Army: Soldiers fear women, children might be compromised

From the Sun Star-Cagayan de Oro (Sep 26): Army: Soldiers fear women, children might be compromised

A report from the Army shows that the soldiers failed to engage with the suspects of the lumad killings as they feared getting the women and children caught in the crossfire.

The army version of the incident said the soldiers saw everything that happened from a vantage point a few hundred meters away but could not moved for fear of harming the civilians.

The report said the soldiers received an order from the commanding officer of the 75th Infantry Battalion “to engage (the armed men) provided that the civilians will not be harmed.”

The soldiers replied, “We cannot engage the armed elements because of the presence of many civilians including women and children.”

The soldiers reported that the armed suspects started leaving the village using the civilians as human shields at around 7 a.m.

The report furthered the soldiers were about 120 meters away from the suspects but could not fire fearing for the safety of the civilians.

The suspects kept on firing their guns as they retreated, the report reads.

The suspects later released the civilians who returned to their homes to pack their belongings and flee.

With this incident, the Army authorities place under court martial a fresh graduate from the Philippine Military Academy and reprimanded his company commander for the September 1 incident that left one school director and two others dead in Surigao del Sur, all lumads.

Maj. Gen. Oscar Lactao, commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division (4ID) said the Board of Inquiry (BOI) also recommended the relief of an Army major who served as the officer of the day of the 75th Infantry Battalion.

Lactao said these officers were held for command responsibility for allegedly not taking any actions to protect the civilians in Sitio Han-ayan, Barangay Diatagon in Lianga town, Surigao del Sur last Sept. 1.

4ID spokesperson Capt. Patrick Martinez said the army officers maintained that they were exercising their “judgment call” in the unfolding events of the killings of the school director and his two companions.

“The young Army officer is now confined at the 4ID headquarters in Cagayan de Oro City,” Martinez said.

Martinez withheld the names of the officers pending the outcome of the court martial.

Unidentified armed men killed Emerito Samarca, 54, Executive Director of the Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development (Alcadev), a school for lumads; Dionel Campos, chair of the nongovernment organization Malahutayonh Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod (Mapasu), a lumad organization protesting mining operations, land conversion and plantations; and Bello Sinzo, Campos’ cousin in Sitio Han-Ayan.

The killings triggered a mass evacuation of some 3,000 residents who feared they would be killed too after the gunmen paraded Campos and Sinzo around a basketball court and killed in front of them.

The Philippine National Police have filed multiple murder; arson; robbery and grave threats at the Provincial Prosecutors Office in Lianga, Surigao del Sur against Bobby Tejero; his older brother, oloy alias Abab; Gareto Layno; and several John Does of the Bagani paramilitary group who were held responsible for the killings.

An Army Board of Inquiry report said the concerned officers and the soldiers were deployed in Sitio Han-ayan as part of the Community Organization for Peace and Development under the “Oplan Bayanihan.”

The soldiers arrived in Sitio Han-ayan on August 15 after a send-off ceremony held by Gov. Johnny Pimentel in Lianga town in Surigao del Sur.

The BOI report said the soldiers deployed around the village and, guided by a soldier who is a Manobo, mingled with the residents.

The report said another team of soldiers also went up a hill overlooking the two non-formal schools for lumads; Alcadev and Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS).

On September 1, the troops heard gunshots fired and learned there was some commotion near the Alcadev school, the report said.

“The troops saw 20 unidentified armed men wearing camouflage, others wearing sweat shirts and bonnets. Likewise, the troops saw more or less 100 civilians in chaos being rounded up by the armed men,” the report said.

Citing accounts from witnesses, the Army BOI report said the armed men rouse the students and teachers of the two schools and residents and gathered them at a basketball court and at Alcadev.

The report said the armed men introduced themselves as “Magahat,” an alleged paramilitary group, whose men confiscated all mobile phones and laptops.

The armed men also burn a building full of canned goods and sacks of rice and attempted to burn several adjoining buildings including the Alcadev schoolhouse.

Around 5:30am, the suspects brought Samarca to the second floor of the ALACADEV schoolhouse and slit his throat using a spear. The BOI report said Samarca died instantly.

An hour later, the suspect shot and killed Campos and Sinzo in front of the residents, teachers and students at the schoolhouse of TRIFPSS.

“All of us were shocked and screamed, and because of fear we ran and scattered to different directions,” according to accounts of the witnesses.

As of 10 a.m., the village of Han-ayan was deserted.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/local-news/2015/09/26/army-soldiers-fear-women-children-might-be-compromised-432575