Account of the Incident:
On March 17, 2011, the five-man HR Team of Karapatan-Central Visayas went to the village of Barangay Nagbinlod, municipality of Sta. Catalina in Negros Oriental, to document reported human rights abuses of the state security forces following an alleged clash between the military and the New People’s Army (NPA).
Account of the Incident:
On March 17, 2011, the five-man HR Team of Karapatan-Central Visayas went to the village of Barangay Nagbinlod, municipality of Sta. Catalina in Negros Oriental, to document reported human rights abuses of the state security forces following an alleged clash between the military and the New People’s Army (NPA).
The HR Team was in Sta. Catalina since February 14, 2011, documenting human rights violations in the militarized communities of the municipality. On March 17, local farmers reported to the HR Team that Marvin Villegas, 18, a village resident, was shot by members of the 1st Scout Rangers Battalion while the youth was taking the family’s carabao to the fields. The HR Team and 11 farmers were assisting Villegas to get medical help, when they were all arrested by members of the Alpha Company of the 79th IBPA.
The victims were held in custody by the soldiers along the village road side of Bgy. Nagbinlod, and questioned by the military.
Nine of the local farmers were later released, while the rest were brought to the Sta. Catalina Municipal Police Station, and guarded by soldiers led by 1st Lt. Tagle. The soldiers accused the HR Team and Villegas as members of the NPA. Villegas, together with his mother, was later taken away by the soldiers, purportedly to Dumaguete City.
Until this writing, no charges were filed against the victims who are being accused by the soldiers as members of the NPA.