1st Pulang Bagani Company
Merardo Arce Command
Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command
New People’s Army
Press Statement
11 April 2007
NPA denies killing of family of four in Calinan
The 1st Pulang Bagani Company of the New People’s Army in Southern Mindanao categorically denies any hand in the brutal massacre of the Gonzaga family in sitio Bulan-Bulan, Barangay Dalagdag Calinan last Monday, April 9.
DAVAO CITY — A mountaineering group said the fate of Ian Caasi, the mountain climber who drowned at Mt. Apo?s Lake Venado during the observation of the Holy Week, exposes the absence of concrete policies for the safety of mountain climbers and Mt. Apo visitors.
Jumar Bolo, chairperson of the Kinaiyahan Amomahon, Ubanan ug Bantayan (Kauban) Movement, said the death of Caasi could have been avoided had the tourism department, the primary agency responsible for inviting people to climb Mt. Apo, set-up safety measures which could have assured the safety of the mountaineers.
Reference: Analyn Lumawag; 09187984512
14 Abril 2007
Press Statement
OPLAN BANTAY LAYA 2: Mas Bangis sa Katawhang Pilipino
Kahinumduman nga gikan sa tuig 2002 hangtud 2006 gipatuman ang usa ka programa sa kontra-insurhensya nga mao ang OPLAN BANTAY LAYA 1. Tumong niini nga sumpoon ang insurhensya sa nasud nga matud sa panggamhanan mao ang gamot hinungdan nga nagpabiling mitiurok ang ekonomiya sa nasud. Apan natapos ang tuig 2006 pakyas kini sa pagsumpo, inay mas migrabe ug nagkalapad ang han-ay sa katawhan nga diskuntento sa pagdumala sa administrasyon ni Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Mas misamot ang kagutom ug kalisod sa katawhang Pilipino. Ang pobre misamot kapobre ug ang adunahan misamot ka-adunahan. Sa pagsulod sa tuig 2007 diin mao usab ang panahon sa pagpili og bag-ong mga lideres nga maoy modumala sa atong nasud ug mangulo sa katawhang Pilipino.
April 13, 2007
Reference: Jigs Clamor, Deputy Secretary General (Mobile No. 09228149751)
Karapatan-Panay Sec Gen ambushed, 2 other human rights defenders abducted
Continuing executions and abductions show “business as usual” for state security forces
The Philippine human rights group Karapatan today condemned the frustrated killing of its Panay Island Secretary General Jose Ely “Leeboy” Garachico, 50 years old, and the abduction of two other human rights defenders who were with him in Iloilo.
The initial report gathered by Karapatan reveals that Garachico, along with Nilo Arado of Bayan -Panay and Luisa Posa Dominado of SELDA-Panay, were traveling in Oton, Iloilo last night at around 10PM when a van overtook their vehicle and shot Garachico in the neck. The assailants then forced Arado and Dominado out of the vehicle. They have not been located until now. Garachico is receiving medical attention at the Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital.
DAVAO CITY — The military on Friday appeared to have changed its position that Grecil Buya was a child combatant of the communist New People’s Army. Grecil was the nine-year-old girl from Compostela Valley who was killed during an encounter between communist rebels and soldiers on March 31 and whom the military earlier tagged as a member of the New People’s Army.
Instead, the military, which earlier said that soldiers were forced to shoot and kill Grecil because she allegedly had a firearm, now says it was not even sure whether the soldiers or the rebels shot the girl.