This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 15, May 22-28, 2005
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Troops Force Manobos To Flee Andap Valley A
rights watch group reports of hundreds of Manobo families evacuating their
villages in Andap Valley, Surigao del Sur following relentless military
operations against the NPA.
By TYRONE VELEZ
Threatened to be shot "Eat up because you will
bring this with you in death!", Suazo recalled the soldiers' words as they
mocked him by shoving food at him. They threatened to shoot him and have his
brains scattered on the ground. When it was Payac's turn to
be interrogated, the soldiers hit him in the head and threatened him with a bolo
stab and whack in the body. Using a takong (lower part of the coconut
branch) as a whip, the soldiers forced him to lie face down on the ground, while
repeatedly threatening to kill him. Sumaya was pinned down too and punched in
the stomach. The soldiers scared him off by a whack of a bolo. Speaking to him in Tagalog,
the two soldiers, the poor farmer recalled, forced him to reveal the whereabouts
of NPA guerillas. Then he was made to take off his clothes. They pressed his
shoulders hard, twisted his arms behind his back, and poked the nozzles of their
guns on his chest and his sides. The farmer said he was brought to a group of 20
soldiers and was passed from one soldier to another for questioning. Even a minor was not spared
by the soldiers’ beatings, Karapatan said. A 17-year old farmer, Charlie Oclarit
of San Agustin, was also subjected to torture known as "dry submarine". This is
done by putting cellophane on the head to suffocate the victim in order to make
him yield to their questioning. According to Karapatan, two
other minors from Magkahunao in San Agustin, 17-year old Junrey Casil, and Ranly
Casil, only 13, were forced to act as guides for the soldiers. They were also
abused and beaten up by the soldiers, the two said. The following day, three
more farmers – Tony Tamparong, Fortun and his son JunJun - were reportedly
snatched by the military. The three were released later. His wife, 21-year old
Jessica, and his neighbors watched with horror as his body fell to the ground. A
bullet wound was found below his right ribcage. Reports from Karapatan said
that 1, 319 individuals or 181 families were cramped in the elementary school
and gymnasium in Diatagon in Lianga, while some 29 families or 173 individuals
evacuated to Caras-an in Tago. Some 57 families or more than 300 individuals
have evacuated to Buhisan in San Agustin, while 166 families had evacuated to
Marihatag. © 2004 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
First of two parts
Bulatlat
ANDAP VALLEY, Surigao del Sur - On April 28, residents of Diatagon in the town
of Lianga, Surigao del Sur in southern Philippines wondered what a convoy of 11
Army trucks would be doing in their area.
For nearly a decade, the Manobo residents of Lianga and nearby towns of San
Miguel, San Agustin, Marihatag, Tago, Tandag and Lanuza had thrived without
military operations as massive as the one that had come now.
On that day, three farmers in nearby Cagwait town were on their way to finish
their work in the coconut farm. None were able to do so as soldiers came and
seized them.
The three - Nicolas Suazo, Jessie Payac and Rogelio Sumaya - recounted to
Karapatan-Surigao del Sur the torture they underwent in the hands of the
soldiers of the 58th IB and 6th Scout Rangers. Plastic bags were stuffed over
their heads, their arms burned by cigarettes, and nozzles of guns poked on their
heads, they told the rights watchdog. The three were the first to fall into the
hands of the soldiers who swooped into the towns and villages of Andap Valley.
The three said they were interrogated by the soldiers on the whereabouts of New
People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas in the area. All of them were tortured, as they
could not give the answers the soldiers wanted.
The next day, Karapatan said, another farmer in another barrio of the same town
called Mam-on, Tubo-Tubo fell into the hands of the military men. Rene Boy
Guisando was tending to his rice paddy ready for harvest when two soldiers –
with no names on their uniforms except an Army patch - approached him.
Unable to answer their questions, the soldiers, he said, beat him with a rattan
stick and kicked him relentlessly. They dared him to run. He did not - he feared
he would be shot.
Minors not spared
As he was blindfolded and tied, Charlie said he could not remember how many
times his face was slapped by the soldiers. He was also made to lie prone on
the ground while a soldier mockingly sat on his back. The ordeal lasted for two
hours.
A family's ordeal
Junrey recalled that after being beaten several times he and Ranly were forced
to lead the military in their search operation. He was forced to carry a
kerosene container. The cover of the kerosene container was intentionally
removed by soldiers, he said, so that Junrey's skin got burned when the chemical
trickled on his bare skin.
Along with farmer Junrey Cata, 18, the brothers were brought to the forest where
they spent the night in the rain with the military. They endured the whole
night tied up to a tree without ever sitting or lying down, the three youths
told Karapatan.
On the next day, May 5, the military went on their hunt, with the three boys as
their guide. The boys said they were used as shields by the troops while they
went on tracking down the NPA guerrillas. The elder of the Casil brothers, whose
hands were still tied, was put on the first line. In the middle was Junrey Cata
and the youngest Ranly Casil was at the back. On the road, their captors
repeatedly pressured them to join the military and even told them they would
receive at least P5,000 a month.
With the Casil brothers held for two days by the military, their father and
three other relatives made a frantic search for them. They ended up in Casil's
house in Andap, Marihatag where the three stayed for the night with their
captors. The ordeal would have ended with the reunion of the family, but the
soldiers instead held the father Arnulfo and the three other relatives, namely,
Lolong Casil, Lowi Casil and Joel Amahan.
Bombings and villagers fleeing
Military operations escalated a few days later as soldiers resorted to bombings
and burning of houses, Karapatan said. Five houses were set on fire in Palompon,
San Agustin on May 2. Mountainous areas of Magkahunao were also bombed. The
next day, communities of Magkahunao and Yadawan were sprayed with bullets at
daytime and bombed at night.
On May 9, a howitzer posted at Pong-on, San Agustin rained bombs on Magkahunao,
Lagangan, Caras-an and Tago, forcing more residents to flee their communities.
The following day, 28 families deserted Magkahunao to Han-ayan and Diatagon.
Earlier on May 5, families from the Yadawan, Buhisan, San Agustin had evacuated
to Han-ayan while some fled to Diatagon.
By May 11, at least 87 families fled the hinterlands of Diatagon called Mambog
and Manluy-a, Montenegreen, Marihatag, Kabuluhan, and Buhisan.
An evacuee shot
Karapatan also said that on May 12, a farmer in Km.9 Emerald named Jessie
Bacasmas, was shot while he was climbing aboard a truck that was carrying
evacuees to Diatagon.
Jessie's nephew, Dante, said that no one was able to spot who among the soldiers
stationed in their village fired the shot. But he said that no one was armed on
that time except for the soldiers.
War-weary
The military operations that raged for almost two weeks in Andap Valley, left
the residents war-weary and hungry. Life in the evacuation center was equally
nightmarish, as they lived in cramped and squalid quarters.
A Manobo community leader in Km. 9 Emerald in Lianga, Jenasque Enriquez, said
that they long to return to their lands. "This (evacuation) is a big sacrifice
on our part. We want to return to our land where we can work again in our
farms." Bulatlat