This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 7, March 20-26, 2005
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
The Killing Fields of Central Luzon The
murder of another peasant leader in Pampanga – the home province of President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo- brings to 13 the total number of orchestrated killings
in Central Luzon since the start of the year. Five individuals from the same
region have been abducted since and all of them are missing to this day as the
trail of blood flows in today’s killing fields.
BY DABET CASTAÑEDA He was a sick old man
suffering from rheumatic heart disease and acute emphysema (a lung disorder) and
had just been discharged from the hospital. At 6:45 p.m. March 17, Victor
Concepcion, 68, was resting in his daughter’s house in Angeles City, 83 kms
north of Manila, to recuperate when a gunman aimed a gun at him and fired
several shots. He received five bullets
including three in the chest. He died on the spot. Concepcion – Tang Ben to
friends – was a peasant leader of the local chapter of Kilusang Magbubukid ng
Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement in the Philippines). He thus became No. 13 in
the list of individuals killed in Central Luzon since January, the fifth in
Pampanga province alone. Angeles is 40 minutes away from Tarlac City – scene of
the latest spate of killings ensuing from the Hacienda Luisita strike. Central Luzon has in fact
apparently become the target of political repression since the sugar mill and
plantation workers of Luisita - the 6,443-ha estate – went on strike Nov. 6
last year. In a violent dispersal try
by police and military elements on Nov 16, at least seven sugar workers lay dead
in front of the main gate of the estate’s sugar central, the Central Azucarrera
de Tarlac (CAT), while scores of others were wounded or have disappeared.
Violations of civil and
political rights have become wanton in the region since then – five
disappearances, five murder attempts, one frustrated massacre, and 21
extra-judicial killings. This has prompted multi-sectoral leaders to accuse the
government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and its armed forces of genocidal attacks
against the people. Natural
resources The region lies between
Manila and Northern Luzon, the longest contiguous area of lowlands. Its plains
produce one-third of the country’s total rice production and the third largest
in aquaculture production. Composed of seven provinces
– Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales – Central
Luzon has six cities and 116 municipalities. San Fernando City in Pampanga is
the regional capital. It is also here that the
country’s largest sugar plantation is found – the Hacienda Luisita owned and
operated by the family of former President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino. The CAT is
the country’s third largest sugar central. Threat to
national security After the Nov. 16 massacre,
the Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)
commanded by Gen. Romeo Dominguez declared the strike as a threat to “national
security.” In a press briefing Jan 22
in its headquarters inside Camp Servillano Aquino, just across the entrance
leading to the hacienda, Nolcom officials accused the strikers as being
instigated by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), its armed wing, the
New People’s Army (NPA), and its political arm, the National Democratic Front of
the Philippines (NDFP). The strike, their press
briefing statement said, was a “handiwork well orchestrated” by the CPP-NPA-NDFP.
They named the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement), KMP, its regional
counterpart, the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL or Central
Luzon Peasant Alliance), and its local chapter in the hacienda, the Alyansa ng
mga Maggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala or Alliance of Farm Workers in
Hacienda Luisita) as the Left’s “front organizations.” Lumped with them were the
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or National Patriotic Alliance), some of its
electoral representatives – Bayan Muna (People First) and Anakpawis (Toiling
Masses) - and other affiliated organizations. The Nolcom list also included the
human rights alliance Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples’
Rights). Others included in the
Nolcom list was Tarlac City Councilor Abel Ladera who the authorities said, was
the “contact person” of the CPP-NPA in Hacienda Luisita. United Nations’ Judge
ad litem Romeo Capulong was fingered as a supporter who would elevate the issue
of Hacienda Luisita to the international forum. The prominent human rights
lawyer acts as senior consultant of the sugar farm and mill workers in the
ongoing negotiations between the strikers and the Cojuangcos. In a statement, Bayan-Tarlac
called the Nolcom list an open threat to those supporting the demand of the
Hacienda Luisita folk for better wages and genuine land reform. Consummating this threat
was the murder of Ladera at high noon of March 3 and the continuous harassment
and intimidation on Capulong highlighted by an attempt on his life on March 7 in
his home in Nueva Ecija. Killing
fields In Dingalan, Aurora
province, Chrispin Amazona, 40, of Barangay Umiray, was last seen by relatives
and friends on Feb. 14. Two days later, his body was found along the street in
Amucao, Tarlac City. Relatives said Amazona’s
hands were tied and his body wrapped in a black plastic bag with his name and
the words “Hacienda Luisita.” He had bullet wounds in the head and chest. A report from the Karapatan-Central
Luzon chapter said Amazona led his neighbors in organizing an association that
would help victims of the recent calamity that hit their place. He was also the
coordinator of the party-list group Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) in Dingalan.
