DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / January 19, 2010) – The wife of a top communist rebel leader accused authorities on Tuesday of protecting one of two government soldiers allegedly behind the brutal murder of her daughter in the southern Philippines.
Evangeline Pitao, wife of New People’s Army commander Leoncio Pitao, said the two soldiers – Army Private First Class Edmar Tipait and Army Technical Sergeant Elpidio Canilla – were released by the police after the duo was arrested at a checkpoint for violating the gun ban in Davao City over the weekend.
The two soldiers who were in civilian clothes, she said, had no permits from the Commission on Elections allowing them to carry firearms or exempting them from the gun ban.
The poll body ordered a six-month nationwide gun ban beginning January 10 ahead of the May 10 national and local polls to minimize political violence during the election campaign period.
Only duty policemen and soldiers and members of law enforcement agencies are authorized to bear arms provided they have permits from the Commission on Elections exempting them from the gun ban.
“We condemn this continued cover up and protection by the state for the criminals, hoodlums in uniforms, men who have been responsible for the most heinous crimes in the country,” Pitao said.
Pitao, who is also the spokesperson for the group called Hustisya, an alliance of relatives of victims of extrajudicial killings in the southern Philippines, said Tipait was one of more than a dozen military intelligence agents and security officials allegedly responsible for the murder of her daughter Evelyn Pitao in March last year.
The 20-year old Pitao was abducted in Davao City on March 4. Her naked body was found the next day floating in a shallow creek in the village of San Isidro in Davao del Norte’s Carmen town. Her family said the body bore torture marks and was believed raped before she was stabbed in the chest.
Her father and family blamed the military for the woman’s killing.
Pitao’s group said Tipait was also implicated in the alleged rape and murder of political activist Marjorie Lastimoso. The woman was also abducted and killed in Maco town several years ago.
Both Tipait and Canilla are assigned with the Military Intelligence Group under the Army’s 10th Infantry Division in Davao City, Hustisya said. “They should have been in jail, but the soldiers were released after the arrest,” she said, adding, the duo was freed Sunday. “Criminal charges should have been filed against them for gun ban violation.”
Human rights group Karapatan also condemned the release of the soldiers despite their violation of the gun ban.
Army Captain Emmanuel Garcia, a spokesman for the 10th Infantry Division, said they have ordered an investigation into the reports that the soldiers violated the gun ban. “We are looking into this report and there is an ongoing investigation and we are fully cooperating with the police,” he said.
He said the police confiscated the firearms of the two soldiers at the checkpoint and released them after an investigation. The soldiers were returning to their barracks from a mission when police stopped them at the checkpoint. “We are not tolerating anything here. There is a due process and we will abide by this due process,” Garcia said.
Garcia said human rights groups should also investigate and condemn the NPA for the recent killing of Dionesio Baslan, a former rebel, in Tagum City. The former NPA fighter was executed by rebels for allegedly aiding the government's anti-insurgency campaign in Mindanao.
Last year, communist rebels gunned down Ruben Bitang, a suspect in the brutal murder of Pitao, in Panabo City in Davao del Norte province.
The NPA said Bitang was the alleged driver of the van used in the abduction of the rebel leader’s daughter. Bitang’s nephew, Army Sergeant Helvin Bitang, who is assigned with the Military Intelligence Group, was also among those accused by the rebels in the killing of Pitao.
Communist rebels vowed to seek to justice for the murder of Pitao, a teacher by profession who led a simple and quiet life with her family in Davao City.
Her father who is also known as Kumander Parago is the chieftain of the NPA’s Pulang Bagani Command. Pitao tagged at least 11 military intelligence agents as behind the murder.
The Army’s 10th Infantry Division and the Eastern Mindanao Command have repeatedly denied any involvements of soldiers to the murder. Police also put up Task Force Rebelyn which is investigating the killing of Pitao’s daughter.
But the NPA said the police task force is insignificant. “Its sole purpose is to do the bidding of the criminal Arroyo regime. It has only proven the public perception that it was hastily set up to instantly absolve the criminal agents of the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command-AFP for masterminding and executing Rebelyn's abduction, torture, rape and murder,” Leoncio Pitao said.
“The Zarzuela of the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command-Armed Forces of the Philippines during the Commission on Human Rights public hearing and the lies it has propagated related to Rebelyn's death are just the tip of the rottenness of the AFP organization. The duplicity and criminal deeds of Arroyo's running dogs has long been exposed here in Southern Mindanao. It comes as no surprise that the rotten state is not on the people's side, but on the executioners, the killers, the minions of the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command-AFP,” he said.
The Commission on Human Rights investigated last year in Davao City the murder of Pitao.
The NPA has ordered the arrest of all those involved in the killing of the woman while the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines also held Arroyo and the AFP responsible for the murder.
The CPP said the murder of Pitao’s daughter highlights the Arroyo regime’s innumerable crimes against unarmed civilians who are invariably regarded by the military and its counter-insurgency strategists as combatants in the raging civil war.
Communist rebels broke off peace talks with Manila in 2004 after the United States on government's prodding listed the CPP and the NPA, including the National Democratic Front as foreign terrorist organizations and froze their assets abroad. (Mindanao Examiner)
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Rebel leader's wife condemns release of soldier accused in daughter's murder in Mindanao
Thursday, May 07, 2009
NPA rebels admit killing military spies in Mindanao
It also admitted to killing three others who were working for the Philippine military and tagged as behind the murder of several political activists in Mindanao.
“Revolutionary punishment was served against Military Intelligence Battalion-Armed Forces of the Philippines assets Ruben Bitang, Macky Estremos, Marcelino Payot and Bobong Gambuta in separate dates since March this year. They were part of the 10th Infantry Division death squads based in Panabo City and Davao del Norte,” Rigoberto Sanchez, a rebel spokesman, said in a statement.
The rebels tagged Bitang as among those behind the murder of Rebelyn Pitao, 20, whose father Leoncio Pitao, alias Kumander Parago, is the leader of the NPA’s Pulang Bagani Command.
Pitao’s daughter was abducted in Davao City on March 4. Her naked body was found the next day floating in a shallow creek in the village of San Isidro in Davao del Norte’s Carmen town. Her family said the woman’s body bore torture marks and was believed raped.
The outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines said the murder of Pitao’s daughter highlights the Arroyo regime’s innumerable crimes against unarmed civilians who are invariably regarded by the military and its counter-insurgency strategists as combatants in the raging civil war.
The NPA said Bitang was the driver of the van used in the abduction of Pitao. His nephew, Army Sergeant Helvin Bitang, who is assigned with the Military Intelligence Group, was also among those accused by the rebels in the killing of Pitao.
Sanchez said members of the Paking Guimbaolibot Red Partisan Brigade carried out Bitang’s killing on May 3 in Panabo City.
He said NPA fighters killed Payot in Panabo City on April 14 and Gambuta on April 27, while Estremos was gunned down in Davao del Norte’s Carmen town late in March.
“The NPA in Southern Mindanao implemented the standing order against four intelligence and death squad operatives of the 10th Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines for committing grave crimes against the revolutionary movement and the people,” he said.
Sanchez said the four men were military spies and members of death squad responsible for many killings of innocent civilians in Mindanao.
The military denied involvements in the killings.
Communist rebels broke off peace talks with Manila in 2004 after the United States on government's prodding listed the CPP and the NPA, including the National Democratic Front as foreign terrorist organizations and froze their assets abroad. (Mindanao Examiner)
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
NPA kills suspect in murder of rebel leader's daughter
New People’s Army rebels killed Ruben Bitang in an attack over the weekend in Panabo City Davao del Norte province, the Mindanao Daily Mirror reported on Tuesday.
