BRUTAL KILLING — Government authorities dig through loose soil on the slopes of Taguikan Creek in Barangay Binicalan, San Luis, Agusan del Sur where a lumad man, his wife and his brother were hastily buried in a shallow grave by unidentified attackers last June 5. The man’s three children remain missing even as his 10-year-old son was able to survive the massacre and pinpoint to lawmen the place where his parents and uncle were killed. (Photo courtesy of 4th COMB)
The attack on the Bocalas family was swift and brutal.
Father Lando Bocalas, his five-month pregnant wife Julina, and his brother Mancolobe were gunned down by still unidentified lawless elements in Mount Katalawan, Barangay Binicalan in San Luis, Agusan del Sur last June 5.
Three of Bocalas’ children – Rosalyn, 8; Bahanan, 6; and Bayubasan, 4 – have been reported missing.
This tragic tale was relayed by Lando’s eldest son who was able to hide after the initial volley of shots that ambushed the Talaandig family at Taguikan Creek.
The 10-year-old boy, whose name was withheld by authorities, trekked across Mount Katalawan for several days and was able to make it back across the border to Bukidnon where he was able to recount his family’s fate at the Cabanglasan municipal police station.
From what the boy told them, police authorities gathered that last June 5, the Bucalas family left their home at Purok 3, Barangay Freedom, Cabanglasan, Bukidnon on their way to Mount Katawalan.
It was while they were traversing Taguikan Creek when they were attacked by the heavily armed men.
Based on the boy’s account, a rescue and retrieval operations were conducted by both the military and police in the area.
“It took almost four days of hike in the mountainous area just to reach Taguikan Creek where the bodies of the victims were retrieved,” said First Lieutenant Karl Jan S. Devaras, Public Information Officer (PIO) of 4th Civil-Military Operations (Kasaligan) Battalion (4th CMOB).
The bodies of Lando, Julina and Mancolobe were found by the soldiers and policemen in shallow graves at 8 a.m. on June 9. The three children were not to be found.
“The initial investigation conducted by the combined ground troops of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP) and local authorities showed that the perpetrators of this barbaric incident were Armed Lawless Groups (ALGs) operating in the area,” the 4th CMOB officer said, in a phone interview with Manila Bulletin yesterday.
After the recovery of the bodies of the slain Bocalas family members, troops from the Eighth Infantry Battalion (8th IB), the PNP and local authorities started hot pursuit operations against the ALGs operating in the area.
Top mission for the pursuing troops would be to recover the Bocalas children, according to Devaras.
Motive for the killing has yet to be determined by the police investigating team in San Luis town, he added
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