NPA owns up to killing of Valencia Lumad brothers

From InterAksyon (Sep 28): NPA owns up to killing of Valencia Lumad brothers



The New People's Army (NPA) has owned up to the killing of two Lumad brothers early this month in the mountains of Valencia City, Bukidnon.

But Mamerto Bagani, spokesperson of the NPA's Mt. Kitanglad Sub-regional Operational Command, denied the claim of the military that the victims were abducted, tortured and mercilessly killed on September 13 at Purok 15, Sitio Tandakol, Barangay Lilingayon.

Bagani pointed out that the Licanay brothers, Reymund, 21, and Roy, 18, died in "an intentional armed clash" with a group of rebels just passing through the area.

He said the Licanay brothers were members of the so-called "Bolo Battalion" with connections to the military.

"The two died in the encounter. From the NPA team's report, they met these brothers in the forested area above Tandakol-Mintolod, at around 8 o'clock in the morning. After they crossed paths, the Bolo Battalion members opened fire with their short firearms. The NPA team immediately returned fire," Bagani said.

Hours after the reported killing of the Licanay brothers and their bodies were recovered, 4th Infantry Division public affairs chief Captain Joe Patrick Martinez, citing reports from relatives of the victims, announced that the victims were hunting wild animals when they were allegedly abducted and killed by the rebels.

Martinez claimed that the victims were tortured before they were killed, as indicated by the autopsy report that cited broken bones and lacerations. This was corroborated by the victims' father.

Bagani, however, denied this.

"Contrary to the statements to media of Junie Licanay, the father of those two who died, they did not suffer laceration and were not stripped of their clothes," Bagani said.

"It is not surprising if Junie Licanay's version tends to malign the NPA, because it is public knowledge to the locals that he is serving for years now as an agent of the 8th IB (Infantry Battalion), an infamous criminal and accountable for numerous instances of thievery, which for greatly perturbs the community," Bagani added.

According to the military, there have been 360 Lumad killings attributed to the NPA from 1980 to 2015. Of this number, 60 were recorded from 2012 up to the present.

However, according to human rights group Karapatan, there are 282 victims of extrajudicial killings, 73 of them are indigenous peoples. Of the 73, 57 are Lumad of Mindanao, as of August 31, 2015.

The group said the spate of Lumad killings in Mindanao provinces, especially in the Caraga region, has caused the displacement of some 60,000 persons as of June 30, 2015.

"The killings, massacres, evacuation, the army encampments in tribal schools, are part of [President Benigno] Aquino's Oplan Bayanihan. The counter-insurgency program also attempts to destroy people's unity by arming civilians and using them in military combat operations. The human rights violations will continue as long as this counter-insurgency program exists," Karapatan head Cristina Palabay remarked.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/118121/npa-owns-up-to-killing-of-valencia-lumad-brothers