HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Soldiers Strafe Samar Hut, Kill Pregnant Woman 
Army says victim was an NPA; then claims gunmen were NPAs

As church bells tolled at 5 a.m. on August 8 in the town center of Catubig, Northern Samar province, soldiers began firing at a house. Seventeen of the shots hit a labandera (laundry woman) who was four-month pregnant. Her husband and three children were wounded.

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
Bulatlat

MELY CONGE’S HUT: Her sanctuary proved to be fatal             Photos courtesy of Karapatan-Eastern Visayas

As church bells rang at 5 a.m. on August 8 in the town center of Catubig, Northern Samar province in EasternVisayas, soldiers from the 63^rd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army together with militiamen from the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) began firing at a house. Seventeen of the shots hit a labandera (laundry woman) who was four-month pregnant.

Mely Conge, 29, died of 17 gunshot wounds in their home in Barangay (village) Uno, Catubig town. She had a four-month old unborn child inside her womb. Her three children and husband, a pedicab driver, were wounded.

The house – a nipa hut – measured 3m x 4m.

Conge was believed to be asleep in their cramped hut, with her husband, Sonny, Sr., 27, and three children, Sonny Jr., 10, Sammy, 8 and Gina, 6, when the Army soldiers militiamen from the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) strafed their house.

The wounded family members were brought by neighbors to the Northern Samar Provincial Hospital.

Attending physicians Dr. Gerald Mijares and Dr. Riva Lozano of the provincial hospital’s surgical department said in an interview with human rights workers from Katungod-Northern Samar (the local chapter of the human rights alliance Karapatan), that Sonny, Sr. and Gina may need serious medical treatment due to the gravity of their gunshot wounds.  They may need to be transferred to a hospital in Manila, the Katungod-Northern Samar said in their report. 

Conflicting reports

Alex Garcia Lagunzad, secretary general of Katungod-Northern Samar, said in an interview on August 23 in Quezon City, he was in a meeting with members of their municipal chapter in Catubig on the day of the incident. The meeting had to be cut short, as they needed to conduct an immediate investigation.

At around 8:30 a.m. of the next day, a text message was reportedly read over DZRH, a Manila-based radio station, identifying the victims as guerrillas from the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed component of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

In interviews with local media men however, Col. Manuel Usi, commanding officer of the 63^rd IB PA, gave conflicting statements.  On the day of the incident, he told reporters that the Conge family was harboring NPAs.   The next day, he told reporters that the NPAs were behind the incident.  On the third day, he told reporters that the incident was carried out by another armed group that the army officer failed to identify.

“Those three conflicting statements from the military prove that they were just making up stories and were trying to evade public fury,” said Lagunzad. 

Under heavy guard

At around 9:30 a.m. the next day, Lagunzad and Jonathan Calades, secretary general of the Katungod provincial chapter, went to the hospital to interview the victims. 

Lagunzad and Calades had to pass through a squad of soldiers from the Scout Ranger Company of the 803^rd IB PA before they could see Sonny, Sr.

Sonny Sr. reportedly identified Romy Acebron, a neighbor who belonged to the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu), as one of the gunmen.  But before he could complete his testimony and sign complaint forms, a certain B.I. Panag of the Scout Ranger Company, and PFC. Abuda of the 63^rd Infantry Battalion PA interrupted the interview and insisted that Lagunzad and his companions should first seek clearance from the 63^rd and 803^rd Infantry Battalions of the Philippine Army. 

“The soldiers prevented our interview in a deliberate attempt to silence the victims,” Lagunzad said.

Reporters from the Sumuroy Cable TV, a local station affiliated with ABS-CBN, DYSM, and Samar News complained that soldiers guarding the hospital prevented them from interviewing the family.

Complaints filed

Sonny Sr., through his cousin, Asunsion Rebadulla-Tan, asked for the assistance of the human rights group in filing charges against the perpetrators.  According to Lagunzad, since Sonny Sr. was prevented by soldiers from signing, Rebadulla-Tan signed the complaints forms of Katungod-Northern Samar and that of the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

Rebadulla-Tan also complained that Col. Manuelito Usi visited Sonny Sr. and tried to convince him that it was the NPA who strafed their house.  Usi also reportedly asked Sonny Sr. not to identify Acebron as one of the perpetrators.  

Lagunzad and Calades came all the way to Manila to file a complaint of frustrated massacre on behalf of the victims with the office of the Joint Secretariat of the JMC in Quezon City on August 23.  They filed 20 other cases of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law against agents of the state.  Six of the cases involved 10 minors, six of whom were reportedly killed.

Mely was buried in simple rites by her neighbors on the day she was killed.  Nobody from her family attended the burial as they were all being treated at the hospital.  Bulatlat 

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