Army exhumes NPA purging victims in Leyte

From the Philippine Information Agency (Jan 26): Army exhumes NPA purging victims in Leyte

MACARTHUR, Leyte – Army from the Ormoc City-based 802nd Brigade led by its commander, Col. Dinoh Dolina, unearthed Friday the remains of two allegedly liquidation victims of the New People’s Army (NPA). Discovered by local residents in  shallow graves in barangays Lanawan and San Vicente, this town, the killings were believed to be three decades ago.

These barangayas are located in the hinterlands of MacArthur and reported to be once the hotbed of the rebels in the 80’s.

The family of the victims identified the remains to be that of Necostrates “Tasting” Novio from Brgy. San Antonio, this town and Lolieto “Rudy” Custodio from Brgy. Mag-aso, La Paz, Leyte.

According to Nicostrates’ 59-year-old son Reynaldo, his father who was to serve as a cook was abducted on his way to Manarog, a nearby barangay then celebrating a fiesta.

Reynaldo believed that the skeleton and clothes unearthed in a farm in Lanawan belongs to his father, the same polo and pants worn when he [his father] left in August 1984.

While the remains of Lolieto which were exhumed in a steep mountain of Brgy. San Vicente, was more intact with arms and feet still tied up and the skull with blindfold cloth.

Lolieto’s son Bartolome, 43, recalled that he was first year high school that time when the rebels abducted his father at their coconut farm in Brgy. Mag-aso where they tied him with his three other relatives.

“Maybe, I am now at least a high school graduate as what my father dreamt for me,” the sad Bartolome shared to reporters.

The families of the victims alleged that members of the NPA abducted them because they were suspected to be working in connivance with the government forces as intelligence operatives.

Meanwhile, Col. Dolina said that proper identification of the remains will undergo a thorough investigation, afterwhich, it will be turned over to the claimant families for proper burial.

“This time around, since the families have seen and identified their missing parents, they can now put a stop to their search and perhaps, move-on after giving a decent burial,” Dolina said.

Present also during the exhumation were members of the Philippine National Police-Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO), LGU and barangay officials, Human Rights and Religious sector, members of the media, the family and relatives of the victims.

Col. Dolina has been encouraging more witnesses to surface for possible location of burial sites of NPA purging victims.

He recalled that in August 2006, the military unearthed 67 remains of NPA massacre victims in a mass grave in Inopacan, Leyte. They believed that the NPA executed 300 individuals in Leyte in the 80’s who were either members of the NPA suspected of working for the military or ordinary farmers who were not in any way supportive of the NPA.

Dolina is urging the dwindling member of NPAs to return to the folds of law and work as one towards peace and development. He noted that the rebel forces in Leyte continued to weaken after super typhoon Yolanda in 2013.

The officer hopes that they continue to lie low and avail of the government’s Comprehensive Local Integration Program to start a new and peaceful life with their families.

“We want to win the peace. I am sad when an NPA dies during encounter. I am sad when we recover firearms during encounter. But when we get arms when one surrenders, I am happy. They see how serious our soldiers are in performing the mandate in helping our fellowmen,” Dolina said.

http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1211422238139/army-exhumes-npa-purging-victims-in-leyte