HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Unarmed NPA Suspect Tortured, Killed in Kalinga

A press statement by the New People’s Army (NPA) operating in Kalinga Apayao province in northern Philippines condemned the 21^st IB of the Philippine Army for the brutal torture and killing, last Nov. 2, of Bagtang Bulawit, 27 and single. NPA spokesperson Ka Tipon Gil-ayab scored the military for violating international humanitarian law.

BY Northern Dispatch
Bulatlat

BALBALAN, Kalinga  — In a press statement sent to Northern Dispatch, Ka Tipon Gil-ayab, spokesperson of the Lejo Cawilan Command of the New People’s Army (NPA) operating in Kalinga and Apayao, condemned the brutal torture and killing on Nov. 2 of Bagtang Bulawit, a.k.a. Ka Awi, 27, single, by the 21^st IB of the Philippine Army based in Kadamayan Command Post here.  

The command holds responsible Lt. Col. Christopher Estela, commanding officer of the 21^st IB for violating the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) signed by both the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in the on-going peace negotiations, the NPA spokesperson said.

Ka Tipon Gil-ayab added that the torture and killing of Bulawit is also a violation of Protocol I and II of the Geneva Convention. Bulawit was unarmed and was in the hands of the army unit when he was tortured and killed, he said.

Gil-ayab recounted that at around 11 a.m., a unit of the 21^st IB led by 2LT Arvin C. Encinas accosted Bulawit at Sitio Kilayon in Barangay Balantoy.  Local folk accounts revealed that Bulawit was unarmed at the time of the arrest and was brought for tactical investigation before 2Lt. Benito Ramos, commanding officer of Charlie Coy, 21^st IB. 

Unable to extract information from Bulawit, both Encinas and Ramos led the torture of Bulawit, according to the statement.  Two other officers, 2Lt. Manuel Dumpao and 2Lt. Aurelio Kigis of the 49^th Separate Rifle Company, allegedly participated in the torture and eventual killing of Bulawit at around 1:30 p.m. 

A separate account said that Bulawit’s body was found hanging on a tree between sitios (sub-villages) Kilayon and Ligayan.  It bore 13 gunshot wounds and showed marks of torture. 

The LCC also enumerated other violations of human rights and international humanitarian law allegedly committed against the people of Kalinga since 2003 by the 21^st and 77^th IB.  These include the investigation without legal counsel and unattended gunshot wounds of Leonard Angid, another NPA member who was accosted after military operations in March 2003; the shooting of Victor Balais, a hunter who was mistaken to be a rebel and was killed reportedly by the 77^th IB in Pinukpok town in December last year; and the indiscriminate firing in Balantoy on Aug. 25, this year, which wounded four civilians. 

Gil-ayab said that the families of victims of military atrocities still await justice. Unfortunately, these cases have been dismissed by the military as results of legitimate encounters or trumped up charges.

It was not reported whether the families of the reported victims of human rights violations or human rights groups are set to file criminal charges with the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) of the GRP and NDFP peace panels, as provided for in CARHRIHL. Bulatlat    

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