(Updated UA_September 7, 2015)
On September 1, at around 4 a.m., members of the AFP’s paramilitary group Magahat/Bagani Force/Marcos Bocales group opened fire at Dionel Campos and his cousin Juvello Sinzo (earlier reported as Aurello/Bello Sinzo) and a staff member of ALCADEV Belen Itallo in the presence of the community members in Km.16, Bgy. Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur. Campos and Sinzo died instantly, while Itallo survived. The back of Campos’s head was blown off, as some witnesses believed armed men used M203 rifle to shoot him. Sinzo’s arms were also broken due to gunshot wounds.
In the same morning, Emerito Samarca’s remains was found in one of the classrooms in school compound of ALCADEV (Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development). Samarca is Executive Director of ALCADEV. His throat was slit open, with the cut that ranged from ear to ear. He was also shot two times on the chest.
The killings happened while the same paramilitary group burnt down the community’s cooperative store.
(Updated UA_September 7, 2015)
On September 1, at around 4 a.m., members of the AFP’s paramilitary group Magahat/Bagani Force/Marcos Bocales group opened fire at Dionel Campos and his cousin Juvello Sinzo (earlier reported as Aurello/Bello Sinzo) and a staff member of ALCADEV Belen Itallo in the presence of the community members in Km.16, Bgy. Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur. Campos and Sinzo died instantly, while Itallo survived. The back of Campos’s head was blown off, as some witnesses believed armed men used M203 rifle to shoot him. Sinzo’s arms were also broken due to gunshot wounds.
In the same morning, Emerito Samarca’s remains was found in one of the classrooms in school compound of ALCADEV (Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development). Samarca is Executive Director of ALCADEV. His throat was slit open, with the cut that ranged from ear to ear. He was also shot two times on the chest.
The killings happened while the same paramilitary group burnt down the community’s cooperative store.
UA Date : September 7, 2015
UA Case : Extrajudicial killing, frustrated killing, threat and harassment, forcible evacuation, use of schools for military purpose, torture, divestment of property, destruction of property, indiscriminate firing
Victim/s
EMERITO SAMARCA, 54, married with four children, Executive Director of the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV); he was staff member of ALCADEV since its founding and became executive director in 2012. From 1990-1998, he worked with SILDAP-SIDLAKAN, a Lumad support institution in Caraga. He was also staff of the Unyon sa Mag-uuma sa Agusan del Norte (UMAN) – KMP in the 1980’s.
DIONEL CAMPOS, 41, married, resident of Km. 16, Brgy. Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur, Chairperson, Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod (MAPASU or Persevering Struggle for the Next Generation); He is the cousin of JALANDONI CAMPOS, a Lumad leader who has been falsely charged with criminal offense.
DATU JUVELLO SINZO (earlier reported as Aurello/Bello Sinzo), 69, member of MAPASU and resident of Km. 16, Brgy. Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur. Datu Juvello is tribal chieftain of the village of Kiwagan, Bgy. San Isidro, Lianga, Surigao del Sur.
About 261 families/1,304 community members and residents of Han-ayan, Km. 16 and 9 other lumad communities in Brgy. Diatagon and Brgy. San Isidro, Lianga, Surigao del Sur; and 304 families /1,354 individuals from three communities in Buhisan, San Agustin; seven communities in two barangays in San Miguel, one community each in Caras-an, Tago and Mahaba, Marihatag, all in Surigao del Sur.
27 Faculty and staff members of ALCADEV and TRIFPSS (Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur)
Place of incident : ALCADEV compound in Han-ayan and Km. 16, Brgy. Diatagon,
Lianga, Surigao del Sur
Date of incident : September 1, 2015 at around 4 a.m.
