Moros Brace for Abductions as Bomb Explodes Anew in Davao

Abductions and other human rights violations became more rampant with the setting up of the Task Force Davao (TFD) in 2003. With the recent bombing, Moro communities are now bracing for even more.

By Cheryll D. Fiel
Bulatlat

When news broke out last February 14 that Davao City was bombed again, Moro communities braced for more abductions.

They demanded that they be spared from the terror that once struck their communities.  The day after the bombing, along with progressive organizations, they took the issue to the streets. They warned police and military authorities not to do another round of “witch-hunting” in communities just like what they did in 2003 in the aftermath of the twin bombings in Davao City.

On the day that then AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Angelo Reyes announced the creation of the elite security group Task Force Davao (TFD), Abdullah Sabdurah Ala, a Moro resident of Padaman Islamic Community in Maa, was abducted by bonnet-wearing men, boarding a van and carrying long rifles.

By the time the first troops comprising TFD set up camps in Sirawan, Toril (southern border of the city and a Muslim community), another Moro, Ustadz Alimuddin Zulkiple was abducted while waiting for a ride in the highway of the said place at around the same time the first abduction took place.

Barely a week after the TFD arrived and augmented the troops, another Moro, Ladzmar Jumdail, became the third in the series of abductions. By the end of April there had been four victims of abductions. The fourth was Juanita Ybañez, a Moro resident of Bankerohan. These persons have not yet surfaced. 

Nine days after the creation of TFD and a day after Malacañang issued General Order No. 3 which reminded the AFP and the PNP forces to give “due regard to the constitutional rights of every individual in their operations to suppress terrorristic violence” in Southern and Central Mindanao, a Muslim village in Bangkal was raided by some 200 heavily armed military troops. They were on board an Army six-by-six truck, two Hummer vehicles, two L300 vans and two Simba armored fighting vehicle.

The residents said the troopers who could not be identified since they covered their nameplates, entered their homes and conducted searches.

There were also lightning dawn raids. The Madaum Muslim Community in Tagum, Davao Del Norte was attacked and one resident was nabbed and held in isolation for three days. The victim, Yasser Sarauddin, said that he was electrocuted to force him to own up to the bomb-making ingredients the authorities claimed to have seized in the raid.

Summary executions remained unabated. In fact, there were more than 80 cases when the TFD was established and increased to 90 in 2004. The first one and a half months of this year saw 50 victims of summary executions.

It may be recalled that in 2004, TFD Commander Col. Eduardo del Rosario branded those belonging to legitimate people's organizations, as accomplices of the revolutionary forces.

The TFD led the raid of the house of Bayan Muna Rep. Joel Virador and  the filing of rebellion case against Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN, New Patriotic Alliance) Alvin Luque and two others. The TFD also accused Davao City Councilor Angela Librado, of violating the constitution when she joined the anti-Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) protest held on the day US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone came to Davao.

To these dissenters, these bombings mean more than what they are now. They are simply, a signal to be on guard against the likely death of human rights. Bulatlat 

Mindanao Blasts a Ploy for U.S. Armed Presence?  By CHERYLL D. FIEL
 

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