This is the fourth and final entry in my series of posts offering the verbatim Human Rights Watch report on CAA,or Civilian Active Auxiliary abuses under the protection of the AFP, or, Armed Forces of the Philippines. The CAAs, of which the CAFGU, or Civilian Auxiliary Force Geographical Units were the first created, serve in the AFP COIN, or Counterinsurgency programme as a geographically fixed armed reserve manned by the population the unit is protecting. They serve in the second step, or "Hold Phase," after the AFP has "cleared" a sector.
As I have noted, I don't particularly respect Human Rights Watch, or HRW, but this report- actually by Asia Watcg which later was subsumed by HRW- happens to provide a lot of great factual data about the CAA programme circa 1990.
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Militia Abuses in Areas of Sporadic Conflict
In areas of Northern Mindanao where the insurgency was no longer a major threat in 1991 and early 1992, the continued deployment of the CAFGU raised serious human rights concerns. Human Rights Watch findings suggest the presence of CAFGU over time may have led to heightened violence in the communities in which they are based. After combat units withdraw, military supervision of the CAFGU appears to weaken. CAFGU members remain armed, but without a clear target. In communities where the CAFGU remain without a visible enemy, poverty, fear, petty feuding, and the replacement of traditional legal systems by arbitrary force have made the militia, like civil patrols in Guatemala, "a dangerous conduit for vigilante justice and the abuse of power" ("Civil Patrols in Guatemala," pp11, Americas Watch, NY: August 1986).
This trend is evident in news reports. Between April and September 1991, Northern Mindanao's largest circulation newspaper, "The Goldstar Daily," published an average of two reports per month on CAFGU members' involvement in violent crimes in the four neighboring provinces of Northern Mindanao:
-An April 11, 1991 report described the manhunt for a CAFGU member in nearby Surigao del Norte Province accused of raping a 14 year old girl.
-A May 31, 1991 report detailed the arrest of a CAFGU member suspected of a hold up in Bukindon Province.
-A July 3, 1991 story reported that a CAFGU member in Misamis Oriental Province was declared guilty of Murder and Rape.
-On July 4, 1991, three CAFGU members in Surigao del Norte Province were arrested in a robbery.
-On July 25, 1991, charges were brought against three CAFGU members in Misamis Oriental for threats against a resident.
-A July 30, 1991 report pointed to CAFGU members as the main suspects in the ambush killings of a parish worker and her son in Misamis Oriental.
-On July 31, 1991, a CAFGU member was shot by another in Agusan del Norte Province.
-On August 12, 1991 the paper reported that a CAFGU member was the main suspect in the killing of a motorcycle driver in Misamis Oriental Province.
-On August 22, 1991, a CAFGU member was reported to have shot and killed a local resident in Surigao del Norte Province.
-On August 27, 1991, a CAFGU member was blamed for shooting a local resident and wounding his wife in Misamis Oriental.
-On September 25, 1991, three persons were killed in Bukidnon Province in a shootout between a CAFGU member and a policeman.
Human Rights Watch documented 14 killings by CAFGU or suspected CAFGU in Agusan del Norte and Bukidnon Provinces in 1991. Members of militant farners' organizations were the main victims of political violence.
In addition, Human Right Watch findings that the Military gives a cash bounty to militia and vigilante group members for the killing of suspected NPA rebels raises concerns that Military policy encourages arbitrary and uncontrolled acts of violence. The bounties for capture of suspected NPA are listed in documents known as the Order of Battle.
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In Bukidnon, this provision served as a virtual go ahead for armed groups, some outside the ordinary chain of discipline or command, to take part in violent attacks on suspected rebels. Execution, and not merely capture, of the suspects was rewarded.
CAFGU and Military Killings in Agusan del Norte
Agusan del Norte, perched on the north coast of Mindanao at the mouth of the Agusan River, was not the site of major military operations in Mindanao in 1991. The infantry battalion located near Butuan City, the provincial capital, played a defensive role generally, and relatively few encounters were reported in the local press. CAFGU forces remained in place, some under the supervision of police security forces rather than military.
Despite the lack of military activity in the province, security, and CAFGU forces were implicated in several attacks on suspected NPA sympathizers and poor peasants, particularly members of local farmers' organizations. In 1991, in the province of Agusan del Norte, Human Rights Watch investigated four unprovoked killings of farmers, three of them leaders UMAN, the provincial affiliate of the Left Wing farmers' organization, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.
