Accounts of two survivors
Oscar Leuterio, 48, and Ruel Marcial, 23, were among the few lucky ones who survived after being abducted and tortured heavily. Leuterio was released more than five months after his abduction and only after agreeing to become an asset of the AFP. Marcial escaped from his captors. The two were abducted separately: Leuterio in Doa Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan, on April 17, 2006, the other in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija on May 22, 2006. Their accounts of torture at the hands of their captors, who they identified as AFP soldiers, and what they witnessed point to the possible accountability of the military and Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo as the commander-in-chief, in the spate of political killings and forced disappearances.
A victim and a witness
Interviewed by Bulatlat in a church in Manila, Leuterio related how he was tortured and how he had witnessed the sufferings of other detainees, four of whom are still missing as of this writing and one who committed suicide after enduring heavy torture.
Leuterio, a security guard with the Metal Ore Company in the town of Doa Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan, was abducted together with Bernardo Mendiola, operations manager of the said company, and two workers, spouses Vergel and Teresita Calilap at noon of April 17, 2006.
While Mendiola was distributing the wages of the companys 60 workers, around 30 armed men in civilian clothes and wearing ski masks arrived. Using force, the men took the four with them. Leuterio, Mendiola, and the workers knew that the armed men were from the 56th Infantry Battalion assigned in the area.
True enough, the soldiers first brought them to Camp Tecson, the headquarters of the First Scout Ranger Regiment (FSRR) in San Miguel, same province. Once inside the camp, Leuterio said, they were hurled into a hut where they were beaten by their abductors. Leuterio said he was hit on the head by a 2×3 piece of wood. The same wood was used to pound his hands and feet. Bloodied, Leuterio lost consciousness.
It was only after Leuterio agreed to become a military asset that the beatings slowed down. Kaya sa simula pa lang pumayag na ako sa gusto nila basta makalabas lang ako, he said, Nakipaglaro ako sa kanila (I agreed to what they were asking early on so that I would be released. I played their game).
Two days later, Leuterio and the three others were transferred to Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija where they were kept in four cells apart from each other. The floor, walls and ceiling inside each cell were in concrete, he told Bulatlat, while their doors were made of steel, each with a lock.
The torture room was at the left of the cells. A toilet separated Leuterios cell from the torture room. Across the cells was the jailguards room and beside it was the terrace where the jailguards would spend the night drinking liquor.
