Rights group says military ‘child warrior’ yarn untrue

‘Victim 9, not 12, was bathing in river’

INQUIRER.net
Last updated 12:09pm (Mla time) 04/06/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- A human rights group refuted military claims of having killed a New People’s Army (NPA) “child warrior” in a March 31 clash, saying the victim had been bathing in a river when she was killed.

Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights), in an urgent action alert it issued, also said Gracel Galacio was only 9-years old, not 12 as the military claimed in news reports. The military also identified the girl as Graciel Buya, which the rights group said it the family name of her mother.

According to the military, aside from the girl, Army Private First Class (PFC) Ruben Bracera was also slain in the alleged clash in sitio (sub-village) Simsim, Kahayag village, New Bataan town, Compostela Valley.

The military claimed “the child was spotted earlier in the area [where the class occurred] with her M16 [rifle],” and was killed when “the soldiers had to fire back at the creek area from where the heavy fire that hit PFC Bracera was coming from.”

It held up the incident as proof of “the NPA's continuing program to recruit minors as their combatants," adding that three other M16s and two M14 rifles were recovered by the troops while a homemade shotgun, M14 ammunition, combat gear and subversive documents were later taken when the girl’s home was raided.

However, in its alert, Karapatan said around 8 a.m. the day of the incident, Gracel and brother Gary, 6, “asked permission from their parents Gregorio Galacio and Virginia Buya to go to the nearby river to take a bath.”

Half an hour later, gunfire broke out.

Gary called out to his sister, the Karapatan alert said, but “ran off out of fear leaving Gracel behind.”

The children’s parents, with two others daughters, also fled their house when they heard the gunfire. Virginia, said the alert, “was supposed to follow Gracel and Gary to the river, also to take a bath.”

After the firing died down, “Gracel was found dead a few meters away from their house,” a bullet through the left side of her head blowing her brains out and another bullet through the elbow, Karapatan said.

The human rights group, however, did not say whether or not a clash between the government troops and the NPA had taken place or if the girl may have been caught in the crossfire.

It did claim that a resident who fled the area reported that the gunfire that had apparently killed the girl had come from high ground where a platoon from the 28th Infantry Battalion, commanded by 2nd Lt. Francis John Gabawa, was positioned.

Karapatan said the soldiers later showed village chief Eulogio Almasa a photo of the dead girl with an M16 beside her.

However, it said, neighbors of the Galacios and Almasa himself supposedly “attested that there was no rifle and ammunitions [sic] seen beside Gracel's remains when they found her.”

“Almasa also vouched to the fact that the girl, or any member of her family, is a not a member of the [NPA],” the Karapatan alert added.

“In fact last March 27, 2007, Gracel Galacio finished second grade at the Simsimin Elementary School, New Bataan, Compostela Valley Province with class citations,” it said.

It also said that the child was “almost the same height as the rifle,” which would make it improbable that it was hers as the military claimed.

The Karapatan alert urged that letters, emails or fax messages be sent to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza, the Department of National Defense, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez and Commission on Human Rights chair Purifiacion Quisumbing demanding, among others, an independent investigation into the girl’s death and “immediate and proper indemnification.”
Nonoy Espina


Copyright 2007 INQUIRER.net. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.