Reign of Terror
(from the newsletter of the Solidarity Action Group for
Indigenous Peoples (SAGIP))
On May 27,1996, at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, members of
the 73rd Infantry Batallion led by Lt. Benedict Baluga raided and
strafed the house of Pacita Panihaw, a 49-year-old Matigsalog, in
Kapatagan where a group of NPA guerillas were said to be resting.
Without regard for possible civilians inside, some 30 soldiers
immediately fired at Panihaw's residence without warning. Two
other houses were strafed, while the troops started to pursue the
rebels who were able to escape.
After the raid, the military ransacked Pacita's house, taking
with them some clothing and pans.
While the soldiers stayed in the village that night, tribal
chieftain Datu Quezon Panihaw, Pacita's wife, was reportedly
interrogated by Lt. Baluga and was accused of working for the
NPA. During their stay, the soldiers also harvested two sacks of
young mais, and slaughtered 2 chicken without the Datu's permission.
Driven by fear, Pacita and 12 other families started to evacuate
the following morning to Toroyan, a neighboring village where most
residents are her relatives.
On May 28, the villages of Kapatagan and Patulang were pounded
with machine gun bullets, rockets, and bombs dropped by three
helicopter gunships. The shelling and bombing lasted from 9 in
the morning to 2 in the afternoon. As a result of the ensuing
panic and spontaneous evacuation, some children were separated
from their parents, while some wives were separated from their
husbands.
In Patulang two children were almost hit by bullets from a
machine gun aboard a helicopter. Teresa Ingay, 10, missed a shot
by the hairline when she said she felt the bullet pass off her
left ear while she instinctively dropped to the ground. She was
fleeing with her younger brother Emi, 5 years. Seconds later,
Teresa was picked up by their aunt, Roni, who thought her dead
and bonded together her two children and the two Ingays. Together
with other residents, they fled towards a cave enroute to Pangyan
village. A military helicopter followed the fleeing residents and
issued yet another round of machine gun fire at them.
Leona Dakulo, fortyish, who was at her farm in Patulang at the
time of firing, almost failed to take her son with her while
fleeing to Toruyan. Her 5-year-old son, Mayonado, was standing at
the side of the military who were aiming at the retreating NPA
guerillas. He was ordered by the military to bend, while several
bullet shells fell on his head.
Charlie Balumbad, Patulang community leader, reports that the
bombings impaired the hearing of at least 4 Lumads and caused the
nervous breakdown of one member in the village.
On May 29, pursuit operations were conducted by the military in
sitio Bangkal Mere a group of NPAs were reportedly holed up.
Ground troops were accompanied with aerial shellings. Twenty
families from Bangkal evacuated to sitio Panipasan.
In Togas, about 7 kilometers from Bangkal, the military assembled
the Lumads and demanded that residents at the peripheries of the
area move to the sitio's center. The Lumads were prohibited from
tending their farms because the military said they would still
continue with the operations.
On May 30, strafing and aerial bombing occured in sitio Tagaibo,
about seven kilometers from Patulang.
A civilian, Rosie Abing, was killed during the strafing. Abing, a
45-year-old Matigsalog mother, was reaching for a bag while her
husband outside the house urged her to jump and run, when
suddenly she was hit on the head and arm by the military. The
bullets shattered Abing's head and severed her arm. She died
instantly. She left 12 children, the youngest of which is still 2
years old, and her husband Boy who is said to be suffering from
tuberculosis.
Abing's sister-in-law, who lives in Pangyan, said that husband
Boy was forced by the 73rd IB to sign a document, in exchange for
money, stating that Abing was killed by the NPA.
One pregnant mother, Ibing Mandalisan, 30, experienced birth
pains during the bombing. She later gave birth at the evacuation
center.
On May 31, the military were quick to propagate in the local
media that the NPAs killed Abing and that she was "shot to death
in front of her husband on suspicion of being a government
informer." Further, that the Army helicopters were said to be
"recalled after the troops realized that the rebels used civilian
hostages as human shields."
Finally, on June 1, about 35 Lumads were conscripted by the
military for the Civilian Volunteer Orgization (CVO) militia in
Tagaibo. The males in the community were also made to dig up fox
holes for the military detachment.
As earlier mentioned, an estimated 183 Matigsalog families
evacuated to neighboring sitios. They are presently crammed at
evacuation sites in the villages of Toruyan, Tagaibo, and
Panipasan.