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Friday, September 26, 2003
Unknown men trailing us, activists claim
By Ben O. Tesiorna
DAVAO -- A youth leader said the group behind the killing of three of his friends and their driver has been monitoring the movement of other activists in Region 11.
Jeppie Ramada, Anakbayan Davao Chapter secretary general, said Thursday that unidentified men on a maroon Tamaraw FX with gray sidings have been monitoring the moves of youth activists in the past two days.
He said they first noticed the vehicle, with plate number LDV 875, on Wednesday night, while they were on their way home from a meeting at the Bayan office in Juna Subdivision in Matina, Davao City.
Ramada said they did not pay any attention to the vehicle at first but it turned around and honked its horns loudly at them.
"Nahadlok na mi mao na nga midagan pud dayon mi pasulod balik sa opisina sa Bayan," he added. (We were so scared, we ran inside the Bayan office.)
The persons who witnessed the abduction of Marjorie Reynoso, 18, Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson; Jonathan Benaro, 16, SK councilor; Lito Doydoy, 27, barangay community organizer; and tricycle driver Ramon Regase Jr. saw the same maroon Tamaraw FX with gray sidings before the kidnapping incident.
Farmers who discovered the beheaded head of Reynoso near where the bodies of her companions were buried also saw the same vehicle near the plantation in the town of Maco in Compostela Valley.
The bodies of the victims were exhumed Tuesday.
Residents of Maco claimed they saw the suspect in the abduction of the three youth activists and their driver using the vehicle.
They identified him as a certain Willie Javier, reportedly an asset of the military intelligence group (MIG).
Military officials, though, denied having an asset by the name of Willie Javier.
Another military official said Javier might have been a military asset in the past but is no longer connected with the intelligence group at present.
Still unknown men abducted Reynoso and three others at around 3:30 p.m. last Friday in Tagum City while they were on their way home to Maco, Compostela Valley.
They were found buried in a shallow grave in a banana plantation in Maco on Tuesday, their bodies bearing multiple stab wounds and in advanced state of decomposition.
Militant groups accused the military of being behind the death of the four victims, a charge denied by military officers.
Lt. Col. Agane Adriatico of the AFP Civil Relation's Group even suggested that the NPA could be behind the murder of the militant youths. He explained the youths were used by the communist group as its "sacrificial lambs" so it could achieve its goal to bring the government down. Sun.Star Davao
(September 26, 2003 issue)
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