NPA killing in Bukidnon exposed

By Bob on May 29, 2006 in News, Terrorism

PANACAN, DAVAO CITY (27 May) — The military has unearthed more atrocities committed by the New People’s Army rebels in the countryside, the latest of which were the mass execution of rebels and civilians alike, the recruitment of child warriors and the abduction and the rape of teenage girl by a rebel commander.

All of these atrocities occurred in the town of San Fernando, Bukidnon and were documented by the 26th Infantry Battalion based in Cagayan de Oro City, and has evidence that cannot be fabricated like photographs, eyewitnesses, and other documentation.

There are 21 skeletal remains, including that of a minor and most of the victims were summarily executed as they are suspected to be military assets. But others were also killed as they were accused of various crimes such as wife-beating, joining a cult, or rape and ‘not supportive of the Communist terrorist Movement’.

At least twelve witnesses, including a barangay captain, four former rebels and relatives of the victims, came out and gave testimonies to the members of the 26th IB who investigated the slayings.

Some of the witnesses also disclosed that the NPA recruited minors who were issued M14 rifles and who were asked to recruit other children. One of these young warriors captured by soldiers was a girl aged 16 who said she was raped and forced to become the wife of a certain Commander Butoy.

The residents of the said Barangay assert that they are not communist influenced but rather a communist-terrorized barangay. Now that they have sought the help and protection of the military, they felt safe and confident that the rebels will not be able to terrorize them any further. These “human rights violation of the communist-terrorist movement” were exposed in a briefing attended by National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, Brig. Gen. Cardoza Luna, Commanding General of the 4th Infantry division and those who witnessed the rebel atrocities.

“Clearly now, the criminal NPA showed their real skin to the public, the oppressor of their so called mass base. Because they cannot get the respect, they use intimidation and threat to force the innocent civilians to cooperate with this terrorist.

I look forward to the day that this kind of brutality will be loudly criticized and condemned by the militant groups such as Karapatan and Bayan Muna. The victims of the NPA’s are Filipinos also that deserves their attention and support,” Major Jose Maria R. Cuerpo II, Group Commander, 5th Civil Relation Group said. (5th CRGNEWS/PIA)

AFP expects rise in NPA executions in 2008

By Nikko Dizon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:34:00 02/10/2008


MANILA, Philippines--The military's Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) has warned that summary executions carried out by "communist terrorists" (or CTs) against the Armed Forces of the Philippines and civilians are likely to increase in 2008 as indicated by the 11 killings recorded in the Bicol Region in the past month alone.

In a statement, the Solcom also took a swipe at the media, foreign and local human rights organizations, and United Nations Human Rights Special Rapporteur Philip Alston for supposedly ignoring the atrocities of the New People's Army (NPA) while "persecuting" the military in the alleged extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

"As the government is continuously being persecuted by human rights advocates here and abroad for alleged summary disappearance of leftists and CTs, these enemy atrocities continue without being noticed, (t)hanks to the media who chose to keep mum about these incidents," the statement emailed to reporters said.

It continued: "Alston et al ignored these extremely disturbing phenomena despite evidence left by the killers near the cadavers of victims and despite press releases by the CTM (Communist Terrorist Movement) themselves owning up to the killing of their victims which they always justify as alleged verdicts of their so called "Hukumang Bayan" or their "Kangaroo Court."

The Solcom is the AFP's area command in the Southern Tagalog and Bicol regions.

According to Solcom, most of the NPAs' victims were civilians suspected of being military informants.

It said that of the 11 recorded executions this year, 10 took place in Bicol, and seven of the victims were civilians.

The lone case recorded in Oriental Mindoro in Southern Tagalog was the killing of a military soldier.

The Solcom said the victims were either abducted then executed or assassinated by hitmen "right at the gates of the victims' houses even in full view of their family members."

