Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts

Volume 3,  Number 15              May 18 - 24, 2003            Quezon City, Philippines


 





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Cavite Farmer Killed in Police Hunt vs NPA; Two Others Held

First, the three farmers were paraded like “hunting trophies” and were fingered as NPA guerrillas around Maragondon. One of them was found dead later, his body sprayed with bullets and blasted with a grenade. The two others were detained without warrant.

By Alexander Martin Remollino
Bulatlat.com

They had been told that they were only going to be used as guides in military operations against guerrillas of the New People’s Army in their area.

But one of them, Melencio Gloriani, 50, would end up dead. The other two—Ronilo Pagao, 22; and Gerry Ciacos, would be arrested and detained—without warrants. They are all members of the Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka sa Kabite (Kamagsasaka-Ka), the Cavite chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.

Slay and capture

The shooting took place around 5:30 a.m. last May 9 in Sitio Kapantayan, Barangay Bucal, Maragondon.

Gloriani’s body was sprayed with bullets and blasted with a grenade. Not only that. Citing a report, KMP national office in Quezon City said the farmer’s house was ransacked by the perpetrators, who took P10,000 in cash, as well as food and other property.

Pagao and Ciacos were brought to Camp Pantaleon Garcia in Imus town, Cavite where they were detained until the evening of the next day.

It was also reported that the perpetrators had no nameplates. One of them, however, was identified as a retired police sergeant. The report states that the suspect aimed a gun at the victims.

In a statement, KMP said the three farmers had recently been paraded like “hunting trophies” around Maragondon and presented as “NPA members.”

Kamagsasasa-Ka says the perpetrators are from the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Unit of the Philippine National Police-Provincial Mobile Group and the Philippine Marines.

Condemnation

The murder of Gloriani and the arrests of Pagao and Ciacos have earned condemnation.

Gloriani’s daughter Anna Lyn, 23, who witnessed the incident demanded justice for her father. “We demand from the Macapagal-Arroyo government the immediate arrest and detention of my father’s killers,” she said. “They (perpetrators) are just in the government’s backyard.”

She described her father as “a good man...very dedicated to poor peasants’ demand for genuine land reform.”

KMP Chair Rafael Mariano said: “The intensifying killings and warrantless arrests against farmers in Southern Tagalog form part of the Macapagal-Arroyo government’s total war policy and its declaration of the region as a national priority in the counter-insurgency campaign.”

The peasant leader lambasted the Macapagal-Arroyo government for using the Southern Tagalog region “as a laboratory for its campaign of repression against the peasantry and the people.”

He added that what were done to Gloriani, Pagao, and Ciacos are part of a new counter-insurgency plan of the government called Oplan Bantay-Laya.

“Under the pretext of crushing rebels,” Mariano said, “Oplan Bantay-Laya aims to harass and violate the rights of civilians and farmers. The Macapagal-Arroyo government’s military and police are now aiming their guns against farmers in a desperate attempt to ‘deprive’ the revolutionary movement in the countryside of mass support.”

Mariano added that Oplan Bantay-Laya is just a rehash of past counter-insurgency drives, which were all aimed at civilians. “Oplan Bantay-Laya does not have any difference from past counter-insurgency campaigns, all of which were principally directed against farmers and civilians,” he noted. Bulatlat.com

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