mindoro, of which Col. Jovito Palparan used to be the commanding officer, cause-oriented groups worry that the transfer of Col. Jovito Palparan – who headed the 204^th IB – to Rizal would instill more fear among the people in the province. Just like Oriental Mindoro, Rizal is under the military jurisdiction of what human rights groups allege as equally notorious - the 1^st IB.

Their fears were not without reason. On May – during the week of Palparan’s reassignment in Rizal – 35-year-old Abner Nario was killed in Antipolo City just south of Manila.

Nario, the chief tanod (barangay security) in San Joseph, San Jose, Antipolo City was fatally shot in the nape with the bullet exiting through his left cheek. He was shot allegedly by members of the Citizens’ Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) which is under the 1^st Infantry Battalion (IB) of Task Force Makiling.

Gloria, Nario’s wife, recalled that she heard the Cafgu men ordering her husband to come out for questioning. As it was almost midnight, Nario told them to come back at daybreak and turned around. The next thing Gloria heard of was a gunfire, followed by the fall of a heavy object. Terrified, she hid herself and waited for the Cafgu men to leave before verifying what happened. Only then did she saw her husband lying with blood oozing from his nape.

Gloria also said that military men had been frequenting their house and everytime he was questioned of his alleged connection with the New People’s Army (NPA).

With the incident happening at the time of Palparan’s transfer in Rizal, Rev. Armando Perez, chair of the human rights alliance Karapatan  in Rizal, expressed fears that human rights violations in the province will rise similar to what transpired in Oriental Mindoro. He also denounced cases of military atrocities under the watch of Col. Efren Orbon, commanding officer of the 1st IB.

Palparan is under investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation and Congress for his alleged role in the April 22 abduction-summary execution of Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy by military men in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro. Marcellana was the secretary-general of Karapatan-Mindoro while Gumanoy, who stood by Marcella till her death, was the chair of peasant group, Kasama-TK.

Holy Week massacre

Before the recent spate of abductions and summary executions in Mindoro, a massacre resulting in the death of nine, including a three-month pregnant woman and a 13-year old boy, shocked the residents of Sitio Mahayahay, Barangay San Isidro, Kananga, Leyte one Holy Wednesday morning of April 16.

The victims, a report from Karapatan said, were: Eugenio Tazan, 54, married with three children, former barangay councilor of San Isidro, and chair of local peasant organization San Isidro Small Farmers Association (SISFA); Rowena Superior, 24, married and three-months pregnant at the time of incident, of Sitio Hilongo, Barangay Libongao, and a member of Bagalungon Small Farmers Association (BASFA); Anakbayan members Obet Quidlat, 16, Benjie Cabugoy, 17, Randy Potoy, 15, and Rey Corpin, 13, son of the treasurer of the Alyansa sa Mag-uuma ug Mamumuo (AMAMO) in Sitio Bagalungon, Poblacion. Corpin just graduated from his elementary grades last April 12.

Also killed were Teofilo Sumaya, Jr., 24, of Barangay Cogon, Ormoc City, Joe Cosenillo, and one identified as Louie/Mickey of Sitio Tabla, Barangay Guintiguian, Ormoc City. The three were suspected as members of the NPA.

Lt. Col. Oscar Lactao, commanding officer of the 19th IB based at Barangay Aguiting, Kananga, Leyte, said his men chanced upon a group of armed men while on regular patrol early morning of April 16 in Mahayahay. His men, he also said, recovered weapons, hand grenades and subversive documents, among other items.  

Based on the Karapatan report, farmers in Sitio Mahayahay, San Isidro recalled that it was about 5 a.m. when they heard gunshots. Most of the families in the area, including a certain Allan Collarte’s, fled to the neighboring village in fear of stray bullets.

While Collarte was talking to two neighbors, Roy Collarte and Mateo “Bebe” Tequilla, about the gunfire they heard, one of the three soldiers in the ricefield reportedly shouted, “Intercept them because they are their companions,” while pointing his gun toward the farmers. Sensing danger, Allan and Roy ran away fast while the military men strafed them consuming about a full-load magazine. Unlike the two farmers who escaped unhurt, four single shots believed to have “silenced” a woman wailing, “Sir don’t!” in a nearby hill.

Unable to flee, Tequilla was interrogated at gunpoint. One of the soldiers spanked him and flicked his ear while a tall white-complexioned army man was asking him about the whereabouts of a certain NPA leader. Tequilla was then asked if he is a rebel while somebody hit him again in the back and in the abdomen.

At the alleged NPA camp at the foot of the hill, Tequilla heard several voices which came to him as coming from persons in pain, including a child. He also remembered several single shots fired thereafter.

That same day, a responding team from Barangay Bagabao saw nine bodies scattered in various parts of the hill.  Seven of the dead sustained fatal wounds in the head causing their skulls to crack and brain parts to ooze out.

Eyewitnesses who went to the scene, the Karapatan report said, also saw third-degree burns in various parts of some of the victims’ bodies. Both hands of all the victims were raised, signifying they were pleading for their lives.

Meanwhile, farmer Arestio Tazan, 29, vice-chair of San Isidro Small Farmers Association (SISFA) and nephew of Tazan, insisted that their chair. Eugenio Tazan, was not a member of the NPA.

Fact Finding Mission

Meanwhile, in the ongoing Congress hearings on the April 22 Oriental Mindoro killings, Edwin Alog, deputy secretary-general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Southern Tagalog (Bayan-ST) said he was not surprised when officials of the 204^th IB refused to submit their men for investigation.

Facing the House committee on justice and human rights last week, Colonel Palparan – wearing a star on his shoulder patch, indicating he has actually been promoted brigadier general - admitted that he considered Bayan, Bayan Muna, Karapatan and Gabriela among other organizations as political infrastructures of the NPA and the Communist Party of the Philippines. Palparan said that Bayan Muna is actually "helping in the expansion of the NPA" thus is considered an "enemy." 

Even Irein Cuasay, one of the witnesses, was regarded as a “problem” by Palparan when asked what he thought of her being the secretary general of Karapatan-Mindoro Oriental. Bulatlat.com

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