http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVbkz_3lO3c&feature=related

I’m sorry for the loss of your schoolmate, a principled man who did not deserve his fate. I hope his daughter gets to see a different Philippines during her lifetime, to know her father’s death was for a reason.

Joe

Sounds like the AFP dudes hit Rebelyn

A Killing Too Far: Rebelyn Pitao

Almost from the very moment she was reported missing, the Philippine Army’s high command has come out vehemently and repeatedly in public to deny the military was in any way responsible for Rebelyn’s abduction or her subsequent torture and killing.

But after her own father –Commander Parago – publicly named four military suspects as his daughter’s killers on Sunday, the Army’s position has slowly changed. While it still denies any responsibility, it now admits two of the men Parago mentioned are currently their military intelligence officers who are now “restricted” to the barracks at the 10th Infantry Division headquarters in Camp Panacan in Davao.

The military is now pledging 100 per cent cooperation with the police inquiry but insists the investigation also has to follow up all other leads too.

A few days earlier, Major General Reynaldo B. Mapagu, Commander of the 10th ID, denied any involvement of the military in the killing of Rebelyn, adding that it was “not the policy of the Philippine Army to target civilians in its campaign against the communist insurgents.”

And in a separate press statement, Lt. Colonel Rolando Bautista, 10th ID spokesperson, said they understand the ordeal of the family of Rebelyn “but it would be unfair to blame the incident (on) the military.”

In the hours after she first went missing, military sources suggested Rebelyn was probably the victim of infighting between members of the NPA. They added that she may also have been targeted by relatives of people who were themselves kidnapped and abused by Parago over the years.

But Rebelyn’s father is adamant that no other group could be behind her killing and claims the army “lashed out at her because they couldn’t get me.”

He does not believe that any government-led investigation will bring justice for her daughter.

“There were so many investigations for the victims of extrajudicial killings but none so far have been solved,” he said. “Not just political killings but also killing of journalists in this country -what happened to their investigations?”

Ominously, he added: “We (the NPA) will be the ones to investigate and punish those behind the killing of my daughter.”

Prepared with sacrifices

Chief of the NPA’s 1st Pulang Bagani Command which operates in the fringes of this huge city, Parago said the killing of his daughter would “strengthen and intensify the efforts to continue the revolution.

“I’m hurt and I’m enraged. Yet even if I cry, there’s nothing I could do to bring her back. When I learned that she was abducted, I already knew that were going to kill her. I’ve been expecting that to happen not just to my daughter but to my entire family as well.”

Parago’s son Ryan claims he too was attacked by military agents and now lives with his father as an NPA guerilla. “They tried to stab me in 2005 and the next day I left to come here. Had I not, I would have been dead now just like Rebelyn.”

Parago broke his silence three days after her daughter was found dead. The Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project and several journalists met up with him at a location in the outskirts of this city.

“Since I joined the NPA (in 1978), I’ve been expecting that something will happen to my family,” he said. “You have to be prepared with all the sacrifices in all aspects when you’ll join the revolution.”

Clad in black military uniform, smoking a cigarette and in full battle dress, the 51-year-old Parago worried that what happened to Rebelyn may also happen to other members of his family. “There is a big possibility that they will do my family harm because they could hardly capture me.”

Parago accused two named sergeants with the Military Intelligence Group (MIG) and two named officers serving in the Military Intelligence Battalion (MIB) as those who he says are directly responsible for his daughter’s death. In a separate interview with a radio station he also named others –including an Army major.

Parago said that based on the NPA’s “own intelligence information,” the four intelligence officers were responsible for the killing of his brother Danilo in June last year alongside others. “My brother was a provincial guard of Davao del Norte -he was a government employee, and yet still he was killed.”

A spokesperson of the Army’s 10th ID has confirmed the names Parago mentioned to the journalists are members of the military. Two of them he confirmed are being held in the divisional barracks. The Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Eastern Mindanao Command spokesperson Major Randolph Cabangbang said the military would fully cooperate with the police investigation.

“We are also affected; the military organization is very concerned about this and by the perception of civilians. We are not looking into this incident as soldiers but as fathers too,” stressed Cabangbang.

He added they were also investigating the white Toyota Revo with the plate number LPG-588 that was reportedly used in abducting Rebelyn. “We verified the plate number to the Land of Transportation office,” he said – “but apparently it is not registered or found in the LTO’s database.”

Cabangbang was adamant there “would be no whitewash or cover-up” in the investigation “even if the suspects are from the military.”

He added: “We will give the PNP (Philippine National Police) a free hand on this. We also welcome an independent body to conduct its own investigation to help bring justice for Rebelyn. This incident is already beyond the fighting between the AFP and the NPA, this is already an attack against humanity.”

He flatly denied the military conducted surveillance on the Pitao family: “The only subject for our surveillance is Parago – not his entire family”

Elusive Parago

Parago has long been a wanted man: Former commander of the Philippine Army’s 10th ID Major General Jogy Leo Fojas last year vowed his troops would “nail the elusive Parago” before the end of 2008.

