On the morning of February 27, Rudy and Rudyric Dejos was working on their respective farms which is near their residence in the village of Zone 1, Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.
On the morning of February 27, Rudy and Rudyric Dejos was working on their respective farms which is near their residence in the village of Zone 1, Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.
Rudy’s wife, Mercy, left for the village market to sell their crops. When she returned home at around 4:00 PM, she found her husband’s and son’s lifeless bodies, bathed in blood. The bodies bore gunshot and stab wounds. There were also signs of possible torture as there were bruises on the bodies, and the victims hands and nails were smashed.
Mercy believes that her husband and son were killed around noon because the bodies were already cold and stiff, and the food for lunch that Rudy prepared was left untouched.
In June last year, elements of the 39th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army set-up camp in the Barangay Hall in the center of Barangay Zone-1, Sta. Cruz, conducted village meetings (or “pulong-pulong”) and invited residents, including Rudy, to come in and “clear” their names. A rebel returnee and a community organizer named Jojo have told Rudy that the latter has been mistrusted in the village and that he should “clean” his name from the military’s record. The military have accused Rudy’s tribe as “frontline of the underground movement” and the New People’s Army, and should be dismantled. Rudy decided not to go to the Barangay Hall because he believed that, even though he wishes to explain his side, the military would not believe him.
Rudyric, on the other hand, was interrogated by a certain Boyong on June 6, 2010, outside Rudy’s home. Boyong asked Rudyric about his brother-in-law suspected of being an NPA guerilla, and even aimed a gun at the latter’s head. Boyong also took Rudyric’s picture with a cellphone camera without permission.
Also in December 2010, a certain Arman, a leader of the Barangay Defense System1 in the village and a known military intelligence agent, threatened Rudy over the founding of the Zone-1 Farmers Association which is affiliated with the KMP.
* Barangay Defense System (BDS) is a group of civilians formed by the AFP after a massive military counter-insurgency operation in a community. Some of the members of the BDS are forced or coerced to join, and some are given firearms by the AFP.