By GRACE S. UDDIN | Davao Today
BOSTON, DAVAO ORIENTAL Residents of barangays Simulao and Caatihan said government soldiers are getting back at them after sustaining losses in a September encounter with the Communist New People’s Army.
Villagers said soldiers mauled and illegally detained three men from Simulao for two days and tied them to a tree. They also allegedly robbed a civilian’s motorcycle and destroyed several properties in Barangay Caatihan. In the hinterlands of Tubungan, in Barangay Caatihan of Boston town, soldiers stopped and confiscated three sacks of rice that two men bought from Boston upon suspicion that these are supply for Communist rebels.
Soldiers also held twelve youth in the detachment for questioning even as an estimated 50 families fled their homes because of the intensified military operations.
Villagers recounted these in a fact-finding mission led by multi-sectoral group Exodus for Justice and Peace (EJP) on October 21 to 24 to Simulao, an upland barangay about 20 kilometers of steep, rocky road from Boston town of Davao Oriental.
Laorenci Latiban, 45, said her family fled barangay Simulao on October 7 after neighbors got a text message telling them to leave because an encounter was about to happen.
She packed up kitchen utensils, clothes, her remaining cash of eighty pesos and brought her three children with her to join other families aboard a Saddam truck that brought them to Anislagan, a lowland barangay around eight kilometers away.
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
September 22 The NPA attacked the 36th IB-AFP detachment in Cabunsuan in Linging town; and later ambushed the AFP troop reinforcements.
September 24 The NPA again ambushed government troops in Bogak, also in Lingig in Surigao del Sur.
September 26 AFP claimed three soldiers were killed and 14 were wounded after they stepped into a landmine.
September 30 An encounter between the NPA and soldiers in Simulao in Boston, Davao Oriental. The NPAs claimed 19 soldiers were killed and 20 were wounded in these series of offensives in September, that also killed one NPA rebel. But the AFP said only eight soldiers were killed since the September 24 battle.
October 6 Soldiers were seen in barangay Caatihan, the same day that the motorcycle of Salito Masumbid of Caatijan was stolen. One of the soldiers said their companion took the motorcycle.
October 7 An estimated 50 families fled Simulao
October 11-13 Soldiers caught three men from Simulao and allegedly tortured them in the hinterlands of Banwaan
Ocotber 22- 24 Fact-finding mission by the multisectoral group Exodus for Justice and Peace in the barangays of Simulao and Caatihan
But the text message turned out to be a false alarm, so, the next day, Laorenci’s family went home. Her neighbors decided to stay in barangays Anislagan and San Jose, where they felt much safer compared to their community in the upland.
Five days later, Jerry Manaytay, 28, and two others suffered physical abuses from soldiers who accused them of being NPA members.
Jerry and four other men left for the mountains of Banwaan at around seven in the morning to hunt for wild boars. They brought along their ‘bolo,’ a “bangkaw” (spear), ‘bukakang’ (crude shotgun), and a carbine that one of them named Tomas, had kept hidden in the forest.
They were already hunting for six hours when they saw soldiers approach. Two of their companions ran, leaving Jerry and two others to face the soldiers.
The military asked them how many companions they had and what kind of firearms they brought with them.
“Only a ‘bukakang,’ sir,” Jerry said.
The military asked whether they had an M16, a garand or a carbine. Jerry said that one of their companions had a carbine. Hearing this, the military accused them of being NPA members.
“I told them that we are not NPA,” Jerry said.
The soldiers who ran after the two men came back bringing the carbine that Tomas had dropped.
“You are a liar!” the soldier faced Jerry. “You said you do not have a firearm.” The soldiers insisted that Jerry owned the carbine.
They covered Jerry’s eyes with Jerry’s own jacket. Then, suddenly, somebody hit his left ear. Jerry collapsed. He recovered only after almost 10 minutes.
Then, the soldier hit his back with the carbine.
(Until the EJP factfinding team arrived in the village two weeks later, Jerry said he could still feel the pain in his head and his left ear.)
But during his ordeal, his eyes were covered, so, he could not tell what happened to his two companions.
One of them, Vicente, told the EJP that a soldier hit him many times in his ribcage. Then, they tilted his head and poured two liters of water unto his nose.
The soldiers brought them to the upper portion of the mountain and tied them to a tree, near a mound of black ants.
The next morning, at around 8 am, the soldiers brought them down to the highway with their hands tied again. The soldiers took the cover over their eyes. They walked two kilometers to the highway, where they boarded a ‘Saddam’ truck that brought them to the military detachment in Barangay Carmen in Boston.