Killing of a Peasant Community Leader by CAFGU
A witness to the killing of Jose Bongcoza in the village of Kabalalahan, in the town of Sangay, said she believed Bongcaza was killed because of his refusal to join the Bantay Bayan. She said he was visited three times by the same armed men before his shooting death.
On September 26, 1991, a Military man accompanied by three CAFGUs went to look for Bongcoza at his house. Noone was home, so the men went to the neighbor, who identified the Military officer as "Boy" Cascara and one CAFGU, a certain Rigo.
Bongciza had refused to join the volunteer village patrol, so when he learned about the visit, he said he was afraid. A neighbor, whose brother had been sought and killed by the Military, advised him to go into hiding, but Boncoza decided to wait for the men to return, and then go with them to speak with the local Military commander.
The same thre visited Bongcoza's house the next day, but left before Bongcoza returned. Neighbors told the family about the visit. The next day, the family went up to the farm to slaughter a pig for the Sunday Fiesta. When they returned, they found the door kicked in, with boot marks on it. The family was frightened and went to the home of a relative. The next day, Bongcoza went with his aunt to see a town council official in Sangay, the municipal center, to find out why the men were after him, "especially since this Cascara and Rigo are known to liquidate suspected NPAs," the source said. The official told them he could do nothing, because it was a Sunday, but advised Bongcoza to hide out until the next day.
Bongcoza, however, appeared upset and instead went looking for Cascara and Rigo. He later related to his family that he found the two at is house. They told him they were looking for him because they wanted to talk to him about the Bantay Bayan. They taunted him and asked him if he was afraid of them, which he asmitted. Later that evening, according to family members, Bongcoza appeared anxious and depressed, and spoke as if he expected he would die. At about 830PM, he went out to smoke a cigarette on the step ladder leading to the front entrance of his daughter's house. At that moment, he was shot once in the head, and died instantly. His daughter, wgo was inside the house, saw the flash of a shot blast in the dark, but did not see the gunmen. Neighbors reported hearing the footfalls of two or three individuals running away from the house.
Family members believed that the Military man, Cascara, abd the CAFGU man, Rigo, were responsible for the killing. As of January 1992, the family had not filed charges because of fear of reprisal. They believed the Military continued to keep them under surveillance because one of Bongcoza's sons was an NPA member. Rigo, the CAFGU member, continued to move freely about the community of Kabalalahan. Cascara was disarmed after he confessed to the killing of another CAFGU, in a neighboring town a few months after the killing of Bongcoza. However, he had still not been prosecuted and was reportedly often seen at the local cockfighting gallery in the municipal center.
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Killing in Custody
A neighbor and local official described the killing of Virgilio Bongcales, a 35 year old resident in an outlying village of the provincial capital of Butuan City, by a combined group of two CAFGU members and a locak Philippine Constabulary seargent charged with supervising them. Bongcales' brother, Carmelo Bongcales, witnessed the events that resulted in his brother's killing.
On January 2, 1991 at around 2PM two CAFGU members identified as Melchor Jovita and Lando Trinidad went to Bongcales' home in the village of Salvacion and asked Bongcales to accompany them back to the 411th PC Company barracks to settle a longstanding dispute between Bongcales and another local resident. Bongcales' brother Carmelo joined the three. The detachment is located by the side of the Agusan River.
Jovita and Reinidad were among the CAFGU recruited and trained by the 30th IB in 1988, but the battalion was withdrawn after residents complained of abuses by the soldiers. The CAFGU, some of whom are said to be former CHDF, remained under the 411th PC Company.
At the barracks, the two CAFGU did not permit Carmelo to enter with Bongcales. After 15 minutes, Carmelo suddenly heard gunshots coming from the riverbank. He ran to a cliff overlooking the river and, from a distance of about 300 feet, watched as the PC officer, idemtified as Sgt.Britania, standing on the bank with his M16 rifle aimed at Bongcales who was thrashing about in the middle of the river. Britania aimed and fired his rifle at the water near Bongcales, laughing and shouting at him to swim back. But Bongcales could not swim, amd he screamed that he would never be able to swim back. Slowly, he was swept downstream by the current.
