Of the total injured, 32 were cases of gunshot wounds (GSW), of which 18 were seen, interviewed, and examined by the health team. Some were serious enough to warrant hospitalization, especially those with multiple injuries or multiple GSW. Some are still confined to various hospitals undergoing surgery. At least 5 of the GSW cases seen by the team still had bullets lodged inside their bodies.
Based on the clinical histories taken, many of injured were already running from Gate 1 when they were hit by the bullets. The gunshot wounds were not sustained from a single volley of fire but from a sustained volume of fire lasting up to almost 2 minutes.
Other injuries included teargas-related respiratory irritation, fractures (of the bones), contusions, abrasions, and lacerations, and contusions from blunt trauma. Most of these injuries were from the use of around 100 teargas canisters and from the ensuing stampede due to the shooting. However, at least two (one with multiple fractures and one with a fractured right hand) were the result of being repeatedly bludgeoned by the PNP with their riot sticks after the shooting.
Findings on the conduct of hospitals and health institutions
Based on data obtained by the health team, St. Martin de Porres Hospital, which is the nearest hospital from the site of incidence, being less than 300 meters away from Gate 1, transferred its existing in-patients at least a day before the incident occurred. Moreover, even before the violent dispersal was implemented, the hospital was secured by elements of the Army, aside from the PNP contingent earlier sent there to secure the hospital entrance. Also, Army medical personnel were already stationed in the hospital even before the shooting occurred.
The health team also finds the report of the Provincial Health Office (Annex C) to be flawed. For instance, one of the casualties, Juancho Sanchez, supposedly died of “severe head injuries” whereas autopsy findings show that he died of a single gunshot wound penetrating the left side near the pelvic area that hit his vital organs.
Similarly, the PHO report states that Jesus Laza supposedly died of “basal skull fracture”. However, the Initial Medico-Legal Report of the PNP Crime Laboratory signed by Dr. Reynaldo R. Dave, Jr. shows no head and neck injury and instead notes two GSW to the chest, both of which were fatal. It merits serious consideration as to how much weight should be given to the PHO Report given these significant errors, and why these errors were made in the first place.
Conclusions and recommendations
The health team finds adequate substantial evidence to state that the strikers of Hacienda Luisita were shot not “as a defensive stance” or because the PNP and AFP “were provoked” but rather as a direct armed offensive assault on the picket line. This assertion is supported by: a) the number and types of injuries and deaths, b) the character of the injuries and physical findings, and c) the volume and length of gunfire sustained against the strikers.
Moreover, the GSWs suffered by those who were killed and injured dispel any and all allegations that the PNP and AFP elements who fired their guns were doing so because they were under some sort of threat. Not even the alleged paraffin tests, conducted under dubious circumstances by the very same agency under question, can justify the blatant use of firearms, automatic and high-powered at that, against unarmed civilians. These are gross violations of the basic human rights of the strikers.
There is also no doubt that there was an excessive use of force during the November 16 incident. What is disturbing, however, is the fact that this excessive use of force is deliberate and intentional. Again, the injuries sustained by those who died and those who survived attest to this. The types and severity of the injuries belie any randomness and instead, point to a dangerous kind of recklessness spurred by an overarching intent to cause or inflict harm. There were even severe injuries due to blunt trauma sustained immediately after the shooting. The brutality of the dispersal thus casts a pall of shame on the PNP and serves as a grim reminder of why the AFP is prohibited from the picket lines.
Lastly, the findings of the health team point strongly to an element of premeditation rather than spontaneity (as is being alleged by the AFP and PNP), as regards the shooting. The size of the kill zone, as well as the volume of fire, as traced from the clinical histories, the character of the injuries, and the positions of the victims and casualties, all validate the element of premeditation. The events surrounding the St. Martin de Porres Hospital further corroborate this.
The health team, therefore, recommends that the findings and conclusions drawn by this report be investigated further and validated by other independent sources. First of all, the victims should be given immediate and adequate redress, through indemnification, of the damages and injuries to life and limb caused upon them to suffer.
Second, there should be a swift and decisive accounting of the responsibility for the deaths and injuries, not only from the AFP and PNP units involved but also from the government agencies (viz., DOLE, DILG, DND, and DAR) and the local government units. Appropriate administrative and criminal charges should immediately be filed.
Finally, if there is a genuine desire from the current dispensation to address the root causes of the conflict in Hacienda Luisita, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should look closer and heed the demands of the working masses, the workers and agricultural laborers, for land, jobs, wages, and rights. Rather than merely dismissing this problem as a “purely labor issue”, the GMA administration should implement genuine agrarian reform and institute the much needed social justice demanded by the victims.
