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Saturday, September 27, 2003
Youth groups denounce deaths of ComVal activists
By Stephen Capillas
WITH chants like "Utang na dugo singilin sa fasistang militar (Blood debt collect from the fascist military) militant youth groups braved the afternoon heat to denounce the deaths of four rights activists in Maco town, Compostela Valley province Friday.
Groups like Anak ng Bayan, Anakbayan and Anak Pawis staged the rally in front of City Hall Friday afternoon to condemn the deaths of activists 18-year old Marjorie Reynoso, 16-year old Jonathan Benaro, 27-year old Lito Doydoy and 17-year old motorcycle driver Ramon Regase.
Reynoso, a Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chairperson of Barangay Anislagan in Maco is a municipal coordinator of Anak ng Bayan while Benaro is an SK Kagawad of Barangay Mapaang and Anak ng Bayan member.
Doydoy is an Anakbayan community organizer. All four were found brutally murdered at 12 p.m. last Sept. 23 in a shallow grave in Area 307 in Selecta Farm, Purok 1 Crossing Blanco in Barangay Osme¤a in Compostela Valley.
Karapatan group spokesman Ariel Casilao said the four were found by a plantation worker and a security guard clad only in their undergarments and with several stab and gunshot wounds in various parts of their hodies.
The victims, including two teenagers, were members of Karapatan's civic youth organization which has been highly critical of the military and the government.
Witnesses said they were seized by hooded armed men last Friday. Two of the activists had struggled to escape, but were shot in the legs.
One of the activists, 18-year-old nursing student Marjorie Reynoso, was gagged and bore gunshot wounds to the head, Casilo said.
The men, meanwhile, were dressed only in their underwear and appeared to have been tortured, he said.
The group believed certain members of the military intelligence unit were behind their abduction and killing but the armed forces has rejected the charge.
"We believe that the very motive of the abduction and killing of the four young members of this group is to harass, silence and gag progressive organizations critical of the government," Casilao said.
The military had earlier accused Karapatan of being a front for communist guerrillas, an accusation denied by Casilao.
Military spokesman Daniel Lucero said the armed forces were willing to help in the investigation of the murders, but denied any involvement in the crime.
"We deny this accusation," Lieutenant Colonel Lucero said, but refused further comment.
Anak ng Bayan Davao spokesperson Honey Mae Idul said the incidents are but reflective of the political harassment inflicted on them by the military.
"What they're doing is blatant intimidation especially on the ranks of activist student groups. Now they are deploying more troops into the Compostela Valley since it is one of the hotspots," she said.
Pia Amer Yuson, Anak ng Bayan-10 regional coordinator echoed these sentiments saying these killings are indicative of the "discrete presence of martial law" in the country.
"This also shows a vicious cycle of violence against the youth activist groups who mistakenly refer to us as New People's Army (NPA) sympathizers," she said.
For his part, Anak Bayan city coordinator Dave Lagurin said the crackdown on their ranks and similar groups starts even at the campus level where they are refused recognition by school administrations.
And in their press statement, Anak ng Bayan said they criticize the apathy of the PNP in investigating the case given that the abduction of the victims was done near their outpost.
"More than ever we demand justice (for their deaths)...The ever alarming condition of political repression will produce dissent from the people who hunger for justice," it said.
Earlier this year, the London-based Amnesty International reported that serious human rights abuses continued in the Philippines, including what it said were "unlawful killings."
Amnesty also cited that harassment, killings or disappearances of opposition politicians, activists, journalists as well as torture and ill-treatment of criminal suspects remained rampant.
The Amnesty report came after PresidentArroyo ordered an independent inquiry into the April murders of two activists also blamed on the military. With a report from AFP
(September 27, 2003 issue)
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