Bongcales' relatives reported the incident to the main PC Headquarters in Butuan City, but said their complaint was ignored and they were told to go home. Bongcales' body was recovered two days later at a village a few miles downstream. A photograph taken at the time showed obvious bruises on his right forearm and ribs, and a cut to his right eye. Additionaly, an autopsy performed by a Government medical officer found three front teeth missing, and a fracture to the rear of the skull, indicating that he had been struck with a heavy object.
A few weeks later, the PC Sergeant Britania approached the Bongcales family and offered them 12,000 Pesos ($500) to "keep quiet." The family, although poor peasant farmers, refused the money. In March, rumors began circulating that they might be "Kuotkuot," or killed by smothering. Six members of the family immediately fled to Manila to a relative's home.
The family was particularly afraid that the CAFGU would kill them in reprisal if they testified against Sergeant Britania. The local official explained, "They had heard from people in a neighboring village that the Government troops threatened members of the family of a victim. And they do that to you by charging you as an NPA sympathizer."
In October, a brother of Bongcales who had been actively pushing for filing the case was stabbed and killed in Davao City. The family believed the killing was related to Bongcales' death, but no additional details of that case were currently available. As of January 1992, despite a Government autopsy, the Government had not investigated or filed charges in the case.
Killings While in Unacknowledged Military Custody
Two prominent members of the farmers' organization, UMAN, were found dead after unidentified Military men picked them up just outside of the provincial capital on February 24, 1991. Information from witnesses' affadavits and locak human rights monitors ubdicate that the two...
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...Bernardo Lagurin and Miguel Calso,may have been killed for their high profile involvement with UMAN. The organization has been openly and repeatedly branded as a zlfront" organization. Lagurin, 41, a resident of the neighboring province of Agusan del Sur, was an agricultural engineer who had been working as a consultant to UMAN; Calso, 29, a farmer, was the General Sevretary of UMAN in Butuan City.
A witness, Desederia Pabas, also a staff member of UMAN, was riding with the two on the same passenger jeep when the two were abducted. In her affadavit filed with the Provincial Prosecutor, she said that the abduction occurred at about 4PM that afternoon, while the three were making the regular commute from Ampayan, where the main UMAN office is located, back to the city center.
At that time, Pabas noticed a private jeep tailing their vehicle. Then the jeep passed the vehicle and stopped in front of it, forcing the jeep that Pabas and the others were riding in to stop as well. The jeep had no liscence plate. Three men jumped out and approached the passenger vehicle. Two of the men carried pistols, and one an Armalite rifle. One wore a fatigue uniform with no nameplate. The three looked inside the rear of the passenger jeep and ordered Lagurin and Calso to get out. They asked all of the other passengers if there were any more companions of Calso and Lagurin in the jeep. Pabas believed she was spared because a passenger responded that the two had been traveling alome. Then the men took Calso and Lagurin and led them at gunpoint into the waiting jeep.
The following day, the relatives of both victims went to the Police Headquarters and Central Police Station in Butuan City to inquire about the two mens' whereabouts, but police officials said that Calso and Lagurin were not in their custody. That same day, residents of a neighborhood in Cagayan del Oro City, three hours distant from Butuan City, found the two bodies at dawn in an empty field. According to local news reports, three hours before, at around 2AM, residents recalled hearing a succession of gunbursts coming from the field, amd seeing a vehicle speeding away from the scene.
Three days later, relatives identified the the dead as Calso and Lagurin. Color photographs and police reports confirmed that both had been shot in the forehead- Calso twice- and several times in the chest at close range.
CAFGU Killings in Bukidnon
The province of Bukidnon is no longer home to an active insurgency. In December 1991, the last remaining political detainees in the province were rleased. A local Military Commander estimated that only roughly 70 fully armed rebels exist in the province, mostly in the still forested hills above the municipality of Valencia. Military and Church leaders said the NPA is weak in Bukidnon because it has less civilian support or sympathy than in other provinces. In the 1970s and early 1980s, much of Central Bukidnon was controlled by the NPA. But in contrast with Eastern, where abuses by Government forces drove many to support the NPA, abuses by NPA forces in Bukidnon caused the insurgency to self destruct. Between 1982 and 1984, Church Leaders said, hundreds of people died in brutal "purging" campaigns by the rebels. The rebel forces weakened, and have not recovered their strength to the present.
Guinoyoran and Lourdes are two neighboring farming settlements roughly 8 miles southwest of the municipal center of Valencia, at the foot of a partially forested mountain ranger. Most residents engage in subsistence farming, but in upland communities, residents engage in small scale logging , called "Tablon-Tablon." Since 1989, all logging has been illegal in the province, but this has not stopped logging in the western most communities in Guioyoran.