The rebels said Bitang was among those behind the murder of Rebelyn Pitao whose father Leoncio Pitao, is a senior guerrilla leader in Mindanao.
Pitao, 20, was abducted in Davao City on March 4. Her naked body was found the next day floating in a shallow creek in the village of San Isidro in Davao del Norte’s Carmen town. Her family said the body bore torture marks and was believed raped before she was stabbed in the chest.
Reports said Bitang was the driver of the van used in the abduction of the rebel leader’s daughter. Bitang’s nephew, Army Sergeant Helvin Bitang who is assigned with the Military Intelligence Group, was also among those accused by the rebels in the killing of Pitao.
The NPA took responsibility for the Bitang’s killing, saying, members of the Paking Guimbaolibot Red Partisan Brigade, carried out the attack.
Communist rebels last month vowed to seek to justice for the murder of Pitao, a teacher by profession who led a simple and quiet life with her family in Davao City.
Her father who is also known as Kumander Parago is the chieftain of the NPA’s Pulang Bagani Command. Pitao tagged 11 military intelligence agents as behind the murder.
The Army’s 10th Infantry Division and the Eastern Mindanao Command have repeatedly denied any involvements of soldiers to the murder. Police also put up Task Force Rebelyn which is investigating the killing of Pitao’s daughter.
But Pitao said the police task force is insignificant. “Its sole purpose is to do the bidding of the criminal Arroyo regime. It has only proven the public perception that it was hastily set up to instantly absolve the criminal agents of the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command-AFP for masterminding and executing Rebelyn's abduction, torture, rape and murder,” he said.
“The Zarzuela of the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command-AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) during the Commission on Human Rights public hearing and the lies it has propagated related to Rebelyn's death are just the tip of the rottenness of the AFP organization. The duplicity and criminal deeds of Arroyo's running dogs has long been exposed here in Southern Mindanao. It comes as no surprise that the rotten state is not on the people's side, but on the executioners, the killers, the minions of the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command-AFP,” Pitao said.
The NPA has ordered the arrest of all those involved in the killing of the woman while the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) also held Arroyo and the AFP responsible for the murder.
The CPP said the murder of Pitao’s daughter highlights the Arroyo regime’s innumerable crimes against unarmed civilians who are invariably regarded by the military and its counter-insurgency strategists as combatants in the raging civil war.
Communist rebels broke off peace talks with Manila in 2004 after the United States on government's prodding listed the CPP and the NPA, including the National Democratic Front as foreign terrorist organizations and froze their assets abroad. (Mindanao Examiner)
Hustisya para kay Rebelyn Pitao; NPA hit squad tumira sa Mindanao
Nakilala ang biktima na si Ruben Bitang at binaril diumano ito ng mga NPA hitman kamakalawa sa Panabo City. Si Bitang ang umano’y driver ng sasakyan na ginamit sa pagdukot at pagpatay kay Rebelyn Pitao, 22, nuong Marso 4 sa Davao City, ayon sa pahayag ng rebeldeng grupo sa Mindanao Daily Mirror.
Si Rebelyn na isang guro at anak ni Leoncio Pitao, isa sa mga lider ng NPA sa Mindanao, ay dinukot habang papauwi ito sa kanilang bahay. Natagpuan ang bangkay nito kinabukasan sa bayan ng Carmen sa lalawigan ng Davao na walang saplot at may maraming pasa at saksak sa kanyang katawan at ginahasa pa umano.
Nabatid na si Bitang, na isang empleyado ng Panabo City Environment and Natural Resources Office, ay tiyuhin ni Army Sgt. Helvin Bitang na miyembro ng Military Intelligence Group (MIG). Sinabi ng NPA na kasama rin ang sundalo sa mahigit isang mga iba pa sa karumal-dumal na pagpatay kay Rebelyn Pitao.
Pauwi na si Bitang ng ito’y tambangan ng mga rebelde. Sinentensyahan ng NPA ang lahat ng mga may kinalaman sa pagpatay kay Rebelyn Pitao. (Mindanao Examiner)
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Military Intelligence Primary Suspects, Not Cooperating –Task Force Rebelyn
DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project / Apr. 23, 2009) - Despite the military’s insistence that it shares the widespread outrage over the brutal killing of Rebelyn Pitao between March 4 and 5 and its promises to cooperate fully with police and show it has nothing to hide, the commanders and agents of two army intelligence units appear to be doing no such thing.
Elements in the military seem to be obstructing justice by insisting that repeated written requests from police for information and cooperation “do not have any legal basis,” - and six weeks on, those in charge of the investigation told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project they have yet to be granted access to any of the 13 army officers they consider primary suspects.
The police have not even been sent photographs of seven of those they want in for questioning.
Task Force Rebelyn, the official police body investigating the case is headquartered at the regional Philippine National Police headquarters at Camp Catitipan at Barangay (village) Buhangin in Davao City. The Task Force comprises eight collaborating law enforcement groups including the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). It does not include any military unit as some people have both suggested and feared.
We visited Davao and the surrounding countryside last week in an effort to find out what progress was being made in the investigation. Rebelyn was a 20-year-old elementary school teacher at the St. Peter’s College of Technology when she was killed. Her partially-naked body was found floating in an irrigation ditch in Barangay (village) San Isidro in Carmen District in Davao del Norte on Thursday March 5.
She had been tied up and gagged, punched in the face, raped with a blunt object and finally stabbed five times in the chest with an ice pick after being snatched off a tricycle the night before by four armed men at gunpoint while riding home from work.
“There were rope markings around her neck and mud all over her body,” her mother Evangeline told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project when we first met her last month. “She was like a carabao.”
As well as meeting with senior police officers from the task force and the regional director of the Commission on Human Rights, we interviewed the Pitao family and were able to track down and speak to a former senior instructor of 22-year-old Rio Pitao, who claimed Rebelyn’s elder sister was the subject of extensive military surveillance during her final year at a nursing college in the city.
With the help of several officials from the regional Land Transport Office (LTO) in Davao, we were also able to independently identify, track down and speak to the former owner of a white van with a license plate remarkably similar to the one given to police by a witness who also spoke of a white van and has since disappeared.
While local police reportedly examined and cleared that van which was sold on a week after Rebelyn’s killing, the officers in charge admit the coincidence is “unusual.” The van was used for business purposes in a town close to where her body was found and the owner said he sold it on in fear - precisely because of the near identical license plate and its color.
He categorically denied any knowledge of the case except for what he has heard from the media. The Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project is keeping his identity, address, town, occupation and description of his new vehicle fully confidential for safety reasons.
A total of 13 military intelligence agents have been publicly accused of direct involvement and complicity in the killing of Rebelyn by her father, Leoncio Pitao, a.k.a Kumander Parago of the New People’s Army (NPA) who claimed the same men were behind the killing of his brother Danilo, a security guard in Tagum City last June.
Task Force Rebelyn officers confirmed their own 13 suspects are the same 13 agents Kumander Parago named in a local radio broadcast aired the week after Rebelyn’s death. At the same time, investigators say their work is complicated by the fact that serious feuds within the NPA mean they cannot rule out the possibility she was the victim of an internal revenge attack. Her father has been accused of being behind numerous killings including NPA members suspected to be military informers.
The 13 soldiers were all ordered under threat of legal sanction to appear in front of a one day special hearing into the case organized by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Davao on April 1. Eleven of them did so –“appearing” and answering questions from CHR chair Leila de Lima from behind a makeshift interview room away from the public at the Royal Mandaya Hotel. One has subsequently issued a writ of amparo through his lawyers against De Lima and the CHR on the basis they have put his personal security at risk.
