However, they weren’t able to approach the children right away. When they reached the house, government troops were already milling around in the area. “We were almost shot,” Aileen said. “They told us not to go near the house because Daguil Capion (Aileen’s brother) was still present,” she added.
By KENETTE JEAN I. MILLONDAGA
Davao Today
DAVAO CITY, Philippines— Juvy Capion’s sister-in-law and a neighbor might have also been shot by the military that fateful day in October now known as the Capion massacre — when the 28-year-old pregnant Juvy was killed along with her two young sons.
Aileen Capion and Tessie Aton were the first to arrive at the Capion house on October 18. They ran when they heard gunfire and found Juvy’s niece Rizza cuddling the wounded Juvy’s five-year-old daughter Vicky. Both were crying.
However, they weren’t able to approach the children right away. When they reached the house, government troops were already milling around in the area. “We were almost shot,” Aileen said. “They told us not to go near the house because Daguil Capion (Aileen’s brother) was still present,” she added.
This was part of the narration presented by Aileen Capion and Aton during the 5th Mindanao Human Rights Summit held at the Alexian Brothers convention center, this city on November 29, 2012. The summit gathered 200 community defenders and rights advocates from all over Mindanao.
Aileen and Tessie, both members of Kalgad — a mass organization of Blaan indigenous in Kiblawan opposing the presence of mining giant Sagittarius Mines, Inc.-Xstrata, said that they were again harassed by the military while securing Rizza and Vicky after the shooting.
“The military said that if the two kids were to be spared, they wanted to have Rizza and Vicky to serve as witnesses,” said Aileen. However, the two women were somehow able to take Rizza and Vicky away from the site of the killing. “We had to have Vicky admitted to the hospital because of her wounds,” added Aileen.
Kids in trauma
Aileen says that, at present, the two kids have yet to overcome their traumatic experience. “Both cry when there are many people,” said Aileen. “Vicky would cry and Rizza would hide herself inside the house,” she added.
The trauma is not only limited to these two witnesses but to the other children of Sitio Aliong.
In a National Fact Finding and Solidarity Mission held on November 18, 2012 at Sitio Aliong, Kimlawis village in Kiblawan, Davao del Sur, the Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC)-Southern Mindanao Regional Office spearheaded the psychosocial intervention activities for 72 children in the community aged three to 19 years old.
In CRC’s activity report, the children’s group described how the children expressed their “fear and anger towards the perpetrators of the Capion massacre.” The report narrated how some children now cry when their parents leave them to go to their farms.
“Hadlok mi biyaan kay basi patyon mi sa sundalo (We are afraid of being left alone because the military might kill us),” one child said.
In the same activity report, CRC said the children expressed their fear and anger towards the soldiers of 27th IB and to the mining corporation SMI “especially when they (SMI) said they would bring improvement to the children’s lives.”
The report also recommended that psychosocial therapy intervention be conducted for the two children who directly witnessed the Capion massacre and that a follow-up psychosocial therapy be conducted for the Blaan children of Sitio Alyong.
Participating in Manilakbayan
Some members of the Capion family and residents of Sitio Aliong in Kiblawan village will be participating in the Manilakbayan (Journey to Manila), which starts the day after the Mindanao Human Rights Summit. The activity aims to bring environment defenders and community leaders to Manila to engage government officials and other institutions in the days prior to the International Human Rights Day commemoration on December 10. The journey aims “to defend people’s rights amidst the threat of militarization and mining plunder.” (Kenette Jean I. Millondaga/ davaotoday.com)