Parago has been accused of kidnapping and killing civilians, whom the NPA suspected as “military intelligence assets.” He admits his guerillas have killed suspected informers in cold blood: Parago claimed he knew his “comrades” were responsible for the killing of an informer, but was “not around when the execution happened.”

”The People’s Court does not kill innocent civilians, we carefully examine their crimes against the people before we carry out punishments,” he said.

Yet there is no such recognized court under national or international law and many people see absolutely no difference between extrajudicial killings allegedly committed by the military and those said to be committed by the NPA.

In January 7, the NPA are believed to have killed Saturnino Rizaldo, a suspected member of the military intelligence group. A month later, they also reportedly murdered a second intelligence agent in Paquibato district here.

In a mobile phone interview, Simon Santiago, southern Mindanao political director of the NPA, told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project that the NPA executed Rizaldo because of his “crime against humanity.”

“The NPA has standing order against those who have committed serious crime against the masses,” Santiago stressed.

The other victim he said was “a former NPA member turned military asset.”

, while the NPA dudes hit Evelyn.

NPA admits hand in Parago sis’ slay
Sunday, May 31, 2009

By Stella A. Estremera

COMMUNIST rebels admitted responsibility for the death of the sister of rebel leader Leoncio “Ka Parago” Pitao last May 23.

According to the New People’s Army (NPA), Evelyn Pitao was executed because she played a key role in the execution of a brother last year, the arrest of her former husband early this year, and the arrest of Ka Parago himself in 1999.

Evelyn was killed last May 23 while waiting for her live-in partner Roberto Dadula along the road at Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte. When Roberto returned to find Evelyn sprawled on the ground, he put up a fight but was also shot and killed.

The couple was engaged in the trade of gmelina lumber and was at sitio Kauswagan, Barangay Bobongon in Sto. Tomas to pay for some logs they bought when the incident happened.

The rebel group, however, denied any hand in the death of 21-year-old Rebelyn Pitao, Parago’s daughter, although it is anticipating the military will try to blame Rebelyn’s death on the NPA because of its admission in killing Evelyn.

The NPA also apologized for the death of Evelyn’s partner, Roberto Dadula.

“The fatal shooting of her live-in partner Roberto Dadula should have not been resorted to since he was not a target nor did his resistance take place in an armed manner and thus, posed no threat to the NPA team. Appropriate measures are being undertaken to continuously address this distressing concern and implement the NPA rules on the matter, in accordance with the international humanitarian law,” said the statement sent allegedly by Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesperson of the Merardo Arce Command.

From what the NPA said, Evelyn Pitao was the former wife of high-ranking rebel leader Regenaldo Alicaba, 51, alias Ka Emong, who was arrested by the military last January 18 around 1:30 a.m. at Barangay J.P. Laurel in Panabo City.

Alicaba, when arrested, was accompanied by his 26-year-old daughter Rizalyn Alicaba-Mangulimutan.

The military identified Alicaba as the commanding officer of the Sub-Regional Guerrilla Unit (SRGU) and deputy secretary of Guerrilla Front (GF) 33 of the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC).

“Blood debts” incurred as an intelligence agent of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), was how the NPA described the crime Evelyn was executed for in a statement by the rebel group’s Merardo Arce Command dated May 26, 2009.

Mangulimutan was earlier quoted by another local daily newspaper as blaming the military for Evelyn’s death.

The police earlier identified Evelyn as Iris Belen Berano and were thus hesitant to confirm she was indeed Parago’s sister. It turned out that she has not been using her real name so as not to be associated with the wanted rebel.

In its statement, the NPA said Evelyn was killed by members of the Ka Paking Guimbaolibot Red Partisan Brigade-NPA (KPGRPB-NPA) after the decision to mete the capital punishment was reached by their “revolutionary people’s court” last February 2009, which was further reviewed and upheld by the Southern Mindanao Regional Party Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

The NPA claims that it conducted “extensive and meticulous investigation” and has “established without any tinge of doubt her (Evelyn) direct and clear complicity in three state-instigated political crimes against the people and the revolutionary movement.”

The NPA enumerated the three “crimes” as:

1. The killing of her brother Danilo Pitao in Barangay Mankilam Tagum City in June 2008;

2. The arrest of her former husband, Ka Emong, in Panabo City in January 2009;

3 The arrest of her brother, Ka Parago in Davao City in November 1999.

“Evelyn Pitao’s involvement in military intelligence operations started in 1998 when the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) hatched a national plan to capture her brother, Ka Parago. During the raid by then Military Intelligence Group 11 (MIG 11) Group Commander Colonel Palabrica on the residence of Ka Parago’s family in November 1999, Evelyn Pitao and her live-in partner at that time relayed accurate information on the exact whereabouts of her brother. This resulted in the capture of Ka Parago. Her then live-in partner, a former NPA guerrilla turned MIG 11 asset, was killed in 2001 for various crimes,” the NPA statement said.

