A government soldier take photographs of fact-finding team going through the documentation process in Pangantucan.
Reports reaching Manila indicated that the massacre of five members of a Manobo community in the municipality of Pangantucan, Bukidnon on August 18 was not the only human rights violation committed allegedly by the military in what it claimed was a legitimate encounter with the New People's Army (NPA).
A fact-finding mission put together by 20 human rights and religious organizations was able to document the following:
- Torture of five people, the victims dubbed "Pangantucan 5": Datu Herminio Samia, his son Jobert and grandson Norman, and brothers Ramil and Emer.
- Frustrated extrajudicial killing of two of the victims' neighbors.
- Threat, harassment, and intimidation of 30 people, including the victims and residents.
- Coercion of three people.
- Violation of rights of eight children, including a victim's five younger siblings who stopped going to school.
- Food and economic blockade for 32 families.
- Divestment of property in the case of Herminio's home.
- Destruction of property in the case of Herminio's home.
- Four instances of the use of civilians as a guide or shield.
- One instance of the use of a public place for military purposes, in the case of a barangay hall.
- Threat, harassment, and intimidation of 115 members of the fact-finding mission delegation.
Both groups were armed and asked to be guided by the neighbors to their comrades' camp.
Frightened, the neighbors did as they were told even if at least one of them did not know where the supposed camp was.
The first group reportedly ended up in Herminio's home. Jobert, Norman, Ramil, and Emer were there, as well. With them were Herminio's son 15-year-old "Nono" (not his real name) and Heminio's daughter-in-law Nelly Jane and her father Henry Cayuhay.
When their guide said he could no longer accompany them, the "NPA members" asked Norman to be their guide.
Neighbors heard gunshots about 40 minutes later, according to the report.
By 6:00 p.m., the reported further indicated, Nono arrived at the house of another neighbor, where the residents had gathered. He said that his father was killed by soldiers even after he pleaded to be taken as their prisoner, instead.
The residents wanted to go to the site, but Nono told them the soldiers no longer distinguished civilians from combatants, and would shoot anyone they saw.
The report quoted Nono as saying Nelly and Henry went home when they heard the gunfire, and that Norman had been able to return to Herminio's house to tell them the men he was guiding were really members of the military and had joined other men in army uniform.
Nono said the soldiers arrived after Norman's return and ordered them to come out of the house.
Nono obeyed, but when he saw the soldiers shooting his companions, he ran.
They fired at him too, he said, and shouted that they would eventually hit him.
According to the report, 27 residents went to Herminio's house on August 19, where they found soldiers guarding the bodies. They supposedly told them not to touch the corpses, and said these were the bodies of NPA members and that they had confiscated an AK47 from the corpses.
This was what the residents saw: "Emer, who lay face-up, still had his arms above his head. There was a bullet wound on his leg and his throat was slit. Norman ... was also lying face-up, the right half of his head blown – his right ear had been torn off. Ramil was also lying face-up, his right hand was chopped off, and his throat was also slit. Jobert had both his legs shot, and his throat slit. Herminio was the only one not in the line, his body near their coffee trees. His stomach was torn, and his throat was also slit."
The residents told the participants of the fact-finding mission that the soldiers ordered the men to line up with their back to the soldiers and their hands raised above their heads. They were then asked who among them were NPA members.
One of the soldiers also kept unsheathing a bloody bolo, while the others kept cocking their guns.
They then ordered the residents to carry the bodies to the barangay hall, and during the trip, asked who among them were "masa".
A dump truck reportedly carried the bodies away to be processed by morticians, the report said.
The bodies were brought back to the community the following day, and on August 21, were buried.
According to the report, the community's situation had not improved since then.
Residents now had to get permission from the soldiers to go to their farms.
They were also only allowed in their farms from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., which was why many families did not do so anymore. They were also afraid of being accused of being NPA members.
Those who went with the fact-finding mission added that soldiers loitered around while the residents were being interviewed for the documentation, and that the soldiers were there taking photos of the participants.
The participants of the fact-finding mission recommended the immediate pull-out of the military from Brgy. Mendis, the investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators, and the guarantee of the community's security.
They also stressed that the victims were clearly civilians, especially since they had government documents such as identification cards for PhilHealth, the 4Ps, and the Commission on Elections.
They accused the soldiers of "bastardizing" indigenous traditions, given that embalming was not part of the native practice of the Manobo community. Rather, they usually hold a wake for the dead for one night, then bury him or her the following day.
The Manobo also perform a ritual when a death is violent, to appease Magbabaya (God), who is offended when any of them is brutally killed.
However, the community was unable to observe all this as the bodies were taken out of the community for embalming.
The participants of the fact-finding mission added that a datu like Herminio was a respected individual in the community, and his murder sows fear in the community. If a datu can be killed, more so would it be easier for a non-titled community member to be killed.
The participants of the fact-finding mission also stressed that the Manobo were deprived of the right to assert control over their ancestral domain, as the soldiers barred them from gaining access.
"The families want justice to be served, for the military men involved to be taken off service and jailed accordingly," the report said.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/117359/more-hr-violations-unraveled-in-pangantucan-5-massacre-than-initially-reported
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