It said that based on the "trending," liquidations initiated by the communist guerillas "is likely to surpass that of the 2006 and 2007
figures as the CPP/NPA continues to terrorize the people to dissuade them from gravitating towards the government in a desperate attempt to arrest the continues downtrend of mass base support in SOLCOM area."

"The dwindling strength of the CTM brought about by the neutralization efforts of the government forces and the exodus of many dispirited members who (have) gone on lie-low status, has further degraded their capability to conduct tactical offensives thus forcing them to settle for liquidation operations to project a semblance of strength and to prop up their statistics on CT-initiated activities," the Solcom said.

The Solcom said it recorded a total of 152 "liquidation cases perpetrated by the CTs" from January 1, 2006 to February 6, 2008.

Eighty-four percent of the killings happened in Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate, and Sorsogon, said the military.

Sixteen percent took place in the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Quezon, and Rizal.

According to Solcom, the executions increased by 43 percent in 2007 compared to the previous year.

It said that in 2006, a total of 56 executions were reported while in 2007, 80 killings were reported.

The Solcom statistics were based on compiled spot reports and daily intelligence briefs from 2006 to early February of this year.

NPA commander, wife face murder raps in Maasin City

By Jani Arnaiz
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 17:10:00 04/02/2008


MAASIN CITY, Philippines -- A top commander of the New People’s Army in Eastern Visayas, who was arrested in Bacoor, Cavite, along with his wife Clarita, would be brought to the city for arraignment.

Jaime Soledad, 58, would be arraigned in the Regional Trial Court here for murder charges filed against him before the RTC here, said Senior Superintendent Nilo Donaire, Southern Leyte police provincial director.

"Definitely he would be brought here because he could not be arraigned without his personal presence," Donaire said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

He said Soledad and his wife, who was from Inopacan, Leyte, were already in Tacloban City and would be brought to this city anytime this week.

Jaime Soledad is facing murder charges after he and other alleged top ranking rebel leaders were linked to the 1985 murders of suspected government agents found in a mass grave in Inopacan, Leyte in 2006.

Separate multiple murder charges have been filed against Soledad, his wife, and 12 others at the RTC in Baybay, Leyte. Soledad was also wanted for murder and frustrated murder in another case filed at the RTC in Maasin City.

Olive Bernardo, Karapatan services desk coordinator, earlier said what happened to the Soledads was obviously an abduction and a case of illegal detention.

"They (police) did not inform the family and even their lawyers about the arrest. They even denied that they were holding the couple," she said.

A source close to the Soledads confirmed that the couple was already in Tacloban City and appeared to be "in good hands."

Jaime Soledad was the chief negotiator in Southern Leyte for the National Democratic Front (NDF) during a peace talk with the government in the late 1980s.

After the peace talks collapsed, Soledad went back to the underground movement and was wrongly reported to have been killed in an encounter in Albuera, Leyte, in 2006. His mother hails from Albuera.

Soledad is facing charges of 15 counts of murder before RTC Branch 18 in Hilongos, Leyte, together with Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison and other CPP top-NPA officials, in connection with the alleged communist purges in Inopacan town in 1985.

Alleged NPA kill farm caretaker in Negros Occidental town

By Carla Gomez
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 16:25:00 06/17/2008


BACOLOD CITY, Philippines -- Around 30 suspected members of the New People's Army (NPA) shot dead the overseer of a sugarcane plantation in the northern Negros Occidental town of Manapla on Monday, a police official said.

Senior Inspector Jose Laboyo, Manapla police chief, said Hermes Ostan, 39, Ostan was declared dead on arrival at the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City from gunshot wounds in the stomach.

Ostan was overseer of Hacienda Mary Ann in Barangay (village) San Pablo, which was owned by Freda Regalado before it was placed under agrarian reform.

The police and military said the killing of Ostan could have been retaliation for the murder of a local leader of the leftist National Federation of Sugarcane Workers (NFSW) on June 6.

