Bulacan now killing fields of militants

First posted 03:45am (Mla time) Mar 11, 2006
By Carmela Reyes, Tonette Orejas
Inquirer



Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the March 11, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

MALOLOS, Bulacan—Bulacan has turned into a "killing field" of members and leaders of militant organizations, an official of a human rights group in the province said following the murder of another militant leader on Thursday.

Santiago Teodoro, chair of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Bulacan, was gunned down as he was driving in Barangay Barihan at 9 p.m. Thursday. He was the 20th militant leader killed in the province since 2005 and the 47th in Central Luzon, according to Bayan records.

(View list of murdered leaders and members of party list groups)

Fr. Rolando de Leon, spokesperson of the Alyansa ng Mamamayan para sa Pantaong Karapatan, attributed the string of killings in the province to the military.

"Bulacan turned into a killing field when the military came. That's the time when the number of cases of murder, abduction, etc. increased," he said, adding that the attacks intensified
Print this story
Send this story
Write the editor
Reprint this article
View other stories


when Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan assumed command of the Army's 7th Infantry Division last September.

Palparan has denied military involvement in the killings.

De Leon and Fr. Vicente Ignacio, secretary general of Bayan-Bulacan, demanded the pullout of soldiers from the province and called on Army officials to respect the rights of citizens.

But Col. Noel Clement, commander of the Army's 56th Infantry Battalion in Norzagaray town, said: "It is sad that everything is being blamed on us."

Clement said the military presence in Bulacan was aimed at ensuring peace and order.

Silence

De Leon lamented the silence of Bulacan officials on the killings.

He said his group suspected the military to be behind the attacks because those killed were considered "enemies of the state" or suspected to be members or sympathizers of the communist New People's Army.

He cited the case of Rogelio Concepcion, 36, chapter coordinator of the labor group Anakpawis in San Ildefonso town, who was abducted on Monday night.

Concepcion's relatives and colleagues believe that he has been killed by his abductors.

Teodoro was driving with his wife late Thursday when two motorcycle-riding men pulled up next to their car and fired shots, hitting him in the neck, his wife Lucila told Manila radio station dzRH.

"I heard a pop, and I thought it was just glass breaking. Suddenly I noticed a motorbike beside us, and I looked in my husband's direction and saw his body already limp," she said.

Foiled attempt

In another incident yesterday, the secretary general of the Bayan Muna party in Isabela escaped a slay attempt.

Baby Mendiola, 54, said she suffered bruises when she sought cover from two men who tried to shoot her in her house in Echague town.

She said one of the men, who was armed with a .45-cal. pistol, shot at her house before fleeing with his companion.

In Baguio City, Joan Carling, chair of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, said the military had included in its "order of battle" activist leaders in the region.

"We feel intensified harassment [from the government] with the release of this hit list," Carling said, adding:

"We expose the human rights violations and anti-people policies of the government, and we feel that this hit list's aim is to paralyze our activities and our membership and weaken our influence on the people."

But Lt. Col. Preme Monta, spokesperson of the Armed Forces' Northern Luzon Command, denied that there was such a list.

"There is no such thing. If they say that they got the hit list from a very reliable source in the military, they should file a formal complaint before a proper agency," Monta said.

Creating a climate

On Thursday, activists commemorated the first death anniversary of Romeo Sanchez, a Bayan Muna leader in the Ilocos, who was gunned down in a public market.

The London-based Amnesty International said on Thursday that comments by ranking government officials linking left-wing groups to communist insurgents were threatening to "create a climate within which further political killings may take place."

The US State Department also highlighted the killings in its annual human rights report, posted on the US Embassy website.

"Killings of community activists, church workers, lawyers and members of leftist political parties, particularly the left-wing political party Bayan Muna, increased during the year," the 2005 report said, adding that more than 40 activists, half of them party members, had been gunned down.

Killings, harassment

The US State Department concluded that the Philippine government "generally respected the human rights of its citizens," but noted that "pervasive weakness in the rule of law, official impunity and the wide disparity between rich and poor contributed to cynicism about official justice."

"It looks like they are resuming the political killings, combined with political harassment against us," The Associated Press quoted Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo as saying.

Ocampo is one of five party-list lawmakers who are now in the custody of the House of Representatives following threats of arrest in connection with the supposed plot last month to overthrow President Macapagal-Arroyo.

Bayan Muna said more than 80 of its members had been slain by the police and military since 2001. See list on this page.

But Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye denied that the government was behind the killings.

"It is not a state policy to trample on human rights," Bunye told radio station dwIZ.

He said "individual cases" would be investigated and justice would prevail. With reports from Villamor Visaya Jr. and Desiree Caluza, PDI Northern Luzon Bureau; Associated Press