KARAPATAN expresses grave concern over reports that a consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) was among three members of the New People’s Army (NPA) rendered hors de combat who were tortured and summarily killed by soldiers in Cagayan province and called on the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to conduct an independent investigation.
NDFP consultant Ariel Arbitrario was reportedly killed with former university student Danielle Marie Pelagio and Cagayan native Erin Sagsagat in an encounter on September 11, 2024 in Barangay Baliuag, Peñablanca, Cagayan.
The AFP 5th Infantry Division claimed that Arbitrario’s remains were only found two days after the encounter. His remains, however, bore numerous gunshot wounds that appeared to have been fired at close range, aside from other signs of trauma. These fuel suspicions that Arbitrario was captured alive and tortured for at least a day before being summarily executed. Local residents, moreover, stated that no firefight occurred and Arbitrario and his companions were merely overpowered by the military who were backed up by helicopters.
Said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay, “The military’s refusal to immediately turn over Arbitrario’s remains to his family is also highly suspicious as it may be a ploy to prevent a thorough post-mortem examination to determine the real cause of death and the circumstances surrounding it.”
“This is not the first time that NPA hors de combat have been summarily killed in the course of the Marcos Jr. regime’s brutal counter-insurgency war,” added Palabay, “a war that has been increasingly marked by violations of international humanitarian law (IHL).”
On February 23, 2024, five NPA members who were captured alive were executed before horrified residents of Sitio Matin-ao, Barangay Campagao, Bilar, Bohol by elements of the 47th IB. A picture showing one of the captured NPA members very much alive and being guarded by a soldier in full combat gear was even circulated on social media. He, along with four other hors de combat, were later reported killed by the military in an alleged armed encounter.
On April 11, 2024, former UP student turned NPA guerrilla Kaliska Dominica Peralta was reportedly accosted unarmed in Purok 8, Barangay Butong, Quezon, Bukidnon by elements of the 48th IBPA and summarily killed despite her being hors de combat, again in an armed encounter that never happened.
“These IHL violations must stop,” averred Palabay. “We urgently call on the CHR to conduct a thoroughgoing investigation to ferret out the truth about Ariel Arbitrario’s killing, in the interest of justice and accountability,” she concluded.