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Friday, June 23, 2006
'Mass grave' found in Monkayo cemetery
By Ben O. Tesiorna
DAVAO CITY -- Authorities discovered a "mass grave" in a cemetery in Barangay Olaycon, Monkayo, Compostela Valley, Wednesday afternoon.
The exhumation that afternoon was, however, halted when unidentified armed men reportedly harassed authorities by firing shots in the air.
Compostela Valley Representative Manuel Zamora said authorities acted on unconfirmed reports that 18 bodies wrapped in plastic bags were dumped in the area sometime last year.
Zamora said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Manila sent an 11-man team along with 20 operatives of the Regional Mobile Group to check on the reported mass grave.
The authorities started digging the area around 1 p.m. Wednesday and discovered a box that resembles a coffin.
Zamora said that while the exhumation was ongoing, a series of gunshots were heard coming from higher ground.
He said the team decided to temporarily halt its exhumation and resume it in the morning of Thursday.
Police Regional Office director for Southern Mindanao Ricardo Quinto reportedly sent a reinforcement to secure the area.
As of Thursday morning, authorities recovered skeletal remains of a male person wrapped in five plastic sheets inside a small wooden box buried four feet below the ground.
A forensic expert from the NBI, who requested anonymity, said they will be conducting a series of examinations on the skeletal remains, such as DNA testing and dental records comparison, for identification purposes.
Cave-in victims?
Reports were rife that the bodies believed buried there were of small-scale miners who died during a cave in at the Sunshine Tunnel in the gold rush mountain of Diwalwal last year.
Not confirming or denying the report, Zamora said that anything is possible.
He said this is the reason why the NBI sent a team of forensic experts to see if there were indeed bodies in the area and to determine their identities.
Monkayo Vice Mayor Avelino Cabag was in the area but was barred by the police from going inside the cordon.
Cabag admitted being surprised by the NBI and Regional Mobile Group operation in his municipality, saying security officers did not cooperate with local officials.
Even the police provincial office was unaware of the operation in Olaycon.
Cabag said some of their constituents claimed they have relatives buried in that area.
Asked why there were no markers in the grave, Cabag said these could have been destroyed by some carabaos living in the area.
Authorities, however, found it impossible to believe claims that the skeletal remains they found was given proper burial since these were wrapped in plastic and placed inside a small wooden box. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(June 23, 2006 issue)
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