The regional director of the CHR, lawyer Alberto Sipaco Jr., has called the writ and a local judge’s agreement to uphold it, bizarre. “We are not holding him, so there is no case to answer,” Sipaco told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project in an interview in Davao on April 15.
No as ‘lucky’
For reasons that are not yet fully clear, the officers of Task Force Rebelyn have not been so “lucky” as the CHR and have yet to be granted access to any of their 13 primary suspects. The latter have all invoked their constitutional right against self-incrimination on the advice of their own personal lawyers according to senior regional Philippine National Police (PNP) lawyer Rey Manug, chief of Police Regional Legal Service for Region 11.
So far, the officers in charge have only been able to verify the identities of six of the main suspects. The remaining seven from a different intelligence unit have all refused to send in photographs and the investigation seems unsure as to where to go next. Frustrated by the military, they now seem to be looking into possible NPA feuding. Officers are saying they are receiving “some” cooperation from one of the intelligence units concerned – the Military Intelligence Battalion (MIB) through its army command. The second unit is reportedly not responding to any police requests at all.
The police say they have heard from a named senior army source that this second unit’s regional commander, Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Cacayuran asked superiors in Manila for instruction on how to respond to written police requests to make seven of his agents available for interview - but did not receive any response back.
The unit concerned is the Military Intelligence Group (MIG) 11 which reports directly to the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) which is headquartered in Manila. While seven of the suspects belong to MIG, the other six belong to the MIB which falls under the 10th Army Infantry Division and ultimately, the Eastern Mindanao Command of the AFP.
The missing seven photos appear to have made a mockery of police attempts late last month to see if two of three witnesses to Rebelyn’s physical abduction could identify any of the four men involved in taking her at gunpoint. Two of them reportedly rode a tricycle as passengers with Rebelyn - and two allegedly sat waiting in a parked white van with a reported license plate LPG 588 in the early evening of March 4 on the road approaching Bago Gallera D’oro Subdivision.
The two witnesses, tricycle driver Danny Pelicano and fellow passenger Dina Talaboc failed to positively identify anybody from the 150 photographs they were presented on March 29. The AFP provided the 150 photographs, say the police. A third witness, who provided police with the vehicle description and license plate which has since proved not yet to have been issued by the Land Transportation Office, has since disappeared. Police told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project they believe that Bambi Ajuas who was the driver of a tricycle in front of Danny’s is “somewhere in Cagayan.”
A crime too far
Rebelyn’s killing appeared to have shocked a country well used to arbitrary and political killings and disappearances. The manner of her death and the fact that one way or another, she may have been targeted simply for being her father’s daughter, has elicited deep concern and condemnation throughout the media, human rights and activist communities, the political and diplomatic communities and Malacanang Palace. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has urged the case solved.
Military heads and the defense chief also lined up to condemn the killing and were quick to acknowledge that many would immediately –and “unfairly”– accuse them of complicity. Major Randolph Cabangbang, spokesperson of the 10th Infantry Division was widely quoted last month as being adamant there would be “no whitewash –even if the suspects turn out to be from the military.”
He promised the army would give the investigative authorities a “free hand on this,” claiming the attack was “beyond the fighting between the AFP and the NPA, but was an attack against humanity.”
He was quoted as saying he spoke, not simply as a military man, but “as a father.”
But Cabangbang also flatly denied the military conducted surveillance on the Pitao family.
Yet this was challenged last week by the Pitao family speaking to us at the rooftop of Davao City Hall during a small mass held among family and friends to mark the 40th day since Rebelyn was killed. Their claims are backed up by the recorded testimony given to us by the senior consultant nursing adviser at the John Paul II College in Davao City, where Rebelyn’s elder sister studied, when we finally tracked him down. The senior consultant nursing adviser, Manny Sagaral, who says he has yet to be interviewed by the police, said Rio was under surveillance from sometime in 2006 until she graduated in March 2007.
He claimed a clinical instructor at the school told him and other staff that two men on a motorcycle had come looking for Rio and asking her whereabouts.
“Rio had already gone home at that time,” he said. “There was also a time when they came asking for her schedules, but they did not tell people who they were and so we did not tell them anything. We already knew that Rio was Kumander Parago’s daughter -so we were especially careful about divulging information we believe might endanger her life.
“There were also people looking for her before that time – 2006. We were asking those people who they were, but they would not tell us. A clinical instructor was also very specific and told us that people had also gone to the Mercy Medical Mission Hospital where she was training to find her.
“They were approaching different people at the school so we could not pinpoint if they were the same people. But it happened on several occasions.”
Sagaral went on. He claimed:
“I have a clinical instructor here who is married to an intelligence agent and one of his subordinates said ‘Oh you are a clinical instructor there? We were trying to case a student there,’ – referring to Rio.”
If true, Sagaral’s testimony flatly contradicts claims made by the 10th Army Infantry Division that the Pitao family was never put under surveillance.
The senior nursing consultant and teacher added however that while “there was a very strong perception among us [the teaching staff] that those people casing her were military intelligence,” he was also sure they were acting legally.
“It is probable that it was a legal operation coming from the higher ups,” he said. “They were casing the daughter to catch the father and it is also probable that this operation was not connected to the operation against Rebelyn.”
Asked his thoughts about what might have happened to Rio’s sister and whether he thought the military was involved, he said: “There is a very strong possibility that it is not within the mainstream. There are always units which do dirty jobs. That is what I believe –but those people casing Rio were not the same people.”
Sagaral added he thought it “a shame” Rio had been forced to quit her new job as a nurse for safety reasons. “She studied here from 2003 to 2007 and was a very diligent student. Even in school she had a very positive outlook on life,” he said. “Davao Medical Center would have considered her as an asset. She wanted to contribute to society and I hope she does. I believe she does not share the ideology of her father.”
Reports that Rebelyn Pitao’s elder sister was being ‘cased’ while she was still a student nurse surfaced when the family was asked after last week’s 40th day mass for Rebelyn if they could point to anything suspicious or unusual that might help the investigation. Rio told us how she had been informed by her then teachers that people were asking about her. She says she never saw those allegedly tracking her, but that staff in the hospital where she was on work placement alerted her school after two unidentified men claiming to be relatives came asking for information on her.
We initially went to the small busy hospital down by the waterfront to speak to the staff. However nobody was available to talk and they requested we try and find her former tutor instead.
“We told her she had to be careful with her life,” said Manny Sagaral, senior nursing consultant back at Rio’s former school.
Police investigators at Camp Catitipan said they had heard reports the sister had been followed at one point but they did not follow it up. They said they did not think the individuals were military.
“It was an internal problem within the New People’s Army,” said regional Philippine National Police spokesperson Superintendent Querubin Manalang – “maybe some of his [Kumander Parago’s] comrades were doing it.”
In the wake of Rebelyn’s killing and given a possible continuing threat against her family, Rio quit her new nursing job in the city while her brother Redford has been pulled out of school. They have since moved house and now live in an undisclosed location with their mother Evangeline.
Another brother, Ryan, reportedly left the family to join his father’s NPA unit in 2005 after allegedly being accosted in a Davao street by two men armed with knives.
Speaking to us at the rooftop of Davao City Hall last Wednesday after mass and prayers for her daughter, Mrs. Pitao told us she was not happy with the official investigation saying it was not “independent. “ But neither did she seem too happy with the one-day public inquiry conducted earlier this month by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
“Everybody knows who we are,” she said indicating her two children. “We don’t hide our faces – so why did they hide theirs?” she asked referring to 11 of the 13 military officers who were forced by subpoena to testify on April 1 and did so from behind a makeshift interview room away from the public at the Royal Mandaya Hotel.
