From the pro-CPP online publication Bulatlat posted to the pro-CPP Bicol Today (Mar 12):
Military rules in Bicol region
Newly installed 903rd Deputy Brigade Commander Col. Samuel Felipe. The 903rd Infantry Brigade based in Poblacion, Castilla, Sorsogon. Photo courtesy of PIA
GUINOBATAN, Albay – Before Felix Paz, 81, became a peasant
leader in the Bicol region, he was a farmer himself. Having his own share of
hard work in the fields during his days as a farmer, Paz told Bulatlat.com,
life is harder for farmers now because – they do not just worry about making a
living. Their rights are violated by no less than the government itself.
Paz was among the supporters of farmers from communities in
Guinobatan, Albay who held a protest action last Feb. 25. Though it coincided
with the commemoration of the first EDSA uprising in 1986, their protest was
far from celebrating the supposed restoration of democracy in the country.
Peasants from Bicol region held simultaneous protest actions
in Guinobatan, Albay, Bato, Camarines Sur and in Barcelona, Sorsogon against the continuing
militarization in their respective communities.
“We are united in fighting for our basic rights,” Vince
Casilihan of Karaptan – Bicol, said.
Signing at military’s logbooks
Karapatan-Bicol said the Aquino government tried to sugarcoat
Oplan Bayanihan by calling soldiers conducting military operations as
“Community Peace and Development Teams.” But in reality, they said, violence
lies beneath the military’s relief and disaster response and supposed campaigns
on human rights.
Under President Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan, a counterinsurgency
program patterned after the U.S. Counterinsurgency Guide of 2009, the human
rights group said, nothing much has changed.
The human rights group documented 86 cases of human rights
violations from July 2010 to December 2012. These include harassment, killings,
torture, physical assault, surveillance, use of schools and other public
facilities for military purposes, among others.
Various towns of Guinobatan, Albay, such as Batbat,
Cabaluaon, Onggo, Pood, Balite, Palanas, Sinungtan. Bololo, Malipo, Malobago
and Doña Mercedes, were among the pilot areas of Oplan Bayanihan.
“(One common occurrence) is the interrogation of residents,
who, soldiers claim, are supporters of the New People’s Army. Ordinary peasants
and workers who are living in rural communities need not become victims of
these human rights violations,” Casilihan said.
In the village
of Pood, one of the pilot
areas of Oplan Bayanihan, Meriam Pardines, 32, was tagged by members of the military
as a supporter of the New People’s Army. In a fact sheet sent by the human
rights group to Bulatlat.com, Pardines was summoned by the soldiers at around
10:30 a.m. She was brought to the community’s chapel for interrogation.
“According to Meriam, one of the soldiers placed a knife on
the table while the investigation was happening. There were several times when
soldiers acted as if they would slap her because she, according to them, was
lying. They threatened her that they would burn down their house if they find
out that she was lying. The interrogation lasted for about 30 minutes,” the
report read.
In another pilot area of Oplan Bayanihan, in the village of Bololo in Guinobatan, residents heard
three gunshots coming from the direction of the 2nd Infantry Battalion
detachment in their community on Aug. 15, 2011. Karapatan – Bicol reported that
these gunshots were fired by soldiers who were having a drinking spree at that
time.
The following day, at around 1:30 p.m., peasants Anna Brenda
Rosero, 40, Oscar Rosero, 44, Benito Mangampo, 46, Ramon Bangampo, 58, Faustino
Paje and Nelson Paje were invited to the military barracks. Soldiers took their
pictures of them and told them to put their thumbmarks on a blank paper, which
would supposedly “clear” their names. They refused to do it.
As a result, six of them were told to pay the military a
visit three times a day to sign in their logbook.
Forced signing in logbooks of the military is also happening
in other villages of Guinobatan.
In Sinungtan, Severito Ortecio was invited to the village
hall by the military on Aug. 4, 2011. He was interrogated by soldiers and
tagged as a supporter of the New People’s Army, Karapatan – Bicol said in its
report. According to soldiers, Ortecio is an active members of the “Milisyang
Bayan,” whose name purportedly appeared on a list they got from the rebel
group.
He was forced to sign a blank paper to supposedly “clear” his
name but he refused. As a result, the military wanted him to go to their
barracks everyday to sign in their logbook.
His neighbors Salvador Oyardo and Rudy Rosales were also
invited by the military to go to the village hall on Aug. 16, 2011 on two
separate instances. They, too, were interrogated and were forced to admit that
they are supporters of the New People’s Army and that they regularly attend the
meetings the rebel group held.
“(Oyardo) was also threatened that if he would not admit it,
something bad would happen to him and to his family,” the report read. Soldiers
then took Oyardo’s photo, with him on it holding a placard that read “GMP.” He
was also asked to sign and put his thumbmark on a blank paper.
“Peasants could no longer go out of their villages. They have
to ask the permission of the military and sign in their logbooks. They now see
soldiers as their landlords,” Casilihan said.
Casilihan added that soldiers said they have to keep peasants
from going in and out of the community as for “security purposes.”
“They said they need to monitor every move of residents. And
so that members of the New People’s Army could not visit the community,” he
said.
