Human Rights

ComVal Farmers Decry Harassment, Burning of Houses

By BJ Absin
davaotoday.com

DAVAO CITY ? Farmers in Mabini town, Compostela Valley province, have accused the military of burning their houses and of harassing them afterward, allegedly for their failure to provide information on the communist New People?s Army.

Four farmers — Benjamin diola, Gabriel Ugapan, Dionesio Granada and Montano Anoda ? from sitio (hamlet) Darot, barangay (village) Libudon in Mabini town complained last week to the human-rights group Karapatan that elements of the 28th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army razed their houses and belongings during military operations on March 9.

Karapatan photo
This is what remained of one of the houses burned down allegedly by elements of the military. (Contributed photo)

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Alamara Disbandment Sought to End Terror in Paquibato

Paquibato leaders decry continued harassment of residents despite military?s assurance

By Cheryll D. Fiel
davaotoday.com

DAVAO CITY ? The disbandment of paramilitary units and the withdrawal of the firearms issued to them by the Philippine Army are some of the recommendations put forward in a City Council hearing last week that looked into the atrocities allegedly perpetrated by the dreaded Alamara in Paquibato District, this city.

An 8 p.m. curfew in the whole of Paquibato was also suggested to the military to distinguish residents from the bandits who are said to be terrorizing residents in the hinterland area.

These suggestions came up during the investigation launched this week by the City Council committees on civil, political and human rights, and peace and public safety.

The investigation was prompted by the massive evacuation in recent weeks of Paquibato residents, which were in turn triggered by several unsolved murders in the area and the harassments allegedly by the Alamara, a group of armed Lumads allegedly created and controlled by the military to assist in its counter-insurgency operations in Paquibato.

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Activist Youth Snatched, Interrogated Inside Van

By Cheryll D. Fiel
davaotoday.com

DAVAO CITY ? A young activist was forcibly taken Friday night by men believed to be government agents and was interrogated inside a van for an hour.

Raunil Mortejo, chairman of the progressive youth group Anakbayan in Davao City, said he had just stepped out of his office in Juna Subdivision, Matina, Friday evening when unidentified men forced him inside a blue Nissan Urvan with tinted windows and covered license plates.

The van parked in a dimly lit portion of Acacia Street a few blocks from the Anakbayan office. There, Mortejo said, the men interrogated him and asked him about the people who frequent the office, which Anakbayan shares with Bayan. They also asked him about the activities of the people inside the office and what campaigns Bayan was planning.

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2 More Paquibato Residents Killed as Bandits Continue Rampage

By Cheryll D. Fiel
davaotoday.com

DAVAO CITY — Two more residents in Paquibato were killed last week, the latest in the spate of killings in the hinterland district allegedly perpetrated by a bandit group that has ties to the military.

The victims, who came from different areas in Malabog, a village in Paquibato, had been stabbed; one of them, a 25-year-old man identified only as Luciano, was slashed in the neck. The other victim, Reynaldo Ca?ete, 35, also lost his carabao to the killers.

Generoso Baon, an official of Malabog, told the GMA-7 news program Testigo that the bandits had been running amok after Mayor Rodrigo Duterte announced a bounty for their capture.

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