Sunday, August 31, 2008 Military wants to bring NGO to verify mass grave findings By Mia E. Abellana Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE Central Command is entertaining the possibility of inviting human rights group Karapatan Central Visayas to join them in their next visit to a mass grave.
Col. Raymundo Bañares, commander of the 78th Infantry Battalion, said Friday that they hope Karapatan could also send a fact-finding team the next time they visit a mass grave.
Last Friday, a joint military and police team dug out the remains of nine alleged victims of the New People’s Army (NPA) in Sitio Mayana, Barangay Gaas, Balamban.
“It could be a joint effort. Baka sabihin nilang gawa-gawa lang namin, kaya mas mabuti kung samahan nila kami (They might accuse us of fabricating things, so it would be better if they join us during these trips),” Bañares told reporters.
Balamban Mayor Alex Binghay earlier told reporters there at least 100 victims of the NPA buried in mass graves all over the town.
He claimed that in the 1980s, there were at least four NPA commanders based in Balamban. Today, however, he assured that there are no more communist insurgents there, saying he would not have built his house in Barangay Gaas if they were still around.
Another grave that authorities plan to locate is that of three men who were buried not far from the house of the Anugot family.
This was after a witness told police that farmers Alfredo Sabate, Victoriano Bacus and Mario Gaviola were buried in another sitio in Barangay Gaas. They were also allegedly executed by the same men who killed the Anugot family.
The killing of the Anugot family and three farmers made the headlines in 1985.
Sun.Star Cebu’s archives showed that a fact-finding committee was formed to look into the unsolved killings.
National Democratic Front spokesperson Rio dela Montaña sent a message to Sun.Star Cebu yesterday, denying the NPA’s involvement in those killings.
“The perpetrators were not NPA members but local marijuana planters under the protection of some Marcosian-minded (Armed Forces of the Philippines) AFP-PC-INP men,” dela Montaña’s text message read.
“Upland Balamban barangays then were almost synonymous with marijuana planting in the ‘80s. The motive for the massacre was the victims’ refusal to plant marijuana, thus the anger of marijuana planters in the area,” he added.
Dela Montaña also said the date in yesterday’s story was wrong because the massacre happened in 1984. However, Sun.Star Cebu archives showed that the massacre of the Anugot family and the three farmers was in October 1985 and that the committee’s hearings lasted until December that same year.
Dela Montaña alleged that pinning the massacre on the NPA was propaganda to divert the attention from extra-judicial killings in the country.
“Its (AFP) lies are very clear, its efforts will fail. Rights abuses during Marcos and beyond continue to inspire the NPA to fight for genuine freedom and democracy. We will not forget Fr. Rudy Romano, the Anugot family and many victims of Marcosian madness,” dela Montaña said.
Lawyer and Sun.Star Cebu columnist Frank Malilong was one of the members of the fact-finding committee. It was called the Cardinal Vidal-Integrated Bar of the Philippines fact-finding team chaired by Danilo Deen.
Malilong told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday that a resolution was signed by everyone in the committee and that the witnesses presented to them by the Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police (PC-INP) and Bayan were “subjected to intense questioning by the panel.”
He hopes the police and military team will have a look at the results of their investigation, as they submitted these to the police, the Archdiocese and the IBP.
Karapatan, for its part, claimed the military was “twisting historical facts.”
They claimed it was the military that massacred the family.
“Surviving colleagues of the Anugot couple in the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and the now defunct Panaghugpong sa Mag-uuma sa Sugbo are witnesses to how the notorious 66th Infantry Battalion, 341st Philippine Constabulary Company and the Military Intelligence Group haunted the family with threats until finally peppering them with bullets,” said Karapatan-Cebu chairperson Poch Cinco.