Mrs. Pitao, who wrongly believes the army is part of the official police investigation, also complained that the family was not being kept informed about the case.
That is neither accurate nor fair according to Colonel Aaron Aquino, chief of the PNP’s regional Criminal Investigation and Detective Management Division.
“After the death of Rebelyn, we wrote two letters to the family -one to Mrs. Pitao and one to her husband. The cell number of Task Force Rebelyn was given to them, but they are not collaborating. After the funeral, we wrote another letter –but it was unable to be delivered. We sent somebody to their house but found it all boarded up. They have moved and we cannot find them.”
Officers did not say if or how their letter to Rebelyn’s father, Kumander Parago, was ever delivered - but it was relatively easy for us to find and speak to the Pitao family ourselves. We did so two days before our meeting with the police investigators and within a day of arriving in Davao. To be fair, it is not clear what kind of welcome the police might get from the family - even though the task force and city mayor Rodrigo Duterte have jointly offered a reward of PhP 500,000 (USD 10,638) for information that can help catch the killers.
Range of motives
The investigation also has another critic alongside Mrs. Pitao.
“I have been in investigation for 20 years including work with the office of the Ombudsman, working on graft cases and working as a special prosecutor,” CHR regional director Alberto Sipaco told us from his office on Quimpo Boulevard. “If I were in charge, I would have it solved. Investigation is very tedious but it is not good enough for the authorities to say -as they have been saying- they are facing a blank wall. You should never stop. Not give up. Not ever.”
To be fair, the police do not seem to have used the “blank wall” expression or anything similar. Instead, they reiterated they were still looking into “a range of different motives.”
One of these remains the possibility that Rebelyn was killed because of an internal NPA vendetta.
But did Sipaco’s comments mean he thought the investigation was not doing enough?
“I would rather say that much and a lot more should be done to secure the objective,” he said.
“She had been raped twice, once by a man and once by a blunt object. When I went and saw her mother and heard what the autopsy report said, I could not believe anybody could do such a thing. You hear that kind of stuff and you begin to suspect everybody.
“When she was discovered there was no rigor mortis (stiffening of the body). Blood was still oozing from her wounds. It shows she had just been killed when she was dumped there around 3 or 4 a.m. Her body was still soft.”
That last statement appears in contrast to police claims made last Friday that Rebelyn’s body had been floating in the small canal “the whole day” before she was found. If it was ever there, no trace of semen was taken by forensic examiners that could have provided a lead according to police -precisely because she had been in the water for so long. “It would have been washed away,” said Colonel Aquino.
As well as being mildly critical of the investigation, Sipaco says he has also been disappointed by the reaction of the military –especially in response to the CHR’s own attempts to investigate what happened.
“We are looking for facts: Of the 13 men named, 11 were presented to us [during the April 1 hearings]. Our intention was to bring them to answer questions in public: We were set up and mandated by the Constitution to serve the public interest and this very much is in the public interest. But because we ordered them to testify under oath, the military argued there was coercion.
“One of the men mentioned –a sergeant in the army [the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project is not repeating his name] - has filed a case against the CHR –a writ of amparo that we now have to answer. It is silly. It is not for us to prove that we have a case to answer for, it is for him to make the case that we have transgressed his constitutional rights.”
And yet given suspicions, deep emotions and grave anger generated by the brutality of the crime and in the context of a continuing and grim conflict between the army and the NPA, particularly in Paquibato District, the danger is that anybody named as a possible suspect may well be targeted for attack.
The NPA have already threatened to “arrest” the military agents accused by Parago and put them on trial in a so-called “People’s Court.” There is little doubt that suspects whether innocent or guilty would receive summary justice from the wrong end of a gun.
We asked Sipaco whether the CHR was following any other leads –and while he claimed the search for the vehicle had reached an effective dead end, he did acknowledge earlier media reports saying residents in the vicinity where Rebelyn was found were claiming her body was not the first to be dumped there.
“I heard that too. I don’t know the dates or cases, - we are a small office and cover such a big region, but maybe the police know.”
Sadly the police didn’t – and yet they conceded it was useful lead to follow and promised to do so.
“One of our people at Task Force Rebelyn is head of police in Davao del Norte," Colonel Aquino told us. “And so we can follow up with him.”
He added the police were very keen to hear from those media which had information to share.
Vehicles
We asked officers what the possible connection of a black Toyota Hilux pick-up van was to the investigation.
The investigation team had no idea. And yet on March 11, Matina Police Station 3 in Davao City sent in a formal letter of request to the local Land Transportation Office (LTO) here in Davao to have the owner of a black Toyota Hilux pick-up van identified “in connection with the abduction of Rebelyn Pitao.” We saw the letter along with two others sent in by police.
They were shown to use by officials from the LTO whose names we are not revealing: Two letters came from Matina Police Station 3 and one was from the 11th Regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Group at Camp Domingo Leonor in Davao City. Two of the letters concerned the possible owner of a white van – one letter cited a Mitsubishi Adventurer – giving the license plate LPG-588 which turns out not yet to have been issued. The third letter asked for details on the owner of a black Toyota pick-up.
Task Force Rebelyn police say they have no idea why the request to investigate a Toyota black pickup was made and what the possible connection is. The pick-up is registered to a woman in Davao City.
The task force says it has a big folder full of pictures of different white vans but no exact match as of yet.
The LTO office meanwhile had no record of the police making any written request for details of the white van with the very similar license plate that we asked them to track down and put through their computer system.
A local media report published on March 17 - two weeks after Rebelyn’s death, claimed police were looking into that particular van but had yet to identify the owner. Yet when we spoke to the investigators, they said it was “looked over and came back negative”. The former owner, who sold it on a week after the killing because of his own security concerns, told us the exact same thing although he said the check was made just a few days after the killing and before he sold it for a “poor price.”
The former owner was wholly cooperative but clearly nervous when we spoke to him and asked how we had tracked him down –but so too would absolutely anybody in such a position given the violence linked to relations between the military and the NPA here.
When asked why the owner of the van couldn’t have just sought permission from the LTO to legally change the license plate in place of selling it - and so help protect himself from unwarranted reprisals - Task Force Rebelyn officers told us it would take “about a year” to do so.
Investigations are never easy and ones such as these given the political context are especially difficult. Yet confusion over the relevance of a black pick-up and dates over when and how a vehicle with a remarkably similar number plate was identified and formally or informally cleared suggest that communications and relations between the eight groups which together comprise Task Force Rebelyn could be improved.
At the same time, an inability to find and keep in touch with the Pitao family or to visit local residents who say Rebelyn was not the first victim of an extrajudicial killing who has surfaced there may also suggest the group do not have sufficient resources or personnel to deploy properly.
But contrary to claims of the regional CHR director, Task Force Rebelyn says it is not giving up nor will it ever. The group will not be formally disbanded until the case is solved.
If ever it is.
“We were just yesterday going down the list of motives and there are many,” said Colonel Aquino.
“Because of the work of Kumander Parago there are a lot of angles and motives that are being considered. We want to take them one by one: We have done the photo gallery presentation. We are now heading towards another angle. We are looking into the case of Roger Narvasa or Commander Mimi. He was an NPA commander under Parago and he was killed in front of his wife by Parago’s group in mid-February in Paquibato District. He was killed because he was suspected of collaborating with the military.
“Parago called the husband and accused him of doing such things and he wanted to meet up. When they reached the venue for the meeting, three of Parago’s men approached Commander Mimi and without saying anything, he was shot in the head. This is one angle we would like to check –revenge. Commander Mimi’s relatives may have a motive.”
The Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project sought a response from Kumander Parago and his colleagues late last week on the claims made by Task Force Rebelyn. Unfortunately we have yet to hear back. Fighting and occasional aerial bombardment is reported in the area and local NPA forces are not easily contactable. At the same time, Roger Narvasa’s widow is believed to have left Paquibato District for an unknown location. We hope to continue the investigation and speak to both parties to get their response as soon as possible.
And as for the 13 military intelligence suspects? Where will the official Task Force Rebelyn investigation go next and what hopes do police chiefs have that the brutal murder of the 20-year-old elementary school teacher and daughter of Parago will ever be solved?
Senior officers in charge acknowledge that while they had only so far received six out of the 13 photographs and the suspects’ constitutional rights were blocking the investigation, they could in principle go in to the army camps, arrest the suspects and then subject them to a line-up.
That would be a possible legal way forward.
It would also be a huge step for the investigation but a highly politically sensitive one. Invariably it would need some serious pressure from Manila.
So what is the status of the investigation now?
“As of now Military Intelligence Group (MIG) are the primary suspects,” Colonel Aquino told us in Camp Catitipan. “The six people presented [from the Military Intelligence Battalion via their photos] - are not yet cleared. They are still suspects until the time that we get their full cooperation.
“I think there is a big possibility this will be solved if the military will truly cooperate with us. The problem is we are having a hard time to investigate because these people accused by Parago are not cooperating. We are trying to ask the commanders to present these people – but I don’t know.” (Alan Davis. The author is the director of the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project and Special Projects of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Philippine rebels vow to seek justice for brutal murder of leader's daughter
Some 3,000 people join Rebelyn Pitao's funeral march in Davao City. (AKP Images) Rebelyn Pitao, 20, was abducted in Davao City in the southern Philippines on March 4 and her naked body was found the next day floating in a shallow creek in the village of San Isidro in Davao del Norte’s Carmen town. Her body bore torture marks and was believed raped before she was stabbed in the chest.
She was a teacher by profession, who led a simple and quiet life with her family in Davao City.
Some 3,000 people joined her funeral march. Many were chanting anti-government slogan and blaming the military for the murder of the woman, whose father Leoncio Pitao, also known as Kumander Parago, is chieftain of the New People’s Army (NPA) Pulang Bagani Command.
Pitao tagged 11 military agents as behind the murder, an accusation strongly denied by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
“Today we are remembering Rebelyn on the 40th day of her violent death. We grieve her passing and are united in fighting for justice for a beloved daughter, friend and teacher. With the same purpose, we are also fighting for justice for all victims of state terrorism under Gloria Arroyo,” he said.
He said the past few weeks after the murder of her daughter, the state has engaged in a deceptive campaign in an attempt to pacify the people's outrage on the savage murder of Rebelyn.
The Army’s 10th Infantry Division and the Eastern Mindanao Command have repeatedly denied any involvements of soldiers to the murder. Police also put up Task Force Rebelyn which is investigating the killing of Pitao’s daughter.
But Pitao said the police task force is insignificant.
“Its sole purpose is to do the bidding of the criminal Arroyo regime. It has only proven the public perception that it was hastily set up to instantly absolve the criminal agents of the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command-AFP for masterminding and executing Rebelyn's abduction, torture, rape and murder,” he said.
“The Zarzuela of the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command-AFP during the Commission on Human Rights public hearing and the lies it has propagated related to Rebelyn's death are just the tip of the rottenness of the AFP organization. The duplicity and criminal deeds of Arroyo's running dogs has long been exposed here in Southern Mindanao. It comes as no surprise that the rotten state is not on the people's side, but on the executioners, the killers, the minions of the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command-AFP,” he said.
The NPA has ordered the arrest of all those involved in the killing of the woman while the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) also held Arroyo and the AFP responsible for the murder.
“These fascist agents are believed to have carried out this dastardly crime in accordance with instructions from higher ups in their desperate campaign to shatter the determination of Kumander Parago and his fellow NPA Red fighters in advancing the people’s revolution. These suspects should be sought and arrested so they could undergo investigation by duly authorized revolutionary authorities and face criminal charges.”
The CPP said the murder of Pitao’s daughter highlights the Arroyo regime’s innumerable crimes against unarmed civilians who are invariably regarded by the military and its counter-insurgency strategists as combatants in the raging civil war.
“Ultimately, it is Gloria Arroyo and her top fascist henchmen who are to blame for the crimes against Rebelyn Pitao. Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya 2 has long regarded civilians as targets of military operations including killings, abductions, torture and other forms of fascism. This has now been most hideously extended to apply as well to loved ones and relatives of armed revolutionaries the fascists cannot get hold of,” the CPP said.
Oplan Bantay Laya is the government anti-insurgency campaign in the country.
As for Pitao, he said: “The people have long despised Arroyo, the mastermind of the killings, the chief implementer of the counter-revolutionary Oplan Bantay Laya, and the main representative of the rotten social system.
Arroyo's criminal regime and its running dogs are extremely isolated from the people.”
He said that genuine justice can only be achieved through revolutionary struggle.
”The revolutionary legal and judicial processes of the people's government, the continued strengthening of the people's revolutionary government in the countryside and the tactical offensives of the New People's Army strongly serve the people's interest and the interest of genuine justice,” he said.
Communist rebels broke off peace talks with Manila in 2004 after the United States listed the communist groups as foreign terrorist organizations and froze their assets abroad on government's prodding. (Mindanao Examiner)
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Murdered Philippine rebel leader's daughter laid to rest
At least 3,000 people joined the funeral march of the 20-year daughter of New People’s Army rebel leader Leoncio Pitao, also known as Commander Parago, in Davao City in the southern Philippines on Saturday, March 14, 2009. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and former Bayan Muna Representative Joel Virador were also spotted among the huge crowd that paid their last respect. The woman’s family blamed the military for the brutal murder. Her father linked 11 military intelligence agents in the murder. Rebelyn Pitao is cremated. (AKP Images / Keith Bacongco and Ruby Thursday More)Many were chanting anti-government slogan and blaming the military for the brutal murder of Rebelyn Pitao, whose father Leoncio Pitao, also known as Kumander Parago, is on top of the government’s most wanted man.
The woman’s father is chieftain of the NPA’s Pulang Bagani Command, one of the most feared by soldiers in Mindanao.
Pitao’s daughter was found dead March 5, a day after she was abducted in Davao City. Her naked body was found floating in a shallow creek in the village of San Isidro in Davao del Norte’s Carmen town. Her body bore torture marks and was believed raped before she was stabbed in the chest.Hr father tagged 11 military agents as behind the murder, an accusation strongly denied by the authorities.
Communist rebels vowed those involved in the killing, four of them have already been identified as Sergeants Adan Sulao and Ben Tipait of the Armed Forces’ Military Intelligence Group XI and Corporal Alvin Bitang of the Military Intelligence Battalion (MIB) of the Philippine Army’s 10th Infantry Division, and Orly Pedregosa, another intelligence agent.
“These fascist agents are believed to have carried out this dastardly crime in accordance with instructions from higher ups in their desperate campaign to shatter the determination of Commander Parago and his fellow NPA Red fighters in advancing the people’s revolution,” the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said in a statement.
“These suspects should be sought and arrested so they could undergo investigation by duly authorized revolutionary authorities and face criminal charges,” the CPP said.
The CPP also held the highest officials of the Arroyo government and the AFP responsible for the murder of Rebelyn.
