This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 29, August 28-September 3, 2005
August marks the sixth month of Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan as
military commander of Eastern Visayas. While the officer - who has since been
reassigned to Nueva Ecija - claims he has been successful in crushing popular
dissent in the area, his vicious anti-insurgency campaign has left hundreds of
widows and orphans crying for help, grieving for justice. BY DABET
CASTAÑEDA SAMAR Island –An old man and his son pound
palay (rice grains) on a lusong (huge wooden container); two
half-naked men build a house made of wood; while an elderly woman, holding a
large wooden basket at her back, gather fire wood for cooking. Townsfolk in this hilly barangay (village)
in the town of Basey are picking up the pieces and trying to live a normal life
once more after braving three waves of mass evacuations last month. But the tranquility that welcomed a group of
more than a hundred foreign and local delegates of the International Solidarity
Mission (ISM)-Philippines 2005 was rather eerie. Before the second of group of delegates (to
which this reporter belonged) could reach its destination, it had received
information that the first group had experienced harassments from soldiers of
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on their way to the place. It was a 30-minute trek along farmlands,
houses made of cogon, with bamboo and nipa lining the cemented pavement. From
their doors and windows, people old and young alike watched the ISM team pass
by. Military men in uniform were seated in front
of the houses. From the top of a hill, one could see a
group of people assembled outside the Barangay Cancaiyas Elementary School. The
townsfolk came from eight different villages. The people gathered to tell their
stories, to the ISM team, of homes burned, livelihood lost and kin hurt during
the mass evacuations. Fifty-one-year-old Editha Morales, a native
Samarnon, said that she has lived in this barangay since birth and has never
been forcefully evacuated from their home. “Not even during martial law,” she
said in Tagalog. The Philippines was under martial rule from
1972-1986 under the dictatorship of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos. “Malakas yung mga bomba, nakakabingi.
Akala namin tatamaan kami” (The sounds of bombs exploding were deafening. We
thought we would be hit), she said. Aling Editha, her husband and her three
children abandoned their home in the morning of July 20, Wednesday, after bombs
were dropped in a nearby hinterland village. Taking all their pieces of
property, they headed for the gymnasium in the town proper of Basey and stayed
there for almost a week. Cancaiyas is roughly 10 kilometers from the town
proper. Her husband, a farmer who planted palay
(rice), coconut (for kopra) and root crops, took their carabao to the
foot of the hills where her husband could go back to everyday to feed it. It was
made to stay there until they went home on Monday, July 26. Most of the residents have since come home
save for some 40 families in Sitio (sub-village) Ogbok where all households but
two have fled to other villages. Some families have fled to as far as
Montalban town in Rizal province, Luzon Island. The human rights group Karapatan-Eastern
Visayas (Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples’ Rights-Eastern Visayas Region)
documented 40 cases of evacuations in this island affecting 2,433 individuals or
1,786 families. The aerial bombings were confirmed by
Private First Class (Pfc.) Jullado, who was present during the community meeting
between the villagers and the ISM. Jullado, who was in full battle gear, refused
to give his first name. He said he was there together with eight
others from the 46th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IB
PA). They were sent specifically to “provide security” for the ISM delegates.
“Binomba namin yung lugar kasi may kaaway
kami dito” (We bombed the place because there were enemies here), he said. When asked who their enemies were, he said,
“Syempre yung mga NPA. Infiltrated kasi ang area na ito.”(Of course the
New People’s Army guerrillas. This area is infiltrated.) Three of Jullado’s colleagues were not in
uniform. A commotion ensued between the ISM delegates and the soldiers in
civilian clothes when the soldiers tried to take pictures of the delegates and
the villagers. Upon questioning, the ISM delegates found
that one of the soldiers in civilian clothes, who introduced himself as a local
villager, was the commanding officer of the 46th IB PA Bravo Company.
While insisting he was not on official duty,
2nd Lt. Proxian Malasig said he only went to the area to visit his
troops. The dark and lanky officer also said it was his prerogative to wear
civilian clothes as a security measure. ISM delegates learned later that one of the
soldiers forcibly took a resident’s shirt and wore it to the community meeting.
Malasig had earlier named this soldier as Pfc. Sherwin Dacanay. During random interviews, residents said
Malasig and his men frequented their village wearing civilian clothes. The
villagers said the soldiers’ presence has sent a chilling effect on them. The island of Samar has been subject to
intense counter-insurgency operations under the command of notorious military
officer Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan. It has been six months since he announced on
local radio that he would “end all anti-government rallies” in this island. This
resulted in a long list of killings, abductions, torture, harassments, and other
human rights and international humanitarian law violations. In a forum Aug. 14 in the town of Catbalogan,
some of the victims and survivors testified about the inhumane treatment they
have suffered from the hands of soldiers. Cristina Abalos, daughter of 67-year old
Patricio Abalos, spoke of the forcible abduction and disappearance of her
father. The older Abalos was abducted on March 28 by soldiers allegedly led by
2Lt. Wilbert Basquiñas. Cristina’s testimony echoed the stories of the families
of the 31 persons who have disappeared in the region during the last six months. All the way from the town of Villareal,
Rosalina and Julius Calubid, wife and son of Constancio Calubid, related how
Constancio was tortured and abducted by soldiers in plain clothes on the night
of July 16. The victim disappeared and after 12 days was later found dead along
the riverbanks of a remote village three kilometers from the town proper.
Karapatan-EV records reveal that 25 persons
were summarily executed since Feb. 10 when Palparan officially took his post as
commanding officer of the 8th Infantry Division (ID PA). Political assassinations in this region have
targeted respected political activists, including human rights and labor lawyer
Fedelito Dacut and activist priest Rev. Edison Lapuz, Iglesia Filipina
Independiente (IFI or Independent Church of the Philippines). Pablo Dacutanan Jr., shared how he was
tortured by AFP soldiers in an apartment located in a densely populated area
before he was able to escape. Dacutanan was laughing throughout his testimony,
proof that his sufferings have affected his mental health as well. There have
been 31 cases of torture reported in this region. Government officials have also been
threatened and harassed by the military. Samar Reps. Catalino Figueroa (second
district) and Reynaldo Uy (first district) have attested in Congress to being
harassed. Even barangay officials are regularly terrorized. For the period Feb. 10 to Aug. 4 (25 weeks
or 175 days), Karapatan-EV has documented 513 cases of violations of
international humanitarian law. Karapatan-EV secretary general Alex Lagunzad
said that these violations resulted from three military operation plans (oplan):
a) Oplan Kalinaw Visayas (literally, “Operational Plan Peace-in-the-Visayas),
the over-all counter-insurgency operations plan of the 8th ID PA in
the region, b) Oplan Gold Rush 8, a plan to “neutralize” progressive people’s
organizations, which the AFP considers as legal fronts of the Communist Party of
the Philippines (CPP), and c) Oplan Ligpit (literally, “Operational Plan
Liquidate”), which aims to execute about 36 leaders and members of progressive
organizations who are included in the Order of Battle (OB) list. This list was
confirmed by Palparan himself in a media briefing sometime in June. In a newspaper report on Aug. 19, Palparan
said his six-month anti-insurgency campaign has been successful and he is just
about to neutralize “communist-terrorists” (CTs) in the island. Amid this
so-called success however are widows and orphans who have been denied justice.
For the villagers affected by military operations, it has been six months of
torment. Bulatlat
© 2004 Bulatlat
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Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
HUMAN RIGHTS
WATCH
Samar
Six Months of Torment
First of two parts
Bulatlat
Evacuees
Security for whom?
Hell and terror