Slain Guerrillas’ Remains Held by Soldiers;
Kin Stopped from Claiming Bodies

Retrieving the dead to give them decent burial has become extra painful for families, especially if one is an armed dissident in Quezon, a province now battered by escalated combat operations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) against the communist-led New People’s Army (NPA).

BY DENNIS ESPADA
Bulatlat

Retrieving the dead to give them decent burial has become extra painful for families, especially if one is an armed dissident in Quezon, a province now battered by escalated combat operations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) against the communist-led New People’s Army (NPA).

On Nov. 25, soldiers belonging to the Philippine Army’s 74th Infantry Battalion based in the Bondoc Peninsula under the command of Lt. Col. Amado Bustillos came across a group of NPA rebels in Barangay (village) Punta in San Narciso town, where a clash consequently took place which the government-owned Philippine Information Agency (PIA) reported to have “started at about 7:00 a.m. with sporadic exchange of gunfire heard lasting up to 12 noon.”

Media reports later confirmed that three NPA members, namely Eduardo Escudero, Vergilio Buendia and Roval Belayro were killed while several others were arrested from the said encounter.

The PIA report cited Army soldiers as saying they have recovered an M16 rifle, a shotgun, backpacks with “subversive documents” and a laptop.

Bulatlat learned that families of the slain rebels got in touch with the Southern Tagalog chapter of Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) to seek their help in retrieving the corpses.

But when they tried to visit the site riding jeepneys and accompanied by the group’s quick reaction team last week, they were subjected to “harassment and interrogation” in each of the five Army checkpoints along the way, they said. This, they said, prevented them from reaching their destination.

“These harassments and intimidations (by the military) are not very helpful to the grieving families,” said Karapatan-ST secretary-general Doris Cuario. “Since when did it become unlawful and forbidden to get the remains of a family member, even if he or she is a communist?"

She also said that for unknown reasons, metal spikes were placed on the road and that one jeepney got its windshield broken supposedly by a slingshot.

To date, there are 2,280 cases of human rights violations in the Southern Tagalog region, reports Karapatan-ST.

In Quezon alone, hundreds of residents, who are mostly farmers, have reportedly been affected by forcible evacuations, arbitrary arrests and harassments allegedly perpetrated by the AFP in its attempt to crush the growing communist insurgency.

Last November, a team of Canadian human rights advocates were detained for several hours by the 74th Infantry Battalion in San Narciso town. They were part of a 32-member fact-finding mission investigating reports of human rights violations in the area.

“Answer the true sentiments of the people,” Cuario demanded of the AFP leadership, “and hold responsible all those who have committed crimes against the people, more so, those misguided and imprudent military personnel who have inflicted terror to the innocent and poor civilians who are merely seeking just and peaceful lives.” Bulatlat

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