HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
RPA-ABB Harasses HR Group in Quezon City

At 3:30 am of October 9, armed men allegedly belonging to the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) banged on the gates of the national office of KARAPATAN, an alliance of human rights advocates, in Quezon City, just two blocks away from a military hospital, the V. Luna Medical Center. 

BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN
Bulatlat

Aya Reyes, Karapatan staff, and Girlie Padilla, EMJP acting secretary general were awakened at 3:43 a.m. of Oct. 9 by loud noises outside their office at 43 Masikap St, Barangay (village) Piñahan, Quezon City. They thought it was just caused by drunken men until they noticed three men hitting their gate while shouting “Karapatan! Karapatan! Hustisya para kay Arturo Tabara! (Justice for Arturo Tabara!).” Reyes said she saw one of the men wearing a dark-colored cap and shirt.

After the men left their place, Reyes and Padilla went outside to check. Though nothing was damaged, they saw leaflets, posters and a banner outside printed with “KARAPATAN: BULAG, PIPI AT BINGI SA PAGPASLANG KAY ARTURO TABARA” ( Karapatan: Blind, Mute, and Deaf regarding the killing of Arturo Tabara) and statements linking the group to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).  The posters and statements were signed by the RPA-ABB or the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade.   

Arturo Tabara, head of the RPA-ABB, a breakaway faction of the CPP-NPA-NDF, was gunned down last September 26 at the parking lot of SM Fairview, a popular shopping mall in Quezon City.  The CPP-NPA-NDF claimed responsibility for Tabara’s killing accusing him of complicity in 17 cases of murder, at least 13 counts of holdups, robbery and extortion and several cases of human rights violations.  It also accused the RAP-ABB as “a willing instrument in the government's counterrevolutionary war against the NPA.”

Reyes and Padilla took pictures of the posters, leaflets and banner.

At the time of the incident, several relatives and victims of human rights violations were staying at their office. One of the relatives, who has hypertension, was already holding a hammer, which he intends to use as a weapon in case the armed men attack the office again.  After the incident, the relatives and victims were transferred to another office.  There are also three other households living in the compound where the office is located.

Neighbors’ account

In an interview with Bulatlat, a witness who refused to be identified recounted that they heard noises as early as 3:30 a.m. They thought that the noise was caused by people fleeing a fire. But when he peered from his window, he saw armed men banging a neighbor’s gate. Realizing they were hitting the wrong gate, the men transferred to the gate of Karapatan’s office.

Another neighbor said the men were already in the area at 3:15 a.m. One witness said the armed men went down from their vehicle and walked to the Karapatan office. The men were shouting the name of a certain Edward Navarro and asking him to come out, said the neighbor. Padilla however said that they do not know of any person named Navarro living in the compound nor in the roster of members of Karapatan or EMJP.

The following morning, Karapatan and EMJP staff immediately wrote a fact sheet of the incident and reported it to the Central Police District Station 10 and the Barangay Piñahan Hall.

Motive

“If the RPA-ABB thinks that what they did would give justice to their fallen leader, they are mistaken,” Padilla said.  She said that not even a single family member of Tabara approached them and asked for their assistance.

“Such actions which terrorized the entire neighborhood to which we belong only makes longer their growing list of human rights violations,” she said. “They know better to whom they should address their grievances.”

Padilla also said that they were harassed probably because they have been receiving complaints and have been documenting human rights violations committed by the RPA-ABB in relation to land disputes involving the Cojuangcos of Negros and in military counter-insurgency operations.

KARAPATAN- Negros Occidental has documented the RPA-ABB’s involvement in the killing of Pedro Trabajador, a 67 year-old leader of the National Federation of Sugar Workers in 2001, and the burning of the house and frustrated murder of Mamerto “Bebe” Acsimar in Sitio Langguni, Barangay Inayawan, Cauayan, Negros Occidental last Sept 21. Bulatlat

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