Ostan was killed 11 days after Armando Dolorosa, vice president of an agrarian reform group based in Hacienda Mary Ann that was affiliated with the NFSW, was gunned down by three men wearing ski masks.

Police said 30 suspected NPA guerrillas, including three women, armed with M-16 and M-14 assault rifles, entered the hacienda compound looking for Ostan.

When they found Ostan in the hacienda warehouse, they hogtied him and took him outside then shot him six times in front of several residents.

Ostan was one of five persons invited for questioning by the Manapla police in connection with Dolorosa's death.

Laboyo said Ostan had denied any involvement in Dolorosa’s murder.

However, the police officer said he believed the killings of Ostan and Dolorosa are related.

Lieutenant Colonel Henry Dar, 15th Infantry Battalion commander, said Ostan’s killers withdrew towards Barangay Hiyang-Hiyang in Cadiz City.

Laboyo said the agrarian reform beneficiaries in Hacienda Mary Ann used to be members of the Democratic Association of Labor Organizations, an NFSW rival.

However, they affiliated themselves with NFSW after receiving certificates of land ownership award (CLOA) from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) last year.

Ostan was killed a day after Dolorosa was buried Sunday at the public cemetery of Manapla.

Police have said the suspects in Dolorosa's killing could be guns for hire.

Akbayan solon slams NPA for slay of pro-CARP peasant leader

By Marlon Ramos
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:56:00 06/17/2008


MANILA, Philippines -- Akbayan party-list Representative Risa Baraquel on Tuesday slammed the communist New People’s Army (NPA) for allegedly sowing fear among residents in Masbate following the rebels’ admission that they were behind the killing of a peasant leader allied with the party-list organization.

“You have no right to intimidate people who want to fight against abusive landlords and for their rights to land in a way different from yours,” an emotional Baraquel said at a news briefing at the Akbayan office in Quezon City.

“You have no right to torture and kill people just because they do not share your political beliefs."

Akbayan held the news conference after receiving a copy of the letter to Baraquel from Luz del Mar, spokesman of the NPA’s Jose Rapsing Command in Masbate.

In the 12-page letter, the NPA owned up to killing Mark Anthony “Butchoy” Vale, who was shot dead last December.

Del Mar likewise admitted that they briefly held Vale’s brother, Salvador, who claimed he was physically and mentally tortured by the NPA rebels.

Baraquel said the Vales are leaders of a peasant group allied with Akbayan in Barangay (village) Roroy, Batuan town, which openly supported the extension of the controversial Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

She said the rebels gunned down Vale and harmed his brother “simply because they did not support the NPA’s ideology.”

The solon said the incident was not only “an assault on democracy and human rights, but more particularly, on community organizing and state-sponsored agrarian reform.”

The letter, which was also posted on the website of the Communist Party of the Philippines on June 5, was the communist guerillas’ response to Baraquel’s privilege speech at the House of Representatives a few weeks ago.

In a strongly-worded letter written in Filipino, del Mar vehemently denied that the NPA’s “people’s court” handed out “revolutionary sentence” on Vale because of his different political ideology.

The group likewise denied that they tortured the Vale brothers.

“If they happened to be leaders of [Akbayan], we did not consider that as basis in handing out the punishment against them,” the NPA leader said. “In fact, they would have met the same sentence even if they belong to mass organizations allied with us.”

But Baraquel slammed the NPA’s letter as meant to terrorize their group and other people’s organizations supporting the call for the extension of CARP.

Akbayan, on the other hand, took offense at the NPA’s purported “warning against those pursuing a path different from that chosen by the NPA.”

“Akbayan condemns in the strongest possible terms this letter designed threaten democratic organizations like Akabayan, to create a culture of fear among people’s organizations and farming communities, and to warn against the pursuit of agrarian reform via CARP,” the group said in a separate statement.

Baraquel said they were willing to meet in a dialogue with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the CPP’s political arm, regarding the incident even as they are awaiting the official response of the communist group’s hierarchy.