Perpetrator/s : Elements of the 36th IB-PA under Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Akas (who turned over command to Lt. Col. Randolph Roxas September 1); Elements of the 75th Infantry Battalion and Special Forces of the Philippine Army; Elements of the paramilitary Magahat/Bagani Forces/Marcos Bocales group identified by eyewitnesses as Bobby Tejero and Loloy Tejero, among 18 others
ACCOUNT OF THE INCIDENT:
On August 30, 2015, about 40 soldiers of the 36th Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army (IBPA), the 75th IBPA, AFP 1st Special Forces, and known members of the paramilitary group—who call themselves Magahat-Bagani Force/Marcos Bocales group—occupied the function hall and parts of the school grounds of the Aternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV) in Sitio Han-ayan, Brgy. Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur.
It was the day after the commemoration of the school’s Foundation Day. While there were visitors who stayed behind after the event, most of the visitors had already left. Those who stayed behind saw for themselves the soldiers and members of the paramilitary group in the community.
During the military and paramilitary encampment, elements of the 36th IBPA, 75th IBPA, SF, and members of the Bocales group threatened the school’s faculty members, staff, and the community members that they will be massacred, unless they leave in two days. Soldiers also asked community members of the whereabouts of Reynaldo Campos, ALCADEV coordinator; Norma Ampis, TRIFPSS executive director; Dionel Campos, MAPASU Chairperson; and, two other TRIFPSS teachers.
At dawn of September 1, at around 4 a.m., soldiers went from house to house in Han-ayan and in Km. 16 and ordered residents to get out of their houses and to proceed to the basketball in Km. 16. Han-ayan is less than a kilometer from Km. 16’s basketball court.
At the ALCADEV grounds, the soldiers and paramilitary forcefully knocked at the dormitory. The soldiers told the students and staff to come out of the school. One resident, Guideon Galicia, who was about to go up to the second floor of the ALCADEV guest house to get Samarca met a soldier who immediately hit him with the butt of a gun. Samarca saw Galicia and asked the soldiers not to hurt him. He then introduced himself as Executive Director of ALCADEV. The soldiers let go of Galicia and held Samarca instead.
As residents and teachers were leaving Han-ayan, 25 soldiers of the 75th IBPA in full battle gear and three to five members of the paramilitary group, remained in the community.
In Km. 16, the people were ordered to gather at the basketball court. The armed men separated the men from the women and children. The ALCADEV teachers and staff were also told to form their separate group. Bobby and Loloy Tejero of the Magahat/Bagani Force approached Sinzo, who was at the group of men. He was asked to promise that the residents would “go back to the folds of the government” but Sinzo said it is beyond him. The armed men grabbed him and separated him from the group. People saw the armed men beat Sinzo with wood.
Campos and Itallo, who were at the house of Josephine Pagalan, were ordered to sit at a bench near Pagalan’s house. Pagalan is spokesperson of the Kahugpungan sa mga Lumadnong Organisasyon sa Caraga (Kasalo Caraga or Organization of Indigenous Peoples Organizations in Caraga).
The armed men also confiscated all cellphones and cameras from the residents and ALCADEV staff and remaining visitors in the community.
Some members of the paramilitary group said Itallo was seen in the company of the NPA in the mountains. Itallo, crippled by polio since childhood, reasoned out by showing her feet and saying it is not true because she has difficulty in walking. The armed men ordered Itallo to sit beside Campos while they grabbed Sinzo and separated him from the group.
Campos fell down when armed men whacked him in the neck, but he refused to bow down. He immediately lifted his head and looked at the people around him. Bobby Tejero and brother Loloy Tejero ordered the residents to ‘drop’ and then shot Campos on the head. Some 20 armed men fired indiscriminately in the presence of the people. After the indiscriminate firing, they saw Sinzo also dead, a few meters away from Campos. His arms were broken.
The community members saw the killing. Itallo, who ducked and just kept her eyes closed during the shooting, survived but was temporarily deaf because of the close range firing. The back of Campos’s head was blown off.
Later in the morning, after the killing, the residents went back to their respective houses. The residents of Han-ayan also went back to their community and saw their cooperative store burned down and parts of the TRIFPSS school burning. While others tried to put off the fire at the TRIFPSS school, some teachers went back to ALCADEV campus and found Samarca’s dead body. His throat was slit open, with the cut that ranged almost from ear to ear, his face bruised and almost unrecognizable.
