|
Monday, March 26, 2007
New gravesite for victims of NPA 'purge' found
MANILA -- Soldiers have reported uncovering nine burial sites where dozens of victims of the alleged New People's Army's (NPA) purges in the late 1980s were supposedly buried, a military spokesman reported Sunday.
Army spokesman Ernesto Torres said members of the Army 43rd Infantry Battalion (IB) were led to the gravesites on March 21 by informants he refused to identify.
Pinoy Votes: Sun.Star Election 2007 Coverage
Torres said the mass grave is located at the outskirts of Barangay Utanan in Hilongos, Leyte.
"The mass grave was believed to be a site where NPA victims were killed during purging operations of the NPA in the late 1980s," he said.
Exhumation
He said at least 15 victims were buried in the gravesites. "The troops have already located nine burial sites of the victims. There were 15 persons buried in the area," he said.
Torres said the Army is coordinating with the PNP Scene of the Crime Operations for the exhumation of the remains. "It is only after the remains are exhumed when we can confirm if they are indeed gravesites," he said.
Torres said witnesses have also revealed more gravesites in Leyte and the military is checking on these reports. He, however, refused to identify the areas named by the witnesses.
It was in Leyte where the soldiers and policemen exhumed 67 skeletal remains of civilians and NPA rebels last year. The remains were said to be of people executed by the communist group on the order of Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo in the 1980s.
Ocampo allegedly issued the order in his capacity as a then member of the Communist Party of the Philippines central committee. He is facing multiple murder charges in the province and was arrested on March 16 by Manila policemen. (VR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga. (March 26, 2007 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