“Ultimately, it is Gloria Arroyo and her top fascist henchmen who are to blame for the crimes against Rebelyn Pitao. Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya 2 has long regarded civilians as targets of military operations including killings, abductions, torture and other forms of fascism. This has now been most hideously extended to apply as well to loved ones and relatives of armed revolutionaries the fascists cannot get hold of.”
Oplan Bantay Laya is the government anti-insurgency campaign in the country.
The CPP also dismissed as “empty rhetoric” the pronouncements of President Arroyo and her defense officials that it is investigating the murder of Rebelyn.
“How can the Arroyo and her factotums be sincere in seeking justice for Rebelyn’s murder when they have, in fact, made this inevitable in the strategy, tactics and course of their counter-revolutionary war? By commending, promoting and rewarding her notorious fascist generals, Arroyo has in fact directly encouraged the Armed Forces of the Philippines to engage in such brutal and dastardly crimes,” it said.
”Rebelyn’s murder highlights the Arroyo regime’s innumerable crimes against unarmed civilians who are invariably regarded by the military and its counter-insurgency strategists as combatants in the raging civil war,” the CPP said.
The Army’s 10th Infantry Division said it has already restricted to Bitang and Pedrogosa so they can answer any investigations into the killing of Pitao’s daughter.
The two soldiers, who were former NPA rebels, denied accusations against them, said Capt. Rosa Manuel, a regional army spokeswoman. (Mindanao Examiner)
A Killing Too Far: Rebelyn Pitao
Too far: Rebelyn Pitao, a grade school teacher, was abducted, tortured, raped, killed and dumped in a watery ditch in Carmen, Davao del Norte “like a carabao.” (Photo by Barry 
A makeshift cross now stands at the irrigation ditch in Carmen, Davao del Norte where Rebelyn’s body was found a day after she was snatched in Davao City on her way home to her mother and siblings. (AKP Images / Keith Bacongco) 
The daughter’s father NPA Commander Parago speaks: I am hurt and enraged, but ready for sacrifices for the revolution. (AKP Images / Ruby Thursday More)It was 6:30 a.m. – the last time Mrs. Pitao saw her 20-year old daughter. It was the last time she ever heard her voice.
Rebelyn usually arrived back home by 6:30 p.m. each school day. But last week, Wednesday March 4, there was no sign of her. Mrs. Pitao was worried: An hour and a half later, local police officers and a tricycle driver knocked on her door and brought news that Rebelyn had been abducted on her way home by armed gunmen.
“When I heard she had been taken, I knew I would never see her alive again,” said Mrs. Pitao from her small house in Bago Galera, Toril District in Davao City. “I knew they would kill her because they were angry at her father.”
Rebelyn, who would have turned 21 on March 20, was the third child and daughter of New People’s Army (NPA) leader Leoncio Pitao, also known as Commander Parago. Her partially-naked body was found late the following day, Thursday March 5, in an irrigation ditch in Barangay (village) San Isidro in Carmen, Davao Del Norte, about 50 kilometers north from here. She had been bound, gagged, raped and repeatedly stabbed in the chest.
“There were rope markings around her neck and mud all over her body,” her mother told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project. “She was like a carabao.”
According to the Scene of Crime Operatives (SOCO) of the Davao City police, Rebelyn had been dead for more than 20 hours before she was found by a local farmer. It suggests she was killed very soon after being taken.
“Her body bore five wounds inflicted by a thin sharp object such as an ice pick, which pierced her lungs and liver,” according to Dr. Tomas Dimaandal who conducted the autopsy at a local funeral home. His report added that her genitals had suffered cuts “possibly caused by a hard object.” Her mouth had been taped up.
Mrs. Pitao explained how, with the police officers listening, tricycle driver Danny Peliciano told her that two unknown men had boarded his vehicle alongside Rebelyn when she climbed in to ride home. As they neared Bago Gallera de Oro subdivision a white van – a Toyota Revo – blocked their path and forced the tricycle to stop.
“Two other men came out of the van and dragged her out of the tricycle. The driver said Rebelyn was screaming for help but he could not do anything because the men were armed. The driver said he ran away. Then they dragged my daughter inside the van.”
Mrs. Pitao believes the other two men on the tricycle were accomplices and all four men climbed in the van.
The abduction site is about 300 meters from the national highway and is beside a church with the nearest house 50 meters away.
Peliciano is now missing: A fellow driver who did not wish to be named said that right after the incident he quit working his usual route and disappeared. “He is no longer staying at home and we have no idea where he is now. I think he went into hiding because he is a witness,” said the man.
Mrs. Pitao believes her daughter may have been attacked inside the van or taken to a place in nearby Panabo City or Carmen where she was tied up, tortured and killed soon after and then taken after dark to the ditch.
It is believed she was dumped there between midnight and 1 a.m.
According to a police report obtained by the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project from the Carmen police station, Rebelyn’s body was discovered by rice farmer Raffy Agres whose signed affidavit says he found her lying in the flooded ditch at around 5 p.m. that Thursday.
“You could hardly see the body even when you were just beside the canal because of the grass here and the ridge,” said banana plantation worker Noel Lanoy who was with Agres when Rebelyn was found.
“He screamed out that a body had been dumped and it was a summary killing,” said Lanoy. “I first thought it was a banana tree trunk.”
Egles Brieta whose house lies about 100 meters away from the scene, says she didn’t see or hear any vehicle that would have been needed to dump Rebelyn’s body. “It is so quiet here, yet we didn’t hear anything or anybody.”
A makeshift bamboo cross now stands in the knee-deep water where Rebelyn was found. According to Brieta, the bodies of two men were also found dumped here in 2004.
Outrage and denials
The abduction, torture and killing of Rebelyn have been met with widespread disgust and condemnation alongside public pledges to deliver justice and ensure an open, independent and transparent investigation.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered government agencies to conduct a thorough investigation, and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has called the abduction, torture and murder “a deed most foul and the work of a monster.”
A senior military officer has called it “a crime against humanity,” with Senator Richard Gordon calling it a “war crime.”
So far however, Task Force Rebelyn, the group set up to investigate the crime claims it has few real leads. Davao City Police Chief Senior Superintendent Ramon Apolinario initially complained his men had only a few clues to work with – the testimonies of the tricycle driver and the rice farmer who found her –along with a description of the van allegedly used.
Rebelyn’s guerilla father claims the vehicle has been spotted parked outside a “known army safe house in Carmen” –something the military hotly denies.
Almost from the very moment she was reported missing, the Philippine Army’s high command has come out vehemently and repeatedly in public to deny the military was in any way responsible for Rebelyn’s abduction or her subsequent torture and killing.
But after her own father –Commander Parago – publicly named four military suspects as his daughter’s killers on Sunday, the Army’s position has slowly changed. While it still denies any responsibility, it now admits two of the men Parago mentioned are currently their military intelligence officers who are now “restricted” to the barracks at the 10th Infantry Division headquarters in Camp Panacan in Davao.
The military is now pledging 100 per cent cooperation with the police inquiry but insists the investigation also has to follow up all other leads too.
A few days earlier, Major General Reynaldo B. Mapagu, Commander of the 10th ID, denied any involvement of the military in the killing of Rebelyn, adding that it was “not the policy of the Philippine Army to target civilians in its campaign against the communist insurgents.”
And in a separate press statement, Lt. Colonel Rolando Bautista, 10th ID spokesperson, said they understand the ordeal of the family of Rebelyn “but it would be unfair to blame the incident (on) the military.”
In the hours after she first went missing, military sources suggested Rebelyn was probably the victim of infighting between members of the NPA. They added that she may also have been targeted by relatives of people who were themselves kidnapped and abused by Parago over the years.
