On 12 December 2007, Renante Romagus was abducted by elements of the Scout Rangers at Purok 4, Brgy. Casoon, Monkayo, Campostela Valley. After receiving the report, KARAPATAN-Southern Mindanao Region through its secretary general Kelly Delgado organized a search team. On 18 December, Renante was found at the Davao Regional Hospital suffering from seven stabbed wounds.
On 12 December 2007, Renante Romagus was abducted by elements of the Scout Rangers at Purok 4, Brgy. Casoon, Monkayo, Campostela Valley. After receiving the report, KARAPATAN-Southern Mindanao Region through its secretary general Kelly Delgado organized a search team. On 18 December, Renante was found at the Davao Regional Hospital suffering from seven stabbed wounds.
The search team went to the hospital and was able to talk with Renante. They found Renante very weak from the torture and stabbed wounds he sustained. Despite this, Renante gradually recounted his ordeal pausing from time to time to catch his breath. He said that at around 7:00 in the morning of 12 December 2007, as he was walking towards his farm to make charcoal out of coconut shells and harvest bananas, at about 300 meters away from his house, he was called by an undetermined number of elements of the Scout Rangers in full battle gear who concealed themselves in an elevated area. As he walked towards them, one of the soldiers suddenly blindfolded him and covered his mouth.
The soldiers also bound his hands behind his back. He was taken to an unknown place. The soldiers accused him of being a member of the New People’s Army; when he denied the allegation, he was tortured. They wrapped his head with a plastic bag. But he continued to deny the allegation which infuriated the soldiers. They ordered him to lie down and they filled the plastic bag with water. But Renante continued to assert his innocence.
He was then put in a truck and was taken for a long ride. When they arrived at their destination, he was taken into a room. He felt that the room was small because he could clearly hear the voices and noise around him. He noted that the soldiers were talking in Tagalog language. He remained blindfolded, bound and only his gag was removed during his detention from 13 to 16 December. He related that he soiled himself during his captivity because most of the time, the guards ignored him if he asked permission to go to the toilet.
On the evening of 16 December, Renante was again gagged with packing tape and he was placed into a vehicle which he sensed to be a pick-up truck. They traveled for about 20-30 minutes. When the vehicle stopped, he was ordered to disembark and walk, after which, he was made to sit down, and to his surprise, one of his captors stabbed him in the right shoulder near the base of his neck. He was stabbed five more times hitting him four times at the back, one in the right arm
and another one at the left side of his abdomen. Thinking that he was already dead, the assailants removed his blindfold and untied his hands. Then they carried and tossed him not far from where he was stabbed. Sensing that he was still alive, they went back and stabbed him again in the back. Then they carried him again and hurled him in another place.
By sheer will power, Renante survived. When the soldiers left, he crawled and braved the rain looking for someone to help him. He was alternately crawling and walking under the rain the whole night. At dawn of 17 December, he finally reached the road. He was sitting at the roadside when he saw a motorcycle stopped at the place where he was left by the soldiers. He hid himself and waited for the motorcycle to leave. He laboriously inched his way and eventually found a house.
Renante recounted the incident to the woman who owned the house. In turn, she asked him from where he was and the name of the chairman of their barangay (village chief). Satisfied with his answer, she lent him a change of clothes and brought him to the municipal hall of Monkayo. People from the municipal hall brought him to the Davao Regional Hospital (DRH). They also informed Renante’s family about the incident.
He is still confined at the Male Intensive Care Unit of DRH. He is in stable condition but still needs a life support.
It was later learned that Renante was dumped in Brgy. Hagimitan which is about 20-30 minutes away from the detachment of the 28th Infantry Battalion Philippine Army located in Brgy. Rizal also in Monkayo.