Human Rights Watch

Soldiers Accused of Cutting Off Rebel's Ear

A human rights group in Western Mindanao has accused the military of violating war conventions when soldiers cut off an ear of a suspected New People’s Army guerrilla before killing him during a dawn raid last June 15 in Tambulig town in Zamboanga del Sur.

BY MARS S. MARATA
Bulatlat.com

PAGADIAN CITY – A human rights group in Western Mindanao has accused the military of violating war conventions when soldiers cut off an ear of a suspected New People’s Army guerrilla before killing him during a dawn raid last June 15 in Tambulig town in Zamboanga del Sur, southern Philippines.

Jenah Belza, regional coordinator of the human rights group Karapatan-Western Mindanao, said initial investigation revealed that 32-year-old Rey Gulane, also known as (aka) Ka (comrade) Titing, did not die right away after being hit with gunfire during the soldiers’ raid in the upland barangay (village) of Maya-maya.

Soldiers reportedly cut off his right ear while he was still alive.

But Lt. Col. Pedro Ancanan Jr., battalion commander of the Army's 10th Infantry Battalion stationed in the town of Molave, denied the accusation, saying his men are disciplined and could not have committed the atrocity.

"They (human rights group) are usually like that. They will fabricate stories to discredit the military," he said.

According to Belza combatants who are incapacitated to fight, like Ka Titing, are given protection and rights to seek humanitarian attention as provided for in the Geneva Convention and in the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and Respect for International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). The Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) are the signatories of the latter.

Reports said that between 4 and 5 a.m. on June 15, the joint Alpha and Charlie companies of the 10^th IB PA raided a mobile team of the Front Joji of the New People's Army in Maya-maya, Tambulig town.

The raid resulted in the death of Gulane, a resident of San Isidro, San Miguel, Zamboanga del Sur.

Gulane's body was reportedly left at the encounter site, wrapped in a shower curtain, and later buried by local barangay officials. His remains were exhumed by relatives and workers of Karapatan the following day and brought to the Pagadian office of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for medico-legal investigation.

Karapatan is set to file a complaint with the recently installed Joint Monitoring Committee, a body established by the government and the NDFP to monitor the implementation of the CAHRIHL. Bulatlat.com

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