At the time of the incident, most of the elements of the 36th IBPA and Special Forces were in Km. 9.
Since 2005, members of Mapasu and ALCADEV, who are active in the defense of Lumad ancestral lands against incursion by big business, have been victims of red tagging, trumped-up criminal charges, illegal arrests and detention, torture, and forced evacuation.
ALCADEV was established in July 19, 2004 as an alternative learning system especially designed to provide secondary education to indigent indigenous youth—Manobo, Higaonon, Banwaon, Talaandig and Mamanwa – who live in the mountains of Surigao del Norte and Sur, Agusan del Norte and Sur. ALCADEV is born out of the joint efforts of indigenous peoples organizations in CARAGA region. MAPASU is a regional organization of indigenous people in Caraga and is well known for its strong stance against intrusion of mining companies in their communities.
The paramilitary group of Marcos Bocales, called Task Force Gantangan during the Arroyo regime’s Oplan Bantay Laya, may have changed its name into Magahat-Bagani Force. Despite the change in name however, the group continues to be armed and used by the military to sow division and terror among the Manobo-Lumad, using a worn-out trick of divide-and-rule. In 2014 alone, the group, under the auspices of the 36th IB-PA, was responsible for the killing of Henry Alameda and Aldren Dumaguit; the burning of the vehicle of Kahugpungan sa mga Mag-uuma sa Surigao del Sur (KAMASS) – KMP; and, the burning of the cooperative store and school in Kabulohan, Brgy. Buhisan, San Agustin, Surigao del Sur.
Recommended Action:
Send letters, emails or fax messages calling on the BS Aquino government to:
- Immediately pull-out the 36th, 75th IB-PA and Special Forces from the Lumad community and dismantle the paramilitary group Magahat/Bagani Force.
- Create an independent body to investigate on the killings and other human rights violations perpetrated by the 36th and 75th IB-PA and its paramilitary forces, the Magahat/Bagani Force.
- Persecute the perpetrators of the extrajudicial killing and other human rights violations committed against the residents of Han-ayan and Km. 16 in Bgy. Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur.
- To withdraw its counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, which continues to victimize innocent and unarmed civilians.
- Remind the Philippine government that it is bound to observe, promote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as it is a signatory to and a party to all the major Human Rights instruments.
We also call on all human rights advocates to extend humanitarian support to the 2,000 evacuees who are now in Tandag City, Surigao del Sur.
You may send your communications to:
1. H.E. Benigno C. Aquino III
President of the Republic of the Philippines
Malacañang Palace, JP Laurel St., San Miguel, Manila Philippines
Voice: (+632) 564 1451 to 80
Fax: (+632) 742-1641 / 929-3968
E-mail: op@president.gov.ph
2. Ret. Lt. Gen. Voltaire T. Gazmin
Secretary, Department of National Defense
Room 301 DND Building, Camp Emilio Aguinaldo, E. de los Santos Avenue, Quezon City
Voice:+63(2) 911-9281 / 911-0488
Fax:+63(2) 911 6213
Email: osnd@philonline.com
3. Atty. Leila De Lima
Secretary, Department of Justice Philippines
Padre Faura St., Manila, Philippines
Direct Line 521-1908
Trunkline 523-84-81 loc.211/214
Fax: (+632) 523-9548
Email: lmdelima@doj.gov.ph, lmdelima.doj@gmail.com, lmdelima.doj2@gmail.com
4. Hon. Jose Luis Martin Gascon
Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Bldg., UP Complex, Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
Voice: (+632) 928-5655, (+632) 926-6188
Fax: (+632) 929 0102
E-mail: comsec@chr.gov.ph
Please send us a copy of your email/mail/fax to the above-named government officials, to our address below.
URGENT ACTION Prepared by:
KARAPATAN Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights
National Office
2/F Erythrina Bldg., #1 Maaralin cor Matatag Sts., Brgy. Central,
Diliman, Quezon City 1100 PHILIPPINES
Voice/Fax: (+632) 435 4146
Email: urgentaction@karapatan.org; karapatan@karapatan.org
Website: www.karapatan.org