COMPOSTELA VALLEY Karapatan belied here today the claim of military official recently that killed Anakpawis coordinator Alfonso Capiales in Nabunturan, Compostella Valley Province was a military informer.
“Feeding the public with vicious lies could not absolve them. For whatever garbage the military is mouthing in, the only factual truth is that Capiales was not a military informer,” Kelly Delgado, secretary-general of Karapatan Southern Mindanao said.
This as the group learned that Alfonso Capiales was a peasant leader of Magsaysay Farmers Association (Mafa) and an officer of Nagkahiusang Maguuma sa Nabunturan (Namana). Capiales was also an ex-barangay captain of Brgy. Magsaysay in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley Province and was never been a military informer as confirmed by a resident in Barangay Magsaysay.
According to Berting (name withheld) a resident of Brgy. Magsaysay said in a statement “Dili tinuod na si Tatay Ponso usa ka informer sa militar. Dugay na nako kauban si Tatay Ponso usa lang siya ka lideres sa Magsaysay Farmers Association (Mafa) na tagatabang sa mga mag-uuma diri sa Nabunturan, ComVal.”
The result of the initial investigation of a Fact Finding Team dispatched by Karapatan SMR together with peace advocates group last July 10 in Brgy. Magsaysay in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley Province showed that Alfonso Capiales was pinned down by soldiers of 60th Infantry Battalion based in Compostela Valley Province saying that Capiales was a member of the communist underground movement because of his involvement in a peasant organization that is chapter organization of Kilusang Mangbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP).
According to Kelly Delgado, secretary-general of Karapatan Southern Mindanao said that prior to the assassination of Alfonso Capiales. A certain Macario Moreno who was a rebel returnee known as Mak-Mak from the 60th Infantry Battalion conducted a pulong-pulong about the AFP’s insurgency program in Brgy. Magsaysay, Nabunturan in Compostela Valley Province.
The said pulong-pulong, Delgado added, tagged progressive partylist group such as Anakpawis as front organization of the communist movement here in the country.
“It is very clear that this activity illustrated the desperate move of the military to discredit the marginalized sectors of our society,” Delgado said.
The Fact Finding Team has known also that Alfonso Capiales was summoned by the military days before he was assassinated to the Magsaysay barangay hall to admit and surrender on suspicion that he was a member of the New People’s Army.
According to Brgy. Captain Colberto Tibay, Alfonso Capiales was enlisted in the Order of Battle (OB) as revealed to him by the military since Alfonso Capiales was the coordinator of Anakpawis in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley Province.
“The military is now beyond the verge on exercising its barbaric and unjust authority over civilians even on mere suspicion that they are members of the New People’s Army (NPA),” Delgado said.
“Civilians should not become objects of attacks in the hostilities. Yet, the AFP’s Oplan Bantay Laya, a counter-insurgency policy and program that is being implemented on a national scale, has taken its toll on the civilians who are presumed and judged to be enemies of the state or are abetting the enemies of the state,” Delgado added.
Karapatan urges the local officials of Nabunturan Compostela Valley Province, the municipal peace and order council to conduct a thorough, independent and impartial investigation on the aforementioned incident and effect the immediate prosecution who perpetrated the abused.###
IMPORTANT NOTICE: INBOX is an archive of press releases, statements, announcements, letters to the editors, and manifestos sent to Davao Today for publication. Please email your materials to davaotoday @ gmail.com. Davao Today is not responsible for the content of these materials. The opinion expessed in these items does not reflect those of Davao Today and its staff. Please refer to our terms of use/disclaimer.
Extrajudicial Killings
