Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts

Vol. VI, No. 3      February 19 - 25, 2006      Quezon City, Philippines

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Sagada-bound ‘Backpacker’ Escapes Police ‘Tormentors’

All that Rundren Berloize Lao, 24, from Davao City and his group were looking for was adventure. They headed to the idyllic mountain resort town of Sagada, in Mountain Province. But they barely cheated death.  Luckily one escaped and they all live to tell their story of torture at the hands of police officers.

BY ARTEMIO A. DUMLAO

Bulatlat

BAGUIO CITY (February 16, 2006) – All that Rundren Berloize Lao, 24, from Davao City and his group were looking for was adventure.  They headed to the idyllic mountain resort town of Sagada, in Mountain Province. But they barely cheated death.  Luckily, one escaped and they all live to tell their story of torture at the hands of police officers.

Rundren and his group, all supposed “punks,” from a “punks’ gig” in Tarlac on Feb. 11 decided to head for Baguio City to revel in the annual Baguio Flower Festival happening this month.  “Dahil sabi nila maganda daw ang Panagbenga” (Because we’ve heard the Panagbenga is great), he said.

In Baguio at around 6 a.m., Feb. 14, Rundren’s group that included a young girl hitchhiked aboard a dump truck along the Baguio-Bontoc Road (Halsema Highway).

Around noontime, Rundren said, they were held by police looking for New People’s Army (NPA) rebels at a checkpoint in Bangao village, Buguias town, northern Benguet.  “Tinutukan agad ng mga baril na mahahaba” (They immediately threatened us with long firearms), he said, his voice still trembling from the experience.  

Rundren Lao, a punk suspected of being
an NPA guerrilla, displays the torture marks
he sustained from police.

PHOTO BY ACE ALEGRE

“We were kicked and manhandled,” he said as he showed still obvious signs of torture on his back, legs and arms.

Rundren and his group were tied, some handcuffed, and were brought to the station of the 1604th Police Mobile Group in Camp Molintas, Abatan, also in Benguet.  There they suffered in the hands of their police captors, he said.

They were blindfolded and were asked if they were NPA members. “They asked me who Simon Naogsan is,” he trembled.

Naogsan is a former government engineer who joined the NPA in the 1990s and is now the spokesperson of the Cordillera People’s Democratic Front (CPDF). He is suspected as one of those who led the Feb. 10 NPA raid in Cabiten village, Mankayan town, also in Benguet where three government soldiers were killed and 23 high-powered firearms were carted away by the rebels.

Rundren, a dreadlocked, adventurous former 4th year engineering student of the University of Mindanao, said that it was the first time he heard the name Naogsan and about the Cabiten village where the raid occurred. In fact, Rundren is not even a school activist.  He is “a punk” as he said he is.

Their captors reportedly took mug shots of them.

On the night of Feb. 14, some militiamen reportedly arrived at the 1604th headquarters and pointed at them as those who took part in the NPA raid.  “Lima sa amin naturo at pinagbubuntal sa katawan” (They pointed to five of us, who were then beaten up), Rundren narrated.

The 24-year-old also claimed they electrocuted a member of their group inside a room and all they could hear were his pained cries.  “Isinusupot pa ang mga ulo namin” (They would even cover our heads with plastic bags), he said.  “Pinipilit nilang paamining kami na NPA kami” (They forced us to admit to being NPA members).

Rundren admitted some including himself were forced to admit they were activists just to stop “torture.”

“The Great Escape”

Then, he got the chance to escape.

On the night of February 15, policemen at the police headquarters, Rundren claimed, had a drinking spree. During the drinking session, a chinky-eyed burly built policeman whom he assumed was a police official entered his room and hit him several times in the legs with a huge piece of wood.

Then he got the chance to jump through the open window and dive to the creek below.  “Nagpagulong-gulong ako at tumama pa ako sa isang malaking bato pababa” (I rolled over again and again and even hit a big rock on the way down), he said.

While escaping, Rundren said, he was shot at with automatic rifles by the policemen. Luckily, he was not hit but he suffered bruises and contusions, and he broke his leg.

He said he used his mountain-climbing skills and followed the creek toward the houses along the village. No villager, he said, would open their doors to him. “Narinig siguro nila yung mga putok” (Maybe they heard the gunshots), he surmised.  He slept below a house. The next morning, he was given water and warm clothes by the residents.

Rundren cut his hair short to evade detection. “Humiram ako ng panggupit” (I borrowed a pair of scissors), he added.

Rundren reached the highway and hitchhiked on at least three vehicles towards Baguio. “I had to beg from the drivers,” he remembered because all of his belongings were seized by the police. The last vehicle, a bus, brought him to Baguio for free.

Rundren headed to Burnham Park hoping he could find someone to help and console with.  He found no one.  He finally reached the office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Cordillera whose personnel turned him over to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)-Cordillera.

He was examined by the NBI’s medico-legal officer and his sworn statement was taken.

“Hail the police?”

PNP chief Director General Arturo Lomibao said here on Feb. 17 morning that the policemen who arrested Rundren and his group should be commended. Standing by the Benguet policemen who held the group, the police chief said it will be their word against the police.

Lomibao added that the 11 were identified by the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) militiamen as those who took part in the raid.

The 11, mostly teenagers that included Rundren are now facing charges of robbery with homicide at the Regional Trial Court Branch 64 in Buguias, Benguet.

They are Aldoz Christian Munoza, 18, single, of Santolan, Pasig City; Darwin Alazar y Padilla, 21, single, native of Tipuso, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan; Arvie Nunez alias “Ka Palos,” 21, single, native of Silang, Mayaw, Lucena City, alleged political officer; Ray Lester Mendoza y Esquerra alias “Ka Petra,” 16, from San Francisco, Makati City, alleged intelligence & investigation officer; Neil Russel Balajadia, 25, single, from Santolan, Pasig City, alleged radio operator; Jethro Villegas, 21, single, of Malagos, Calinan, Davao City; Anderson Alonzo, 18, single, also of Malagos, Calinan, Davao City; Ronron Pandino, 20, single, from San Quintin, Laguna; Frencess Ann Bernal, 15, single, of Camupang, Marikina City; and Jefferson dela Rosa y dela Cruz, 20, single, of Santolan, Pasig City.

Benguet police director Villamor Bumanglag claimed Rundren is the leader of the NPA unit they alleged is codenamed “Pasiklab,” which they said is actively operating within Capaz and Bamban towns in Tarlac.

Police allege that they were brought to Northern Benguet for a test mission. After the Cabiten detachment raid, Bumanglag said, “the group regrouped at Burnham Park in Baguio City on Feb. 11 to plan for their next mission in Mountain Province.”

Bumanglag said the arrest of the ten foiled such a plan.

The ten are now at the Benguet provincial jail while Rundren according to authorities is due to be arrested by policemen to answer a crime he and his backpacker friends said they did not commit. Bulatlat 

 

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