The soldiers struck Molato on his right and left ribs and on his chest.
“They said it was my sons who switched the landmine,” Molato said.
The soldiers said that Molato’s son Jimboy was only three meters from where the landmine exploded. Jimboy jumped into a nearby creek when he heard the explosion. Molato said Jimboy was about 50 meters away from the explosion site. The soldier hit Jimboy on the chest and struck him on the face several times. He was made to open his mouth, where a soldier pointed an armalite.
“Tug-an na, dong aron maluwas imong papa ug igsoon nga ikaw NPA ug ikaw nagpindot sa landmine (Admit, so that your father and brother will be saved. That you are an NPA and you had switched the landmine.),” the soldier told Jimboy.
Mateo Molato said they did not know anything about the landmine which exploded near where they worked and wounded four soldiers. (davaotoday.com photo by Jose Hernani)
“They treated us like animals,” Jimboy said.
One soldier also hit with an armalite Molato’s son Richard twice on the stomach. Richard was asked to stick out his tongue, while a soldier holding out a blade threatened to cut it.
“They asked me where we were when the landmine exploded,” Richard said.
Another soldier pointed a gun at Richard’s head and counted one to three.
Molato said the soldiers stopped beating them only when it was already dark. The three men spent the night sleeping on the ground, with their clothes and bodies full of dirt.
The next morning, soldiers brought Molato and his sons to a military detachment in sitio San Pablo. On their way to San Pablo, Molato said they were made to carry bags, firearms and other thing belonging to the soldiers. He said he feared the soldiers planted those firearms as evidences.
The soldiers turned them over to Malabog police station in Paquibato. One of the soldiers, a certain Toto Palma, threatened to kill them if they get out of the jail.
On November 25, the three were brought to the Regional Trial Court where they were charged with multiple frustrated murder and illegal possession of explosives.
But Molato said the only thing that the soldiers got from them was a bolo. They left two other bolos and some extra clothes in the farm when they fled during the explosion.
“They filed charges against us but I swear we never did those things,” Molato said, “They might have recovered landmine residues but those were not from us.”
The police turned them over to the Mintal police station where it would be easier for them to attend the court hearings because the police station is nearer.
He said that at the Mintal police station, men he thought as soldiers continued to visit them to ask if they were NPAs.
“I hope the truth will come out,” he said. “We are farmers, not NPAs.” (Grace S. Uddin/ davaotoday.com)