In other towns
Troops belonging to the 42nd Infantry Battalion arrived in
the town of Bato
in Camarines Sur on October 15, 2012. They reportedly visited former town mayor
Jaime Gonzales to coordinate their deployment not the incumbent mayor Jeanette
Bernaldez. Among the villages where there are confirmed military deployments
are Buluang, Payak, Salvacion, Sooc, Cotmon. Cristo Rey, Guyudan, San Juan, San Roque, Sagrada, San Isidro and Pagatpatan. About 10 to 16
soldiers are deployed in each village.
In the village
of Sooc in Bato,
Camarines Sur, residents decried the occupation of their health center for
military purposes. Soldiers also stationed two of their barracks in the middle
of the community, which, according to Karapatan-Bicol, “poses danger to
residents should there be a gun fight between soldiers and the New People’s
Army.
Karapatan-Bicol, in its report, said they also tried to reach
out to locals of the village
of Cotmon, also in Bato,
but the villagers were afraid to talk to them. Again, they cited fear from soldiers
who are also deployed in their community.
Here, soldiers, too, used their village hall, which is
surrounded by homes belonging to locals, for military purposes. According to a
village official, they allowed the military because “they were not using it.”
Locals, too, have been summoned in village halls by soldiers,
where they were reportedly interrogated and tagged as supporters of the New
People’s Army, Karapatan-Bicol said. There were 15 and 20 documented cases of
interrogation in the village
of Sooc and Payak,
respectively.
Even village officials, themselves, were not spared from
interrogation. Kagawad Roland Reyes was summoned four times by soldiers
deployed in Buluang since the troops were deployed there last Oct. 9, 2012.
Another local, Jessie Talagtag, was also invited to go to the military barrack
and was tagged as a supporter of the New People’s Army.
Karapatan-Bicol, on the other hand, reported that in Buluang,
five locals were hurt because of indiscriminate firing reportedly committed by
members of CAFGU. They are Romar Talagtag, 36, Jerson Talagtag, 36 and three
minors Gerald Din, 16, Jasmin Talagtag, 11, John Paul Talagtag, 6.
“Even with all the documented abuses of the military, the
local government does not lift a finger to pursue justice for the victims,”
Karapatan-Bicol said in a report the group sent to Bulatlat.com.
The group, together with the Ecumenical Bishops Forum, held
various dialogues with local government officials. But to no avail.
“There were several instances when we reached out to the
local government officials of Guinobatan but there was no response, which could
directly address our concerns on human rights violations,” Casilihan said.
“Somehow, it was of help that the (Commission on Human
Rights) came up with an advisory, forbidding the military to use schools and
village halls,” Casilihan said, “They followed (the advisory) for a while. But
a year later, we observed that they started using schools, village halls, among
others, for military purposes.”
“(The military) is using these public facilities as a place
where they could have their drinking spree, their home and their barracks,” he
added.
Livelihood
Militarization, according to peasant leader Paz, is
endangering livelihoods of farmers and farm workers, who are also facing cases
of displacements from land owners.
These farmers, he said, earn mainly from planting rice and
coconuts. “According to our study, they earn roughly $2.25 a day,” Paz said,
“There were cases that peasants left the community and the land they are tilling
because they were afraid of the harassments they were getting from the
military.”
Paz said he got several reports that when a peasant is seen
doing work in the fields, “a soldier would go to him and interrogate him if he
saw a member of the New People’s Army in the area. If they respond that they
have not seen any, the soldiers hurt them.”
He was consistent in saying that these kind of harassments
never happened during his time. He started working in the fields at the age of
12 to support his family. Harassments, for his part, from state security forces
later came into the picture. He has been charged with trumped-up cases, and had
“visits” from the military, when he was already known as one of the most
outspoken peasant leader in the region.
“Peasants usually wake up early in rural areas. They do not
go out to the fields when it is still dark. They also go home earlier than
before,” Casilihan said, “They could not go and do as they wish. They fear that
if they do something, which soldiers might deem as out of the ordinary, they
would be interrogated or worse, killed.”
Paz also expressed his concerns for several peasant families
who are sending their daughters to Manila
to work as household help for fear that they might be impregnated by soldiers.
“It is tearing families apart.”
Casilihan said they received reports where soldiers
impregnated women from the communities. Their families, however, did not want
to speak out because they are worried of the embarrassment it might cause them.
Impunity and injustice
Aside from calling to put an end to militarization, activists
from the Bicol Region also remembered those who have died under the
government’s Oplan Bayanihan, and lamented that justice remains elusive.
Last Feb. 25 was the first year since the killing of the
Mancera family – Benjamin and sons Michael and Richard. The military claimed
that it was a legitimate encounter and that Benjamin was a New People’s Army
fighter. But Karapatan-Camarines Norte and Karapatan-Bicol concluded after its
three-day fact finding mission that the incident was a massacre.
“Oplan Bayanihan here in the Bicol Region is violent, bloody,
inhumane and deadliest in the history of our region. It is bloody because only
under Aquino, 37 individuals have become victims of extrajudicial killings.
Children, mothers and even village officials, too, are not spared,” Casilihan
said, “Even those who are not members of progressive groups are falling victims
to human rights violations.”