But Rebelyn’s father is adamant that no other group could be behind her killing and claims the army “lashed out at her because they couldn’t get me.”
He does not believe that any government-led investigation will bring justice for her daughter.
“There were so many investigations for the victims of extrajudicial killings but none so far have been solved,” he said. “Not just political killings but also killing of journalists in this country -what happened to their investigations?”
Ominously, he added: “We (the NPA) will be the ones to investigate and punish those behind the killing of my daughter.”
Prepared with sacrifices
Chief of the NPA’s 1st Pulang Bagani Command which operates in the fringes of this huge city, Parago said the killing of his daughter would “strengthen and intensify the efforts to continue the revolution.
“I’m hurt and I’m enraged. Yet even if I cry, there’s nothing I could do to bring her back. When I learned that she was abducted, I already knew that were going to kill her. I’ve been expecting that to happen not just to my daughter but to my entire family as well.”
Parago’s son Ryan claims he too was attacked by military agents and now lives with his father as an NPA guerilla. “They tried to stab me in 2005 and the next day I left to come here. Had I not, I would have been dead now just like Rebelyn.”
Parago broke his silence three days after her daughter was found dead. The Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project and several journalists met up with him at a location in the outskirts of this city.
“Since I joined the NPA (in 1978), I’ve been expecting that something will happen to my family,” he said. “You have to be prepared with all the sacrifices in all aspects when you’ll join the revolution.”
Clad in black military uniform, smoking a cigarette and in full battle dress, the 51-year-old Parago worried that what happened to Rebelyn may also happen to other members of his family.
Parago accused two named sergeants with the Military Intelligence Group (MIG) and two named officers serving in the Military Intelligence Battalion (MIB) as those who he says are directly responsible for his daughter’s death. In a separate interview with a radio station he also named others –including an Army major.
Parago said that based on the NPA’s “own intelligence information,” the four intelligence officers were responsible for the killing of his brother Danilo in June last year alongside others. “My brother was a provincial guard of Davao del Norte -he was a government employee, and yet still he was killed.”
A spokesperson of the Army’s 10th ID has confirmed the names Parago mentioned to the journalists are members of the military. Two of them he confirmed are being held in the divisional barracks. The Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Eastern Mindanao Command spokesperson Major Randolph Cabangbang said the military would fully cooperate with the police investigation.
“We are also affected; the military organization is very concerned about this and by the perception of civilians. We are not looking into this incident as soldiers but as fathers too,” stressed Cabangbang.
He added they were also investigating the white Toyota Revo with the plate number LPG-588 that was reportedly used in abducting Rebelyn. “We verified the plate number to the Land of Transportation office,” he said – “but apparently it is not registered or found in the LTO’s database.”
Cabangbang was adamant there “would be no whitewash or cover-up” in the investigation “even if the suspects are from the military.”
He added: “We will give the PNP (Philippine National Police) a free hand on this. We also welcome an independent body to conduct its own investigation to help bring justice for Rebelyn.
He flatly denied the military conducted surveillance on the Pitao family: “The only subject for our surveillance is Parago - not his entire family”
Elusive Parago
Parago has long been a wanted man: Former commander of the Philippine Army's 10th ID Major General Jogy Leo Fojas last year vowed his troops would “nail the elusive Parago” before the end of 2008.
Parago has been accused of kidnapping and killing civilians, whom the NPA suspected as “military intelligence assets.” He admits his guerillas have killed suspected informers in cold blood: Parago claimed he knew his “comrades” were responsible for the killing of an informer, but was “not around when the execution happened.”
”The People’s Court does not kill innocent civilians, we carefully examine their crimes against the people before we carry out punishments,” he said.
Yet there is no such recognized court under national or international law and many people see absolutely no difference between extrajudicial killings allegedly committed by the military and those said to be committed by the NPA.
In January 7, the NPA are believed to have killed Saturnino Rizaldo, a suspected member of the military intelligence group. A month later, they also reportedly murdered a second intelligence agent in Paquibato district here.
In a mobile phone interview, Simon Santiago, southern Mindanao political director of the NPA, told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project that the NPA executed Rizaldo because of his “crime against humanity.”
“The NPA has standing order against those who have committed serious crime against the masses,” Santiago stressed.
The other victim he said was “a former NPA member turned military asset.”
Remembering Rebelyn
Parago said he waited until his daughter was 11 before telling her he was the known Commander Parago of Southern Mindanao. “When they (my children) asked me where I was, I often told them I was working abroad.”
Shortly after his release from a prison sentence in 2000 and learning that he would again go back to join the NPA, Parago recalled Rebelyn saying: “Pa, abi nako mag uban na ta hangtud sa hangtud (Pa, I thought we would be together again forever).”
Parago was captured by military agents in 1999 at his home in Toril district. He was released without preconditions after spending just under two years in jail.
He also recounted the time when Rebelyn asked for a new pair of jeans and he couldn’t give her one. “I told her to ask for the old pair of jeans from her older sister. Rebelyn did it and did not complain. When her mother was finally able to give her a new pair, Rebelyn was so happy and grateful. Even for the smallest things, Rebelyn never forgot to say ‘thank you.’”
Mrs. Pitao also recalled that since Rebelyn was still small, she really wanted to be a teacher.
Rebelyn served as a substitute teacher for five months at St. Peter’s College of Technology and taught Grade 2.
Her mother recalled how happy Rebelyn was when she had her first salary of PhP 7,800 (USD 162). “She was so happy because that was her first time that she actually had some real money.”
Mrs. Pitao added said that her daughter’s fellow teachers were surprised to learn she was the daughter of Commander Parago. “Yet their treatment towards us never changed. They even sympathized with us because they knew we were not part of the conflict -we were not combatants.”
Held hostage
Mrs. Pitao claimed the military had harassed their family in the past. In 1999, she insisted, seven military agents came into their house and briefly held the family hostage to force her husband to surrender.
“They knew my husband was coming down to visit us because it was All Saints Day,” she recalls. “The children were so scared because we were all held at gunpoint.”
Parago also claims to remember the alleged incident: “I went there to visit but was surprised to see the military. I had a grenade with me but had I tossed it inside my house it would have killed my family as well as the agents –and so I let myself get captured.”
Mrs. Pitao said the incident was a traumatic experience for the children: “Trauma has been gone for a long time but now it’s back again because of what happened to their sister.”
Safety of the family
Davao City Police have been providing 24-hour security during Rebelyn’s wake and Mrs. Pitao said she was thankful to Mayor Duterte. While having gone on record as saying he dismissed all allegations that any military or police officers could be involved in the killing, the mayor has made a public promise to Parago to find those responsible. The two have even spoken together on the phone.
For her part, Mrs. Pitao is refusing to comment on her family’s future security: “We cannot say anything about it now or what are we going to do now. We have yet to talk about it. But I admit that we are very affected. I’m worried about my children because two of them are still studying and they are now worried for their security.”
Rebelyn’s death brings the number of victims of extrajudicial killings in southern Mindanao since 2001 up to 93 according to Kelly Delgado, secretary general of the human rights group Karapatan for southern Mindanao region.
Authorities contest Karapatan’s figure and insist it is much lower. But it is not known if either figure includes an anti-mining activist who was shot dead by two gunmen on Monday March 9 in nearby Koronadal City.
Delgado claims the killing of Rebelyn was intended as a warning: “This is a message for the family members of not just the NPA but as well those who are in the progressive organizations that they too can be targets,” Delgado said. “It is also a message meant to demoralize our ranks.”
