A
Rehashed Military Psywar Tactic?
Leyte ‘Mass Grave’ was a Military ‘No-man’s Land’ -
Karapatan
A
local human rights group cast doubts on what the military claims to be a
mass grave of the communist movement’s purge victims. They said the site
was actually a “no-man’s land”, where the village population evacuated to
escape military operations.
BY
JOHANN HEIN B. ARPON
Bulatlat
Tacloban
City – A local human rights group here cast doubt on the alleged mass
grave of victims of the communist movement’s anti-infiltration campaign in
the 80s, saying the site was a “no-man’s land” where the village
population left to flee from militarization.
On Aug. 26,
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) claimed that they found a "mass
grave" of victims of anti-infiltration campaign of the Communist Party of
the Philippines in the early 1980's. Soldiers of the 43rd Infantry
Battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Mario Lacurom said the skeletal
remains were victims of the "Anti-VD Campaign."
Alex
Lagunzad, secretary-general of the human rights group KATUNGOD-KARAPATAN
(Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) said that they found out
that it was military troops who roamed the area where the supposed “mass
grave” was discovered. Lagunzad cited as source records in the archives
the Concerned Citizens for Justice and Peace (CCJP), a human rights group
in the 80s.
Lagunzad
showed Bulatlat CCJP documents which read:
“Brgy.(village) Caulisihan, Inopacan, Leyte like many mountain barangays
in the Fifth District of Leyte were declared "no man's lands" in the
height of the campaign of the Philippine Constabulary and Task Force
Liberato. Task Force Liberato was a vigilante group that was notorious
for the killings of "communists" during the time. One of the identified
members of the Task Force Liberato is a certain SPO2 Romy Loreto.”
In
communities declared as "no man's land", the whole population was made to
evacuate. All those who refuse to leave their farm and homes were
considered "outlaws" or "enemies" and could thereby be targeted by
military operations.
Lagunzad said that another possibility was that the digging was done at a
village graveyard. It is possible for Caulisihan village to have its own
cemetery, since it is located far away from the town center or
poblacion. Burying a dead relative nearby would be a preferred
option.
Unthinkable
Lagunzad
reacted to the military’s claims that clothing and mouth gags were still
found intact in the skeletal remains, saying that it was "unthinkable"
that it did not wear out despite the long period that passed.
He said that
if the military’s claims that the victims’ bodies were dumped in a shallow
grave were true, then without a decent coffin, and without insulation, the
clothes could have weathered away with the decaying flesh.
Lagunzad said that his group had conducted several exhumations and can
attest that exposure to elements, such as water and the victim's blood can
cause the clothing to decay with the flesh.
“We have
observed this in the case of Jolito Tobino who was missing for a week and
was found in the advance stage of decomposition along with his clothing in
a shallow grave.”
Lagunzad
also doubted if the military had actually matched the dug-up bones with
the names of missing persons. In a statement, Katungod-SB said,
"Commenting on the recent political killings, the NBI said that the PNP
and NBI in the region lack expertise to do forensic investigation. The
Scene of the Crimes Operatives (SOCO) Team of the PNP Regional Office 8
headed by P/Supt. Nicandro Canaleja could only offer initial technical
identification and numbering. To establish identity of the cadavers would
therefore be very difficult. Tell-tale marks of torture, as they alleged
these dead were subjected to, could easily wear away with the twenty years
of exposure to the elements".
Ploy
KATUNGOD-SB,
in its assessment said that the military were just involved in a ploy to
gain media mileage and to twist the real score on the political killings.
"We are re-directing the challenge to the military to prove their claims.
This big accusation hurled on their enemy at the expense of the lives of
the alleged victims must not be founded on unsubstantiated allegations but
hard evidence".
Palparan
On Sept. 12,
peasants from seven villages from the towns of Mahaplag, Baybay an
Inopacan went to the office of Leyte Gov. Jericho Petilla to submit
resolutions asking the provincial government to help them find "justice".
The village officers were accompanied by soldiers of the 43 rd
IB led by 1st. Rommel Canto, information officer of the
battalion. The said petition was signed by close family members of the
alleged victims of "purging" as well as by village officials. The
resolutions however had noticeably the same wordings, blaming Prof. Jose
Ma. Sison, Rep. Satur Ocampo and Mr. Luis Jalandoni.
Lagunzad
said that having soldiers "accompanying" village officials to the
provincial capitol was reminiscent of the time when now-retired Maj. Gen.
Jovito Palparan was in the region. During that time, soldiers made it
compulsory even for sick peasants to attend anti-communists rallies in
several towns of Samar.
Fr. Santiago
Salas, spokesperson of the National Democratic Front in Eastern Visayas (NDF-EV),
in a statement accused the Armed Forces of the Philippines to be behind
the resolutions. He said that the military is only pushing the victims of
the Anti-VD hysteria to free the Arroyo regime of any culpability for the
killings.
He assailed
those leading the petitions like Virgilio Tanaid and Zacarias Piedad who
are self-confessed military assets and should be "rightfully rejected as
in the pay of the military and working as psywar operatives".
Salas
reiterated his sympathy for the families of the Anti-VD hysteria's
victims.
In his
latest statement he said, "the revolutionary movement has always
sought to render justice to the victims and their families. There may be
some that the revolutionary movement has not yet reached out to. We pity
them if they will only be deceived and exploited as tools of fascism and
reaction by a cruel regime that is causing great suffering to the people.
We assure them that their grievances will be surely heard and heeded
because their revolutionary movement acknowledges its mistakes and
rectifies them to serve and lead the people well."
Salas said
the Inopacan “mass grave hoax” will not be the last, as the military
“resorts to transferring the skeletal remains of unknown individuals from
place to place, and then "exhuming" these in front of the mass media as
alleged victims of the NPA.”
He added
that in March 2002 in Candelaria, Quezon, the AFP Southern Luzon Command
announced that they had "discovered" the mass graves of 64 victims of the
New People’s Army. These were in addition to 200 skeletal remains that the
military had allegedly found around Mt. Banahaw, as well as the claim that
4,000 NPA fighters had been executed in the preceding decade.
“All of
these claims were exposed by the CPP as false. In May earlier this year,
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and the 26 th IB announced the
finding of mass graves in San Fernando, Bukidnon. This too, came to be
false with the "mass grave" they were claiming turned out to be a
graveyard of the Lumads.” Bulatlat
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