In a statement, Karapatan said at least 22 families in sitios Panukmoan and Manluy-a of barangay Diatagon in Lianga left their village on June 23 because they “no longer feel safe staying in their communities due to the constant harassment and threats made by troops of the 3rd Special Forces Battalion.”
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – After the second massacre in Lianga, Surigao del Sur, hundreds of residents fled their homes, according to human rights group Karapatan-Caraga.
In a statement, Karapatan said at least 22 families in sitios Panukmoan and Manluy-a of barangay Diatagon in Lianga left their village on June 23 because they “no longer feel safe staying in their communities due to the constant harassment and threats made by troops of the 3rd Special Forces Battalion.”
It would be remembered that on June 15, soldiers from the 3rd SFB opened fire on six farmers gathering abaca, killing Willy Rodriguez and siblings Lenie and Angel Rivas. The other three managed to escape.
Karapatan said that soldiers warned residents “ to stop talking about the massacre, or they would suffer the same fate as the three victims.”
The group said that elements of the the 401st Brigade Command and the 3rd SFB declared that the three victims were New People’s Army (NPA) combatants. Families of the victims refuted this, adding they have evidence to show that they were civilians and were only harvesting abaca in their farm during the incident.
Local group Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod or MAPASU (Persevering Struggle for the Next Generation) said that since last year, residents of Sitio Manluy-a and Panukmoan have been evacuating to Sitio Simowao due to the military’s indiscrimate bombing of their farms and communities.
‘Not a child warrior’
The group also maintained that Angel was not a child warrior as claimed by the military.
In a Facebook post, MAPASU posted Angel’s certification from the Department of Education showing her Learner’s Reference Number, and that she was a bonafide learner of Alternative Learning System.
The group said Angel had to enroll at DepEd’s ALS program because the military forcibly shut down the Lumad school facilitated by Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS).
“We know Angel as hardworking, reliable and enthusiastic about farming. The only thing she held dearly was her determination and her aspiration to continue her education even if the school we built was forcibly shut down,” the group said in Filipino.
Mandhandled bodies
Save our Schools Network also released a video showing Angel, Lenie and Rodriguez are weaving abaca. The sisters, Angel and Lenie as well as others also took selfies on their phones while at work, the group said.
“The soldiers said the victims fired first, and even detonated explosives, but why were there no casualties from them, not one of them was wounded, while the victims looked like they were tortured),” said 41 year-old “Dodo.” (Real name be withheld.)
Dodo added that when Angel’s mother confronted the soldiers who claimed that the three are NPAs, a certain Lt. Sam threatened her, asking if she “wants to be the fourth victim.”
The SOS also said that residents witnessed how the bodies of the three victims were manhandled by the soldiers. “It was painful to see that they tossed the bodies back and forth for five minutes in the basketball court as if they were like sacks of rice. They just dumped it in their motorcycles,” a witness said.
“Nothing is more despicable and outrageous than insisting and covering the truth with their (military) lies so as to escape accountability. This is not even the most ridiculous case of branding farmers or Lumad as rebels, as they have done this many times to cover up their human rights violations,” said Rius Valle, SOS Network spokesperson.
Valle welcomed the investigation set by the Diocese of Tandag. He also called on the Commission on Human Rights to conduct an impartial and independent investigation to stop the military attacks on Lumad.
“With an independent investigation, we also call to restrict the movement of the military unit and pull them out of the community to prevent reprisals and harassment while investigation is ongoing,” Valle added. 
