Human rights watch
A Cry for Justice
The family of Sofronio “Tatay Poloy” Enoc,
the peasant leader who was killed among five others in a massacre on April
15, 2002, in Pangyan, Marilog District, is still hopeful that justice will
finally come.
By Marilou M.
Aguirre
davaotoday.com
Posted by Bulatlat
DAVAO CITY -- Unmindful of her
condition, Sofronita Enoc-Ingay, eight-month pregnant with her third
child, traveled straight from her home in the mountainous area of Calinan
District to the office of a farmers' association in this city, to share
her family's grief.
The 44-year-old Nang Nita, the
eldest daughter of Sofronio “Tatay Poloy” Enoc, the peasant leader who was
killed among five others in a massacre on April 15, 2002, in Pangyan,
Marilog District, is still hopeful that her family's more than three-year
wish would finally come true: justice for her father and the rest of the
victims.
Nang
Nita's pain over the loss of a loved one,
especially one who was their home's haligi (foundation), is still
evident in her eyes. Even though three years had already passed, they
have not fully recovered, she said.
"Our case has long been forgotten,”
Nang Nita lamented. “But I understand that one can do nothing if the
government is the enemy.”
She recalled that about two years before
her father was killed, elements of the 73rd Infantry Battalion went to
their farm. "The military accused us of supporting the New People's
Army,” she said. "They grabbed my father, who was covered with mud from
the rice paddy. I was so helpless and was so frightened because they were
armed with rifles. All I did was cry."
Nang
Nita did not recognize the perpetrators
because, according to her, they had no name cloths. That memory haunts
her to this day, she said.
The Pangyan Massacre is only one of the
many unsolved cases of human rights violations (HRVs) perpetrated by the
elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine
National Police (PNP), and paramilitary forces in Southern Mindanao.
According to the human rights' group
Karapatan, between January 2001 and December 2005, 680 HRV cases were
recorded in the region. These cases involved 20,860 individual victims,
678 families, 48 communities and two towns. Poor peasants, indigenous
peoples, urban poor, political activists, leaders and members of
progressive organizations, and individuals who were vocal against the
government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo comprise the list of
victims.
The HRV cases recorded by Karapatan
include killings, indiscriminate firing, desecration of remains, abduction
or enforced disappearance, physical assault, illegal arrest, illegal
search, rape, grave threats, torture, extortion, coercion, harassment,
assault at the picket line, hamletting, food blockade, denial of medical
attention, use of civilian in military operations, violation of domicile,
divestment of properties, forced evacuation, forced recruitment,
destruction of properties, forced surrender, denial of decent burial and
criminalization of political offenses.
Those who allegedly committed these grave
rights abuses, like Loreto Palma, remain scot-free.
Palma, the former NPA rebel who turned
into a Cafgu (Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit) member, allegedly
led the killing of Enoc. He had been indicted but was allegedly protected
by the military. Nang Nita said that Palma was even promoted by
the 73rd IB to private first class from being a mere Cafgu member. Palma
is said to accompany the military during their operations in the Malagos,
Calinan area.
Palma and the 73rd IB had also accused
known progressive leader Alvin Luque with rebellion. Palma said Luque,
together with Rep. Joel Virador of Bayan Muna and Maximino Goc-ong of the
Farmers Association of Davao City (FADC), were NPA supporters. Only Luque
had been indicted for alleged rebellion; his case has not been solved.
According to Ariel Casilao, secretary
general of Karapatan-Southern Mindanao, the state of human rights under
Arroyo is the worst among all administrations. It has even surpassed the
record of the Marcos dictatorship, he said.
"Karapatan believes that hers is worse
than Marcos's dictatorship because she portrays her government to be
upholding democracy and the people's rights to freedom of speech, peaceful
assembly and other rights mandated by the 1987 Constitution, when it
practice, the opposite is happening,” Casilao said.
What makes the HRV cases under the current
government stand out, Casilao said, is that Arroyo had justified these as
part of her war against terrorism. This war, he said, is directed at the
civilian populace, especially the Moro people, poor peasants and
indigenous peoples.
The government's counter-terrorism
campaign has resulted in not only red-baiting or the outright tagging of
legitimate organizations as legal fronts of the Communists, who have been
designated as terrorists by the government. This is the reason why many
leaders and members of progressive groups have been murdered, Casilao
said.
Based on Karapatan’s records, 21 of its
human rights workers have been killed under the current government.
According to Jeppie Ramada, Bayan Muna’s
regional spokesman, "coddling a butcher like Gen. Jovito Palparan is a
blatant manifestation that the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration is
determined to continue state terrorism as a national policy. Under this
administration, there are no signs that political killings will stop."
He criticized Arroyo for promoting
military, police or paramilitary personnel who were accused of rights
violations, like Palparan. He also lambasted her for implementing
policies, like the Calibrated Preemptive Response and Executive Order 464,
which had been deemed unconstitutional because they were used to violate
the people's right to peaceful assembly and obstruct the ferreting out of
truth, among others.
Arroyo’s efforts to hasten the passage of
the Anti-Terrorism Bill in the Congress also raised the fear that the
killings of civil libertarians will escalate, as well as the
militarization in the countryside. davaotoday.com/Posted by Bulatlat
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