Indigenous peoples have not
been spared from the treacherous acts of the military, Karapatan said. On Feb
20, an unidentified gunman killed Rodel Pelayo, 30, and Joey Abraham, 28, both
members of the Central Luzon Aeta Association (CLAA) in Balanga, Bataan, 123 kms
north of Manila. On the same day before the
two killings occurred, the human rights report said the two Aetas were “invited”
by a certain Mr. Borja and Mr. Toledo, soldiers from the 24th Infantry Battalion
of the Philippine Army (IBPA) to an “oath taking of NPA mass surrenderees.” The
two were apparently killed as they headed back to their home after the swearing
in.
Bonnet-wearing murderers Prominent mass leaders are
not the only victims, however. Karapatan records show that burly men clad in
civilian clothes with their heads covered by bonnets or ski masks have not
spared the common folk from the worst forms of human rights violations. In the
past two years, bonnet-wearing death squads roamed, frightened and killed
progressive leaders and human rights workers in Southern Tagalog, particularly
in the twin-provinces of Mindoro. In San Ildefonso, Bulacan,
66 kms north of Manila, four armed men in civilian clothes with faces covered by
bonnets barged into the house of Pablito Ignacio, 44. Ignacio’s daughter, Aileen,
told Karapatan that the armed men asked her father to surrender his gun. Saying
that he had none, Ignacio was dragged into the kitchen. A few seconds later, Aileen
said she shouted and panicked when she heard a lone gunshot from where her
father was. A few more seconds and she heard two more gunshots after which the
four armed men left. It was only then that Aileen ran to the kitchen. She saw
her father bleeding profusely. The victim was a member of the local chapter of
the party-list group Anakpawis. In Guagua, Pampanga, 77 kms
north of Manila, four bonnet-wearing men on board a car with no plate, sprayed
bullets into a tricycle driven by Rodrigo Lampa, 40. Witnesses said Lampa
sustained bullet wounds on his head and knees causing his death. The victim was
an active member of a local peasant organization.
Disappearances Disappearances, the worst
form of human rights violations, are increasing in this region at an alarming
rate. At around 5 p.m. Feb 11,
two men on board a dark blue van and armed with .45 cal. pistols abducted
53-year old Esteban Pastor, a tricycle driver and active member of the
party-list group Bayan Muna. When his family made the
rounds in police stations to look for him, they found out Pastor has been in the
list of the military’s OB (Order of Battle) since August 2004. Since January, there have
been five victims of disappearances, all of whom have yet to surface to this
day. The most recent of them is another Bayan Muna leader, Danilo Macapagal, a
distant relative and a known critic of the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Fair game Militant party-list groups
Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela Women’s Party, whose members have been the
subject of what they called intolerant, exploitative and despotic attacks have
demanded a dialogue with the President and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen.
Efren Abu. In a statement, the groups
specifically pointed out Nolcom commander Dominguez as the mastermind behind the
vicious and orchestrated killings, abductions, intimidation and other cowardly
acts perpetrated against their members and civilian supporters in the region and
elsewhere. The groups also expressed
alarm that the military establishment, with Malacañang approval, has seemingly
adopted an unwritten policy of not discriminating between the underground, armed
revolutionary groups and unarmed civilians. These, they said, has led to a
bloody crackdown on militant people’s organizations making them open targets of
the military’s lethal attacks. Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
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