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Perhaps because of its remoteness and proximity to forest cover, rebel forces are more active in the area than in other parts of Bukidnon. In 1986, the military battalion stayioned in Valencia began recruiting a team of CHDF forces. The core of their recruits was a group of former rebels. In 1988, many of them joined a Right Wing armed fanatic cult, led by a local tribal Higaonon leader, Datu Bantu Domia. The group, knows as the "Tadtad," is said to be responsible for a series of killings and forced evictions in the settlement (the "Tadtad," translated "Chopchop," are so known because of the group's preference for use of long knives, or "bolos," in hacking enemies).
Even the Church could not quell the violence in Guinoyoran and Lourdes. In 1989, Father Arsenio Rubio was withdrawn from the parish after receiving nu$erous death threata and harassment from the gang. In 1990, the subsequent parish priest, Father Diosdado Tabios, also had to be transferred because of threats. In 1991, a priest newly stationed in the parish, Father Neri Satur, also received threats, but chose to continue work in the parish. In October, he was shot and bludgeoned by members of the grouP, some of whom were CAFGU members.
Killing of an Environmentalist Priest by CAFGU and Paramilitary
Extensive court testimony by witnesses and interviews with local officials painted a complex picture of the planning and assassination of Father Satur. Perpetrators were said to be a group of CAFGU and Tadtad members under the orders of a Military Intelligence officer.
At noon on October 14, 1991, Satur and a Church worker, Lacqueline Lunzaga, were making their way home by motorbike on a dusty, rugged road after saying Mass in a remote community of Guinoyoran. Suddenly, three men, two of them masked, lunged into the road ahead and opened fire. After emptying seven bullets into the priest, one of the gunmen crushed the prone victim's head with three blows of his rifle butt, breaking the rifle in two. Lunzaga was struck by one bullet and escaped death.
Several days later, two men, both CAFGU and Tadtad members, fled to the Provincial Bishop's Residence, for unclear reasons. The two men, Guillermo Ipanag and Carliti Baraquil, filed affidavits confessing their involvement in the planning of the killing, but not in its execution. The two men said the priest was killed because of gis strident opposition to illegal logging in his parish. They also said the Tadtad leader considered the priest a nuisance because of his efforts to prosecute a local vigilante member, Allan Cesar Abests, for the killing of a Guinoyoran resident earlier that year.
In their sworn testimony, the two men named three others, a CAFGU member and two members of the Tadtad, as the triggerman; and they asserted that a Military Intelligence officer was the mastermind behind the killing.
By January, 1992, the Provincial Prosecutor had filed charges against the three, Datu Bantu Domia, Allan Cesar Abesta and Crispin Onor, and the military officer, Sgt.Catalino Gabison. The Military, in retaliation, filed murder charges against the two original confessors, and denied involvement of Gabison and the others.
The killing of the priest led to an unprecedented level of international attention to human rights concerns in the area. Satur was one of the first of 46 parish priests deputized by the Government to confiscate illegal shipments of lumber and to apprehend illegal loggers. The action was taken after the Diocese of Malaybalay protested that the logging was continuing despite a total ban since December 1988. The Church had been involved in environmental campaigns against logging for several years.
Several other priests interviewed by Human Rights Watch had also received threats threats since they began their campaigns against logging, Father Cirilo "Loloy" Sajelan, parish ptiest of the municipal center of Valencia received threats three times in 1991 after confiscating shipments of lumber. Father Rino Bargola, Parish Priest of Barangay of San Jose...
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...Sinayawan, had been threatened twice. Both priests said soldiers, CAFGU, and prominent local buisnessmen were involved in the illegal logging rings. Local news reports also pointed to official involvement in illegal logging. In order to protect themselves from being killed, priests in early 1992 travelled to confiscation sites accompanied by local police officers and parishoners.
CAFGU or Military Mercenaries?
Interviews with local government, military, and Church officials revealed that the six suspects in Father Satur's killing, Sgt.Catalino Gabison, Datu Bantu Domia, Crispin Onor, Allan Cesar Abesta, Guillermo Inpanag, and Carlio Baraquil, had a long and productive association with each other in local counterinsurgency campaigns,0In exchange for leading ambushes of nearly two dozen ambushes of nearby NPQ hideouts and guiding Military patrols, members of the gang received large cash "prizes" from the Military and engaged in extortion and killings without punishment.
