NEW BATAAN, Compostela Valley – The family of slain civilians in New Bataan, Compostela Valley lamented that they did not deserve the killing of their kin especially that they accommodated the soldiers in its civic activities in the area.
Farmer Lando Dagansan, 43, and his son Mario, 15, were killed by two soldiers from the 66th Infantry Battalion last October 12 in Taytayan, Barangay Andap, New Bataan. The AFP apologized for the incident and claimed their troops mistook the two civilians as New People’s Army guerrillas.
Lando’s brother-in-law, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the day before the incident, they assisted the military in its medical mission in Manurigao, a barangay where the Dagansans till their farm.
He said that Lando was also a member of Barangay Defense System which was organized by the military.
“We did everything and yet this is what we got from them in return. They brutally killed our kin!” he said.
The family said they were also dismayed when they saw the two bodies were “placed on top of the morgue’s table like a meat to be sold in the market. They weren’t covered with anything.”
“The military was responsible for their death, but they didn’t even bother to cover them with some cloth,” he said.
Charlito Lindo, one of the relatives of the victims, described the bodies as “neglected.”
“There were two military trucks outside the morgue, but no one cared,” Lindo said.
Lindo said that Lando was remembered by the community as a “simple and smiling person, respected and well-loved.”
Lando’s wife, Gloria, described her husband as “a simple, hardworking man.”
Meanwhile, Lando’s youngest son, Mario was described as “a very hardworking and diligent boy.”
“He always accompanied his father in the farm,” Lindo said.
Last Thursday, the New Bataan tribal council met with the military in a three-hour dialog held at the Sangguniang Bayan.
Former Indigenous People Mandatory Representative Daniel Pangantupan, based on customary laws “the perpetrators must be killed.”
66th IB Commander Michael Logico said that while they recognized the customary laws of the indigenous peoples, they will follow “due process” in the country.
The family of the victims demanded a dozen of cow, pig, and chicken, a dozen of farming tools, cash equivalent of the guns used by the killers, and the removal of the perpetrators in AFP service.
In response, the military accepted the demands and asked for a time span minimum of two weeks up to one month in order to gather all the demands by the tribal council and family of the victims.
Karapatan, for its part, said that “the military is trying to cover up to crime that they have committed to Mandaya father and son.”
“The monetary, non-monetary, and apology will not serve as payment to the double murder but this indemnification is just part for calling of justice to the victims,” Suazo said.
Suazo added that “the justice for the family and support groups will be the imprisonment, prosecution and conviction of the perpetrators–the military.” (davaotoday.com)
