Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Vol. IV, No. 32 September 12-18, 2004 Quezon City, Philippines |
HUMAN
RIGHTS WATCH Soldiers
Kill Farmer, Pregnant Wife in `Legitimate Encounter’ A
farmer and his pregnant wife died in their sleep in the morning of
September 8 but it was not due to bangungot (nightmare). Soldiers
armed with M-16 rifles attacked their farm in Tagum City (Southern
Mindanao) and strafed their house. In the eyes of the military, the couple
died in a legitimate encounter. BY
CHERYLL D. FIEL TAGUM
CITY – The military operation last September 8 left a trail of death and
destruction. The
body of Bakar Japalali, 37, was wrapped in worn-out mats inside the
mosquito net. Bakar’s wife, Carmelita, who was three months pregnant,
died at the hospital. “They
were asleep. They were shot while inside the mosquito net,” Talib
Japalali, Bakar’s older brother, told a group of reporters who came to
ask what happened. Last
September 8 at around 5 a.m., a platoon of soldiers belonging to the 404th
Infantry Battalion peppered the walls of Bakar’s nipa hut with M-16
bullets in their farm in Barangay (village) Bingcunga, Tagum, Davao Norte,
southern Philippines. When
asked if his brother and sister-in-law were New People’s Army (NPA)
guerrillas as claimed by the military, Talib posed a counter-question:
Were there really rebels in their place in Barangay Bingcungan, Tagum City
which is about 150 meters from the highway and very near from the
Philippine National Police's (PNP) 1101st detachment? Earlier,
the military claimed that Bakar and his pregnant wife were casualties of a
“legitimate encounter” with about 25 NPA guerrillas. Eyewitness
account Rosalem
Padama, 39, said they were inside the house next to the Japalalis when the
soldiers arrived.
He was just about to open the door, Padama said, when he saw the
soldiers already in firing position. The soldiers opened fire first at
their house, he said, then turned their guns on Bakar Japalali's house. Later,
Padama heard one of the soldiers yelling orders to those in the hut to
bring down their arms. “What arms? Our crab traps? All we have was a
bolo. Bakar did not even own one,” Padama said. Padama
said he saw Carmelita standing near the door of her house, shouting for
help. But one of the soldiers shot her, he said. By then, Carmelita's
husband was already dead inside the mosquito net. “I
asked permission from one of the soldiers to rush Carmelita to the
hospital,” Padama said. Carmelita died later at the hospital. Confused
Talib
could not understand why the soldiers killed his brother. Bakar had been
living in their farm; he got married five months ago. “What could we
have done? Why are they doing this to us when there are really no such NPA
elements in the area?" Talib said. It
offends him, he said, when people ask if there were rebels in their area.
“I told them that the barangay police, the members of the PNP’s
1101st, who are very near, would have known if there are rebels in the
area. Even the barangay captain, the councilors. The truth is, there are
no rebels in the area," Talib said. Even
the governor came by and asked him the same thing. "I told him,
Governor, you can ask me all the questions you want but my brother was a
good man,” Talib said. Talib
said the soldiers had told him, after the killing, that they had no choice
but to kill his brother because he fought back. “Do you know of anyone
who fought back an armed attack inside the mosquito net? I told them,
`Where did you kill my brother? You did not kill him outside the house.
You killed him while he was inside the mosquito net!’" Talib
exclaimed. Land
grabbers Talib
said that the killing could be related to a land dispute with another
family. This family, he said, has been claiming ownership of the Japalalis’
farm, which Talib said was inherited from his grandfather. “We
are being forced to leave our land. They can finish all of us but the fact
is, we did not steal any land from anybody," Talib said. “You know
the moneyed. They have all the means to step on the rights of the poor.
They can use their influence to fabricate documents and use all other
means to achieve their ends,” he added. Talib
has filed murder charges against soldiers of the 404th Infantry Battalion
led by
a certain Sgt. Jerry Napoles and 31 others who were seen by witnesses. Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Agane Adriatico, commander of the Civil Relations Group of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Southern Mindanao, insisted that the incident was a legitimate encounter. Everything else, Adriatico told the Davao media, is intrigue. Bulatlat We want to know what you think of this article.
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