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Human rights activist wounded in ambush, companions abducted

April 13, 2007
Updated 10:28:49 (Mla time)
Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Inquirer

ILOILO CITY -- An officer of a human rights organization was wounded in an ambush while his two companions were abducted by still unidentified men in a town near here Thursday night in what is seen as the first attack on political activists on Panay Island.

Jose Ely Garachico, 51, public information officer of Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights) in Panay, was driving a Mitsubishi pick-up truck with his companions, Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado and Nilo Arado, when waylaid around 9:30 p.m. in the village of Cabanbanan, Oton town, some seven kilometers south
of this city.

Garachico was hit in the neck and was taken to the Iloilo Doctors Hospital here where he may need to undergo surgery.

Dominado, 52, spokesperson of the Samahan nga mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Para sa Amnestiya-Panay (Association of Ex-Detainees Against Detention and For Amnesty or Selda-Panay), and Arado, chairman of the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan, New Patriotic Alliance)-Panay, are believed to have been taken by the assailants, Police Officer 2 Rey Pabalan of the Oton police station said.

Although wounded, Garachico managed to tell investigators about the incident.

He said the three of them were on their way back to this city from Antique province's capital town of San Jose when they noticed a green colored Mitsubishi van tailing them in Tigbauan town, 14 kilometers south of Iloilo City.

The three had just attended an assembly of the leftist party-list group Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) in Antique, said Hope Hervilla, regional coordinator of the activist party-list Bayan Muna (People First).

Garachico tried to outrun the van but it managed to overtake and cut the path of the pick-up he was driving.

Two armed men in short pants and t-shirts got off the van, shot Garachico and ordered him to alight from the driver's seat.

One of the armed men took over the vehicle and drove away with Dominado and Arado still onboard, leaving Garachico behind. Arado is also a national council member of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement of the Philippines).

Garachico was taken by the village chief to the police station and then to the hospital. Witnesses said the hijacked vehicle and the van sped off in the direction of Oton town proper and Iloilo City, according to Pabalan.

Police immediately set up check points in Oton but failed to apprehend the suspects or locate the missing activists.

Hervilla condemned the attack and immediately blamed the administration and the military.

"We could not think of other persons or groups responsible other than the death squads unleashed by the administration and the Armed Forces of the Philippines," Hervilla said in a telephone interview.

"They have brought the murders to Panay after spilling blood in other parts of the country. We demand justice for all the victims and the release of our two missing colleagues," said Hervilla.

Dominado and Garachico were detained during the martial rule of former president Ferdinand Marcos. Dominado is one of the longest detained political prisoners in Western Visayas, having spent seven years in jail despite managing to escape her captors thrice.

Originally posted at 1:01am

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