KIDAPAWAN CITY – An independent fact-finding mission concluded that there was an attempt to whitewash and cover-up the violent police dispersal of farmers protest here on April 1, Friday.
Atty. Ephraim Cortez, assistant secretary general for legal services of National Union on People’s Lawyers reported that “based on the evidences and statements from the witnesses that have been gathered, the crime scene was bulldozed immediately.”
“During the same period, items that the protesters left were burned by the police,” he said.
Minutes after the bloody dispersal last week, a firetruck immediately sprayed the ground, clearing bloodstains from both camps. A bulldozer arrived and started cleaning the debris left on the highway. (Earl O. Condeza/davaotoday.com)
Minutes after the bloody dispersal last week, a firetruck immediately sprayed the ground, clearing bloodstains from both camps. A bulldozer arrived and started cleaning the debris left on the highway.
Cortez said the cleaning of the site immediately after the dispersal “destroyed vital evidence that could shed light to the incident like bullet shells that can be used to match slugs found in the bodies of the victims.”
Cortez was part of the fact-finding and humanitarian mission, dubbed as “Tabang Kidapawan!” (Help Kidapawan!), which was composed of 27 nuns, human rights advocates, doctors, and other members of several non-government organizations, who conducted the probe here last April 4 to 6.
The group lamented that they had difficulty gathering data because the Philippine National Police and the local and provincial government denied them access to information.
Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay cited the presence of police and army troops outside the Spottswood Methodist Center where the protesters have been staying since the violent dispersal last week.
“This is a limitation that we recognize. We, who are supporting the plight of the farmers, should be given space to conduct independent fact finding mission,” Palabay said.
Armed forces left the church compound Tuesday afternoon, April 5 after churchleaders negotiated with Mayor Joseph Evangelista for the troops withdrawal.
Casualties, illegal detention
Karapatan confirmed that two died in the aftermath of last Friday’s police dispersal, naming the victims as Enrico Fabligar and Darwin Sulang.
Palabay said “eyewitness accounts by a relative of Sulang–who was two meters away from him when he was shot–revealed that the victim was shot by police personnel positioned on top of the firetruck.”
Sulang was a farmer from Arakan Valley, Cotabato.
Fabligar, however, was said to be just passing the road “to check if he has a relative who joined the protest” when he was hit by gunshots.
Palabay said their group also confirmed that at least 10 individuals sustained gun shot wounds and who were brought to the hospital. The victims were: Alfie Awi, Darwin Magyao, Arnel Takyawan, Rodelio Daelto, Rodolfo Tano, Ronald Allan Diampas, Victor Lumundang, Mark Anthony Delgado, Rodjel Imjuy and Leo Iyong.
Palabay said 70 individuals are “illegally detained” in two separate locations — at the Kidapawan City gymnasium and at the convention center. Among the detainees, 25 are female and 45 are male. Among the women detainees are three pregnant mothers and three elderlies.
Among the detained are Richard Emboc and Eric Santos, who are bystanders.
Emboc and Santos were charged of direct assault upon a person of authority.
Demands, recommendations
The probe team recommended the release of the calamity fund to the individual farmer beneficiary; investigation of North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Mendoza for “misappropriation of the Calamity Fund”; investigation of President Benigno Aquino and Agriculture Department Secretary Proceso Alcala for “their negligence and failure to put up appropriate measures to mitigate the effects of drought, among others.”
The report also recommended to “investigate and prosecute Pres. Aquino, the Secretary of National Defense Voltaire Gazmin, the Commanding General of the Philippine Army Maj. Gen. Eduardo Año, PNP Director General Ricardo Marquez, Gov. Mendoza, and (the officers) of different police and military units operating in Central Mindanao for their participation and complicity in the violent dispersal of the farmers on April 1, 2016, the various human rights violation committed as a result thereof, and other violations committed.”
The group urged the production of a written agreement that “no retaliatory action shall be undertaken by the PNP, Philippine Army, personnel of Gov. Mendoza, and other parties allied to the aforementioned groups, against the farmers who participated in the barricade, and the support groups and individuals who came to their aid.”
They also demanded for the “immediate pull-out of police units assigned to monitor and restrict the interactions of the injured farmers recovering in hospitals, immediate release of all farmers detained for their participation in the barricade, and of other civilians who happened to be within the perimeter of the Spottswood compound.”
Post-traumatic disorder
Volunteer health workers from Mindanao Foundation for Medical Disaster Preparedness and Response assisted 359 patients during the probe-cum-humanitarian mission.
Adrian Solis, a volunteer nurse said “42 were surgical cases.”
Dr. Reginald Pamugas, M.D. of Health for Alliance for Human Rights, said that most cases they recorded were suffering from stress and trauma.
“There are a lot who cannot concentrate; most of them are emotionally down and depressed,” Pamugas said.
“This could reach to post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said, adding that there are six women who were already thinking of committing suicide.
Hungry and defiant
Some 5,000 farmers arrived here on Tuesday, March 29 and succeeded in putting up a barricade Wednesday, March 30, which paralyzed the main national highway. Two days later, on April 1, police and SWAT forces opened fire at the protesters.
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas in North Cotabato spokesperson Jerry Alborme, said that the farmers protested as a result of extreme hunger brought about by the drought.
Aside from their demand of 15,000 sacks of rice, “the farmers also demanded subsidy for seedlings, fertilizers and pesticides until the drought ends.”
He added that farmers “also demanded to pull out military troops in their communities as it is affecting their farming.”
Last week’s barricade and subsequent violent dispersal triggered massive public sympathy, spurring rice donations from private individuals coursed through to media groups and from showbiz celebrities like Robin Padilla, Anne and Jasmine Curtis, Angel Locsin, Bianca Gonzales, Marielle Padilla, Daniel Padilla and Karla Estrada.
Some 978 sacks of rice were collected and hundreds more continue to arrive at the Methodist church compound, according to Mae Fe Templa of Balsa Mindanao, a relief and rehabilitation network.
Templa said that the sacks of rice will be divided to the protesters including those detained and hospitalized, at 25 kilos per individual.
Rice donations got a boost Tuesday with the approval of the Davao City Council of P31.5 million from its calamity fund for the purchase of 15,000 sacks of rice for Kidapawan farmers.(davaotoday.com)