“Since the government has set 2010 as the deadline to crush the communist movement, extrajudicial killings may even get worse because civilians whom they suspect as communist supporters will become soft targets,” Delgado said.
“The killings have become systemic and it is impossible to stop them. What we can do now is to become vigilant and impose security measures among people.”
Retired Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have set a 2010 deadline to end the insurgency.
But last year, Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Alexander Yano admitted that the government might not be able to wipe out the 40-year-old communist movement by 2010.
The NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), turns 40 on March 29 –the day before a public hearing on vigilante killings is due to open here.
Bishop Delfin Callao of the Philippine Independent Church has said that an independent body needs to be created to investigate Rebelyn’s killing.
“How can you investigate if you are the accused?” Callao asked reporters in a press conference last week. The investigation, he insisted, should not allow any representatives from government agencies, police or military to join.
"This will assure us of complete impartiality and the findings can be the basis of any criminal charges to be filed against the suspects.”
The investigating body, he said, should be composed of the people from church and civil society organizations. “Even if the government authorities snub the results, the most important thing here is we surface the truth.”
Rebelyn’s funeral and burial is due to be held here on Saturday March 14. (Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project / Keith Bacongco. The author is a journalist based in Davao City and one of the founders of AKP Images, an independent photo agency.)
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
NPA rebels ordered to arrest 4 military men in brutal murder of commander's daughter in Mindanao
The underground Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said it instructed the New People’s Army (NPA) to arrest the four military men for the murder of Rebelyn Pitao, who was abducted in Davao City on March 4. She was tortured and raped and stabbed several times in the chest.
The woman is the daughter of Leoncio Pitao also known as Kumander Parago, chieftain of the NPA’s Pulang Bagani Command.
The CPP identified the four soldiers as Sergeants Adan Sulao and Ben Tipait of the Armed Forces’ Military Intelligence Group XI and Corporal Alvin Bitang of the Military Intelligence Battalion (MIB) of the Philippine Army’s 10th Infantry Division, and a certain Pedregoza, another intelligence agent.
“These fascist agents are believed to have carried out this dastardly crime in accordance with instructions from higher ups in their desperate campaign to shatter the determination of Commander Parago and his fellow NPA Red fighters in advancing the people’s revolution,” the CPP said in a statement.
Pitao’s daughter was found dead March 5, floating in a shallow creek in the village of San Isidro in Davao del Norte’s Carmen town.
“These suspects should be sought and arrested so they could undergo investigation by duly authorized revolutionary authorities and face criminal charges,” the CPP said.
The CPP also held the highest officials of the Arroyo government and the AFP responsible for the murder of Rebelyn.
“Ultimately, it is Gloria Arroyo and her top fascist henchmen who are to blame for the crimes against Rebelyn Pitao. Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya 2 has long regarded civilians as targets of military operations including killings, abductions, torture and other forms of fascism. This has now been most hideously extended to apply as well to loved ones and relatives of armed revolutionaries the fascists cannot get hold of.”
Oplan Bantay Laya is the government anti-insurgency campaign in the country.
The CPP also dismissed as “empty rhetoric” the pronouncements of President Arroyo and her defense officials that it is investigating the murder of Rebelyn.
“How can the Arroyo and her factotums be sincere in seeking justice for Rebelyn’s murder when they have, in fact, made this inevitable in the strategy, tactics and course of their counter-revolutionary war? By commending, promoting and rewarding her notorious fascist generals, Arroyo has in fact directly encouraged the Armed Forces of the Philippines to engage in such brutal and dastardly crimes,” it said.
”Rebelyn’s murder highlights the Arroyo regime’s innumerable crimes against unarmed civilians who are invariably regarded by the military and its counter-insurgency strategists as combatants in the raging civil war,” the CPP said.
The Army’s 10th Infantry Division said Wednesday that it has already restricted to Bitang and Pedrogoza so they can answer any investigations into the killing of Pitao’s daughter.
The two soldiers, who were former NPA rebels, denied accusations against them, said Capt. Rosa Manuel, a regional army spokeswoman. (Mindanao Examiner)
Army restricts 2 soldiers linked to murder of rebel leader's daughter in South RP
New People’s Army leader Leoncio Pitao tagged Sergeants Adan Sulao and Ben Tipait, Henry Bitang and Corporal Pedregoza as behind the alleged murder of his daughter, Rebelyn Pitao.
Pitao’s daughter was abducted by gunmen on March 4 in Davao City. The next day, her body was found in a creek in the town of Carmen in Davao del Sur province.
Reports said the body of the 21-year old woman, a teacher by profession, was wearing nothing, but underwear. Her hands were tied and mouth was bound with a packaging tape – she had stabbed wounds in her chest and was believed tortured and raped by her abductors.
Officials said the two soldiers – Bitang and Pedregosa - were former NPA rebels and now members of the Military Intelligence Battalion assigned with the 10th Infantry Division.
“The two soldiers are now restricted inside the camp so they can be available immediately to answer any investigation. The soldiers have denied any involvement in the murder of Rebelyn Pitao,” said Capt. Rosa Manuel, an army spokeswoman.
She said the Maj. Gen. Reynaldo Mapagu, army division chief, has ordered an investigation into the allegations. “Initial investigation showed nothing against the two soldiers,” Manuel said.
The army initially denied involvement in the killing of Pitao. Pitao’s family also blamed the military for the killing. Pitao, who is also known as Kumander Parago, was responsible for the series of attacks on government forces in Mindanao.
The NPA is fighting for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country and the killing of Pitao's daughter coincided with the government announcement that it would resume collapsed peace talks with rebels. (Mindanao Examiner)
Friday, March 06, 2009
Philippine communist rebels deplore killing of commander's daughter
Rebelyn Pitao, daughter of the New People’s Army commander Leoncio Pitao, was found dead on Thursday night, a day after she was abducted by armed men while on her way home in the outskirts of Davao City, the largest city on Mindanao.
“The army has no justification at all for abducting, molesting and murdering Ka Parago's (Leoncio Pitao)'s daughter Rebelyn.
"By killing Rebelyn, the army has committed a grave violation of international humanitarian law and the rules of war, which gives foremost protection to those not taking part in the armed conflict,” the CPP said in a statement on Friday.
“Rebelyn's murder and the barbarities committed against her are undoubtedly part of the dirty war being carried out by the Army under Oplan Bantay Laya 2."
Oplan Bantay Laya 2 is the operation launched in 2002 against Al-Qaeda-linked militant group Abu Sayyaf and other rebels Muslim-majority south. It began to target the CPP and the NPA in 2003.
The victim had recently passed the national teacher's examination and was set to teach at the St. Peter's School in Toril, Davao City.
Her body, clad only in underwear, bore several stab wounds. Her hands were tied and her mouth was bound with masking tape, fueling speculation she was tortured and sexually assaulted.
In June last year, Pitao's brother, Danilo, was also abducted and killed.
Major General Raymundo Ferrer, a regional military commander of the Philippines army, denied its soldiers were involved in the kidnapping and killing of Pitao's daughter.
“It is not the policy of the military to involve the family or children of the rebels into our fight,' he said, adding that the army was open to investigation of alleged crimes.
Since 2001, hundreds of members of left-wing political parties, human rights activists, journalists, and outspoken clergy have been killed in the Philippines. The number increased sharply after President Arroyo's June 2006 declaration of an "all-out war" against the NPA.
The latest peace talks between Manila and the CPP were suspended in 2004, after Manila refused to pressure the United States and the European Union to remove the NPA from their lists of foreign terrorist organizations.
The aim of the CPP and the NAP, both founded in the late 1960s, is to turn the Philippines into a Maoist State. (adnkronosinternational)