He left the congregation before he was to start his theology formation. He thought he could serve the people better by being one with them. That moved him to worked full-time organizing farmers’ groups in Cebu, and later in Panay, where he got more deeply involved with peasant communities.
Culprits: military and death squads
Fred Caña, national council member of Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) said the military and its death squads have brought the practice of political killings and enforced disappearances to Panay.
“These unabated attacks on organizers and officers of people’s organizations are, no doubt, done by coldhearted elements of state security forces who are on a killing spree resulting from Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s deliberate maneuver to stay in power and eliminate mass opposition,” said Caña.
Caña said that these waves of human rights violations result from the counter-insurgency program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) dubbed Oplan Bantay Laya (Operation Freedom Watch) 1 and 2, which is aimed at “destroying the political and military structure” of its enemy. In the course of launching offensives against perceived state destabilizers and threats to national security, Caña said, Mrs. Arroyo and her cohorts in the AFP have willfully suppressed the inherent right of the masses to be free from social and economic injustices.
To date, Karapatan records show that there are now more than 850 victims of extra-judicial killings and more than 180 victims of enforced disappearance nationwide since 2001.
None of these cases have been solved, and most of these were perpetrated by military operatives and vigilante groups actively involved in counter-insurgency operations.
Usual denials
Capt. Lowen Gil Marquez, chief of the 32nd Civil Relations Unit of the AFP which is based in Iloilo denied accusations that the military is behind the incident.
Marquez asserted that investigators should also look at other possible angles like business conflicts involving the victims, “ambush me” theory, and the rift within the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) where, he said, “disgruntled elements” may have a direct hand in the incident.
Just recently the Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, through its public information officer Lt. Col. David Tan and 301st Infantry Battalion Commander Col. Renato David, vehemently denied having knowledge of the incident and the whereabouts of the missing before the Iloilo City Regional Trial Court Branch 34.
Not the first
Arado and Dominado are not the first activists to be abducted in Panay.
Perseus Geagoni has been missing since December 2005. Roberto Marapo and Pacifico Borris were abducted in May 2006. Felicidad Katalbas was abducted in Sitio (sub-village) Mohon, Kabankalan City last January. Their families fear that they might have been killed by their abductors, according to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR)-Negros.
Romeo Baldevarona of CHR-Negros said that the fate of the missing activists remains a “big mystery,” and admitted that his office is under intense pressure to complete their investigations of cases of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings.
Baldevarona said a task force they have created since last year is undertaking a “speedy and extensive” investigation.
Provincial and concerned police units involved in the investigation have said they have no suspects yet.
Dominado’s children appeal
Dominado’s daughters, May Wan and Tamara Dominado and the relatives of Nilo Arado have repeatedly appealed to local and national authorities to surface Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado and Nilo Arado.
They said their lives would never have a “closure” unless Dominado and Arado are surfaced.
They also slammed the military to stop their “usual denials and deceptions, because they are the only ones who have the gall, capacity and contempt to do such unmerciful act to the Left.”
Habeas corpus
Last April was the hearing for the writ of habeas corpus case filed by Dominado’s brother, Luis Arches Posa and Rosemary Dula-ogon Arado, wife of Leonilo Arado against the 3rd ID commanding officer Maj. Gen. Jovenal Narcise, Lt. Col. Mariano Perez, and Col. David.
Tan stressed in court that he has no knowledge of the whereabouts of the abducted activists and further said that even the Army wants to know where they are.
He added that the military only deals with the New People’s Army (NPA) and the armed groups but not with progressive groups.
But these statements of the Army seem inconsistent with what they have been doing.
Vilification campaign
In Negros Occidental, there are reports that the 303rd IB had been campaigning in the highlands against Bayan Muna (People First), Anakpawis, GABRIELA Women’s Party, Migrante among others, tagging them as “legal fronts” of the CPP-NPA.
Last April 25, 2007, the Paghidaet Development Group (PDG) of Kabankalan City arranged a dialogue between the Army and several people’s organization regarding charges that the Army is occupying public buidings such as barangay halls and health centers in remote areas of Kabankalan city.
Col. Norman Flores, Commanding Officer of the 303rd IB claimed that they are non-partisan and are not campaigning against any party-list group. He said that they are merely “educating the people on the dangers of communism.”
Baldevarona said that the Army should not be deployed in populated places even if there is consent from the barangay captain or chief executive. (Bulatlat.com)
Pingback: 2 activists in Panay threatened by suspected state agents - Bulatlat