Freed POW Could Have Faced People's Court
Army lieutenant denied charges of massacre, sexual abuse

In his nearly six months of NPA captivity, 1Lt. Ronaldo A. Fedelino had to defend himself against charges of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” filed against him by the NPA based, according to them, on accounts of victims or their surviving kin as well as witnesses in Bicol. The Army officer would have faced a “people’s court” and a possible sentence had not the NDFP signed his release order and that of a fellow POW.

By Dabet Castañeda
Bulatlat  

SOMEWHERE IN CAMARINES SUR – Released NPA prisoner of war (POW) 1Lt. Ronaldo A. Fedelino was charged with committing a massacre and other human rights violations by his captors under the Romulo Jallores Command (RJC) and the Nerissa San Juan Command (NSJC) in Bicol. He would have been brought to an NPA people’s court but was released on “humanitarian grounds,” along with fellow POW, Pfc. Ronel Nemeño.   Fedelino, with the NPA custodial team, on his way to freedom.

Bulatlat learned about this through an exclusive interview with Ka (comrade) Russel, head of the NPA custodial team, with supporting papers before the two POWs’ actual release hours later. The charges, according to the documents, were all based on complaints of victims and other eyewitnesses in the barangays where Fedelino and his men conducted counter-insurgency operations.

No charges were filed against the other POW, Pfc. Nemeño.

The charges against Fedelino remain in effect and, Ka Russel said, the Army officer will certainly face trial if caught again in active duty. 

In the release order he issued, Luis Jalandoni, chief of the NDFP negotiating peace panel who is presently in the country, said the charges against Fedelino “will suspend or supersede the judicial proceedings against him.” The order was signed Aug. 11 in The Netherlands.

Both Fedelino and Nemeño were released to the custody of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in a remote upland town in Camarines Sur on Aug. 18 before they were finally turned over to the government hours later in Presentacion town, same province.

Denies charges

Fedelino, who was also interviewed by Bulatlat, denied all the charges. But he apologized over an incident that happened on Feb. 4 this year in Barangay Puting Baybay, San Andres, Catanduanes province. In the incident, Fedelino acted as team leader of the 50-man Special Operations Team (SOT) who, according to the written charge, “conducted illegal search on 38 households” in the barangay.

In his own five-page hand-written defense statement presented to the NPA regional command June 20, Fedelino apologized to the villagers for what the residents could have perceived as “harassment.”

“Paumanhin po sa inyong lahat” (I’m sorry to all of you).

Cases vs Fedelino

In a written indictment, a copy of which was obtained by Bulatlat, the Bicol Regional Operational Command-RJC stated that Fedelino, team leader of the Charlie Company, 42nd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) and who had continuously served the Philippine Army (PA) for three years, “committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

The NSJC said it received complaints arising from the Feb. 4 harassment case. The charge sheet said that Fedelino and his team “committed robbery, indiscriminate firing, threats and harassment.” In the same incident, the SOT led by Fedelino, said the NSJC, committed “acts of child abuse and physical and psychological torture” against a 12-year old boy and “sexual abuse and harassment” against two women, one of them a nursing mother.

A major charge, which Fedelino denied in his defense, involved the massacre of three villagers which Fedelino and his team reportedly committed in a military operation in Barangay Cabanbanan, in the town of Balatan, Camarines Sur July 29. The three were identified as Bernie Ani, Amador San Fuego and Felix Pardines.

In the same operation, a certain Beverly Ani was wounded by the soldiers’ indiscriminate firing.  Fedelino and his SOT were also charged with “harassment with physical injury and verbal assault.”

In their separate charges, the two NPA commands stated that the SOT’s military operations resulted in, among others, “economic dislocation and destruction of the people’s livelihood, inhumane and cruel treatment of the masses, arbitrary assaults on the rights, dignity and property and persons of civilians.” 

Signing the separate indictments were “Ramona Caceres” representing the RJC and a certain “Theresa Magtanggol” representing the NSJC on April 30 and March 29, respectively. The documents also bore the signature of Fedelino.

Copies of the charges were furnished government through Gen. Narciso Abaya, chief of staff of the AFP.

Defense

Fedelino was given a chance to defend himself, Ka Russel told Bulatlat. As regards the July 29 “massacre,” Fedelino denied being part of the operating team because, in his own written words, “he was busy preparing his papers for his promotion.”

He admitted though that he and his men were tasked to look into the incident at noon of the same day.  Reaching Barangay Cabanbanan, he said he saw a certain Police Captain Casida and the town mayor Balatan.  He only asked a report from the PNP, he said in his statement.

On the Feb. 4 incident, Fedelino admitted he and his team passed by the Puting Baybay. On board a six-by-six truck, his team waited for a group of Scout Rangers who operated in the village.

He said his team approached the village officials to ask about “subversive documents” the Scout Rangers supposedly confiscated. His team stayed longer in the village and asked the villagers to cook food. 

The cases were filed before the “people’s court” two months after Fedelino and Nemeño were captured during an ambush by the RJC on March 1 in Barangay Tamban, Tinambac, Camarines Sur.

Nemeño (left), a vocalist of the 42^nd IB PA band, thanks the Romullo Jallores Command of the NPA (in formation, right) for treating them well.  

Humane treatment

“Hindi nila kami sinaktan, pinakain nila kami” (They did not harm us, they fed us) Fedelino said when asked about his captors’ treatment.

In the first interview with a daily, both Fedelino and Nemeño admitted they were treated humanely by their NPA captors. But talking to reporters the night after their release at Camp Villamor, Pasay, Fedelino said he only made the “admission” under “pressure”.

In the Bulatlat interview, Fedelino admitted that for a few times, he thought of escaping but with his close-in security always on their toes, he soon realized that it would have been dangerous to do so. 

“When you are captured, your tendency is always to escape,” he said.

It was difficult to admit he was being held by his enemies but said he was happy and grateful that his captors treated him “like a human being” despite their ideological differences. 

During the ceremony held in an NPA camp before the two POWs were released to the ICRC, Ka Russel congratulated the 19-man custodial force for upholding the rights of POWs in accordance with the principles of international humanitarian law and Protocol I and II of the Geneva Conventions and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAHRIHL), the human rights agreement signed between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in 1998. 

“Farewell”

With a guitar, Fedelino rendered a song, “Farewell,” to his captors. Nemeño sang “I’ll Never Cry.”

Of the two POWs, Fedelino was more disappointed when their release did not push through on Aug. 7, Ka Russel said.  “Bakit ayaw nilang sumunod sa SOMO?  Palibhasa yang mga general na yan hindi nila alam ang damdamin namin na nasa field” (Why won’t they follow the SOMO orders? Those generals don’t know how it is in the field), Ka Russel quoted Fedelino as saying.

Welcoming their release were the two POWs’ wives and families. With them were Silvestre Bello III, chief of the government peace panel; Ed Pamintuan, newly-designated presidential adviser for constituencies Ed Pamintuan; and Rep. Rolando Andaya, Jr. who brokered the release. Bulatlat  ALL PHOTOS By Dabet Castañeda

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