Saturday, August 18, 2007 2 community workers claim: ‘We were kicked, mauled by rebels’ By Gil Alfredo B. Severino
AFTER working for two months as community organizers of the National Federation of Sugarcane Workers (NFSW), Joefril Along and Michael Celeste were presented on Friday to the media with some parts of their body showing healing torture marks.
Rope marks on their wrists and blood clot wounds at their backs apparently hit by armalite nozzle, punches and kicks in covered areas of their bodies, were shown to the media.
Along and Celeste recalled that last August 12, they were in the house of Amelia Lanuevo in Hacienda Elian, Barangay San Pablo, Manapla at around 4 p.m. when alleged members of the breakaway Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Bongcayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) picked them up.
“Out of nowhere, nine fully-armed men in full battle gears but with no patches, dragged them out, stopping only in houses forcibly asking those inside and pointing us to NPAs (New People’s Army),” they said.
Along and Celeste also claimed that they were also “remitted” to the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office (Noppo).
Last August 13 meanwhile, the Bayan and Karapatan groups led by Felipe Gelle and Fred Caña, respectively, were informed of the incident. The following day, Gelle’s group checked the Manapla Police Station yet the incident was not recorded there.
“Together with the Manapla police chief, Inspector Jose Labuyo, we checked the area and approached the village chief of San Pablo who, later, was able to identify the alleged abductors as members of the RPA-ABB based on the testimony of a certain Sergrant Balsado of the 12th Infantry Battalion (IB),” Gelle said.
“Then on August 15, we learned of a press conference conducted by Noppo chief Rosendo Franco that the Along and Celeste surrendered to the RPA-ABB, a presumption that the two were NPA altogether,” Gelle added.