In 19911, for example, the local Tadtad and rebel-returnees-turned-CAFGU led a detachment led by Sgt.Gabison of the 26th Infantry Battalion in a sucessful ambush killing of six New People's Army rebels. For leading the ambush, the group eas given P100,000 ($2,500). In his sworn testimony before the provincial trial court, ine of the co-accused, Guillermo Ipamag, an Active Duty CAFGU member and member of the Tadtad gang, referred to this exchange at a meeting with a large group of Tadtaf members, CAFGU, and Militsry men.
"I was informed that the checks or prize for the killing of the NPA rebels were ready encashed and turned over to the Military Brigade in Malaybalay, Bukidnon, and... were ready for distribution to us who participated in the killing if these NPAs."
Despite repeated calls by the diocese, local residents, and human rights groups, the Military have chosen not to disarm the group. When asked why the Military have not discharged the CAFGU in Guinoyoran despite their notoriety. Colonel Rodolfo Rocamora completely denied that the CAFGU was responsible for killings and terror in the community. Those responsible were a few whom he said were as "Assets." The "people in the area were satisfied with the CAFGU there," he asserted. If there were any residents carrying arms who were not CAFGU, "they would be arrested and disarmed."
Other Killings by CAFGU and Paramilitart
Numerous other killings in Lourdes and Guinoyoran received little exposure, and some of the CAFGU and. Vigilante members responsible remained at large in January 1992.
The group of CAFGU and Tadtad members accused in Satur's death have also been implicated in numerous killings of local residentdzm Some of the victims were suspected supporters of the NPA. Other victims appeared to be targetted randomly, or because of a personal feud. Residents interviewed by local human rights monitors said they had been forced to provide food to both rebel forces and the local vigilante and CAFGU members since 1988. They said they were afraid to complain to local officials, since they were themselves suspect under the broad brush of the military's counterinsurgency campaign there.
By January 1992, twelve killings by the group had been documented by local human rights groups.
pp35
The Commission on Human Rights regional office
in Cagayan del Oro City estimated that 15 had been killed, but its lawyers had only investigated three of the more recent incidents. In two of the cases, perpetrators had been convicted of murder charges. However, most of the perpetrators are thought to remain armed and at large. Cases for which documentation exists include the following:
-The bodies of Martin Cabusas and Warlito Paraiso were found shot, hacked, and stabbed on March 28, 1987. Family members said the two had been under surveillance of the local CHDF members since they were labeled as NPA by Romeo Abesta, a former rebel turned CHDF, turned CAFGU, who as of January 1992 was in prison for a subsequent murderm
-Felipe Camarillo, a farmer in the community of Magsal, in the village of Guinoyoran, was shot to death on December 7, 1988. The killers were believed to be Tadtad members from the village of Lourdes.
-George Bahian, a farmer also in Magsal, was shot and killed and another resident, Francisco Tadiamon was injured on December 30, 1988 by Romeo Abesta, Enrico Domia, and Andrew Largo, all Tadtad and concurrent CAFGU members under Datu Bantu Domia. After the shooting, the flesh of Bahia's thighs and legs were sliced off.
Sabeniano Borres, a farmer and Church worker in the village of Cawasan was shot on Febuary 3, 1989, while standing in front of the market. The assailants were members of the CHDF who suspected Borres as an NPA supporter. One suspect, the CAFGU member Romeo Abesta, turned himself in and was sentenced to six years in prison.
-Joel Eras, a farmer, was shot to death in Magsal on October 15, 1990, allegedly by CAFGU members identified as Judy Gamayon and one known only as Lito. The motive was unclear. The case was investigated by the CHR but was later closed without explanation.
Juliana Tadiamon- a resident of the village of Magsal, was shot and killed when her house was sprayed with bullets on November 22, 1990. Tadiamon was married to a farmer suspected of being an NPA. Witnesses refused to testify to local authorites because of fear of reprisals.
-Nasario Burlas, was shot and killed by a cousin of Romeo Abesta's, another CAFGU member known as "Boyet" Abesta, on Januart 13, 1991. The motive is unclear, although local human rights groups said Burias was suspected as an NPA. Abesta is still at large and the family has not bought charges. Two months later, he was implicated in a shooting of a young woman and a girl in the village of Magsal. The family did not file charges.
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(Synopsis)
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