BY BULATLAT
Bulatlat.com

Six victims in three days.

In a span of two days, four civilians in this region were felled by ski-masks wearing gunmen believed to be elements of the military’s death squad while two others were reported missing since Aug 14.

At about 7:30 p.m. Aug. 16, Julie Vasquez, a village councilor of Barangay (village) Culong, Guimba town, Nueva Ecija province (153 kms north of Manila), was shot four times by gunmen while drinking coffee at a neighbor’s wake.

Roman Polintan, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) chair in Central Luzon, said Vasquez was killed a few meters away from the newly-set up detachment of the 71st Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IB PA). Before his death, Vasquez was tagged by the military as a former supporter of the New People’s Army, Politan said.

The murder of Vasquez was the fourth in the region in less than 48 hours. At around 6:30 a.m. of the same day, another village councilor from Barangay Sukol, in the town of Calumpit, province of Bulacan (48 kms north of Manila) was killed by still unidentified men.

On Aug 15, two more civilians were killed in the same province. Orlando Rivera, a fisherman who campaigned against a dumpsite reeking pollution in their community, was murdered inside his home in Barangay Binuangan in the town of Obando at around 1 a.m.

Later at 9:30 a.m., Sydney Santos, was killed in Barangay Iba Este also in Calumpit.

Polintan said the killing of de Leon and Santos are still being investigated by human rights workers in the area.

Abduction

In the evening of Aug. 14, two individuals were abducted in Barangay San Jose in the town of Hagonoy, Bulacan province. Polintan said the families of Roderick John Cruz, a 23-year old tricycle driver, and Marvin Verano, 28, reported to Bayan that the two were forcibly taken from their homes allegedly by soldiers.

X Marks

In Pampanga province, Polintan said soldiers belonging to the 69th IB PA have been putting X marks in front of the houses of activists in the town of Mabalacat town (93 kms. North of Manila). Villagers Anding Alejaga, Boy Garcia and Eman Salazar, all residents of Balaba Phase II, Purok 32, Barangay Dau, now fear for their lives after soldiers marked their houses.

Meanwhile, the house of Boy de Armas in Barangay Binuangan, Obando, Bulacan was also marked with X allegedly by soldiers stationed in the village. A fisherman, De Armas worked together with Rivera in the campaign against the dumpsite.

This recent series of human rights violations came in the wake of the Philippine Army’s 7th Infantry Division (ID) chief Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan’s pronouncements that he will “cleanse” the region of “communists insurgents and their supporters” before he retires on September 11.

Polintan said the killings by death squads targets anybody suspected by the military to be their enemy, “it doesn’t matter whether you’re an activist, a government official, or an ordinary civilian.” Bulatlat

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