The rest of the statement read as follows:

“The MIG-AFP was able to re-establish connection with Evelyn Pitao sometime in 2006. She was directly recruited first as an intelligence asset and later as an intelligence agent whose principal task was to provide information pertinent to two case-operational plans targeting her brother Ka Parago and former husband, Ka Emong.

In the ensuing intelligence operations in 2007-2008, Evelyn Pitao pinpointed the whereabouts of her brother Danilo whom the MIG-AFP targeted for surveillance on the premise that being a sibling, he was in constant touch with Ka Parago. After failing to extract valuable information from Danilo, who in the first place had no links with the revolutionary movement other than being Ka Parago’s younger brother, the Military Intelligence Battalion (MIB) of the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command-AFP murdered Danilo Pitao on June 2008 in Tagum City.

In the performance of vital intelligence task in the covert operations versus Ka Parago and Ka Emong, Evelyn Pitao again provided accurate information to MIG 11 and MIB-10th ID-AFP, which led to the abduction of Ka Emong on January 2009 while he was on a medical leave and staying at the house of their eldest daughter in Panabo City.

After Ka Emong’s abduction by 10th ID-AFP intelligence operatives, the Merardo Arce Command-NPA resumed its investigation on the case of Evelyn Pitao on the basis of a complaint lodged before a local organ of revolutionary political power in Davao del Norte.

After a prima facie case was established, an order of her arrest, together with several others involved in the killing of Danilo and the capture of Ka Emong and Ka Parago, was issued on February 2009. They were eventually tried in absentia by the People’s Court where Evelyn Pitao, together with several others, were found guilty beyond reasonable doubt for the murder of Danilo Pitao, the abduction and torture of Ka Emong and the arrest of Ka Parago. Evelyn Pitao was one of those meted the penalty of death.”

Insisting that it does not have any hand in Rebelyn’s death as military investigators have often implied, the NPA said: “The operations of the KPGRPB NPA to implement the decision of the People’s Court after the same was upheld by the Regional Party Committee in February was underway when the abduction, rape, torture and killing of Rebelyn Pitao happened.”

It added the military has in fact been trying to force members of the family of rebel leaders to turn against their rebel kin by using force and intimidation, as they apparently did to Evelyn.

on the other side of the fence was a promising young man, a cousin, Minoy, from Barrio La Fortuna, Mlang, Cotabato. he was not a combatant, a gentle soul. the CAFGU along with AFP elements asked him to be their guide because they were in pursuit. Minoy was found the following day, floating in the river, swollen stomach. guess what, Minoy’s village which just wanted to be left alone in peace – flipped overnight. so much for the “winning the hearts and minds”.

then there’s another schoolmate, ab philosophy, community organizer, not a combatant – his former comrades struck a bolo deep into the jugular vein between the neck and the shoulders. they buried him in a shallow grave – supposedly a deep penetration agent, a charge which was later reversed.

here’s another one, another schoolmate, a CEGP member, editor of the schoolpaper, she was asked to plead that her hubby surrender – well she followed the gov’t request and went out to find her hubby – she wind up as collateral damage, an RPG grenade blew her up – along with the baby in her tummy

here’s another one a schoolmate, agriculture graduate – joined the underground then surrendered later on – along with her husband. i was scanning the news last year – she and her hubby were gunned down in front of their house.

another one in my college days, another schoolmate, he lead the out-of-school youth group, abducted after we had a meeting, he was abducted, and was floating in a river in Toril a few days later, his body badly burned, and with multiple gunshot wounds.

also had two former commandants – Captains Consolacion and Captain Dacucuy, PA, knew them all during CAT – both felled down by bullets from the other side – in front of the gate of my high school.

another one, childhood friend, abducted, raped, and murdered – cigarette burns all over her breasts, cigarette busts in her genitals..

We are in a war where everything becomes fair game. We have a saying in Davao – all the brave people are dead – its the ones who are cunning who get to live another day.

Having left Pinas, then returning, my brothers and his neighbors spoke positively of this “salvaging” phenomenon — that the country had gotten peaceful since metro-Manila police had been more “vigilant” and active in hunting down the bad guys.

I went back to the States, returned 3 years later, and was met with the story of a kababata who had been salvaged. Now putting a face to the salvage-victim (and yes, he was a toughie kanto-boy, except he was OUR kanto-boy!!!) there was less applause for short-cut pursuit of “…the greater good”.

It is better to use the TWITTER or the INTERNET BLOG. They cannot
shut you up. They have to murder high profile people in order to
shut you up.

No technology yet has been developed to stop Bloggers and Twitters
from giving their opinions.

I think, if one has to go by the first cause argument – rogue elements and the AFP and the GRP draw first blood when they silence political dissent violently.

Why can’t the GRP sit down on the table, discuss, prioritize, and resolve the legitimate concerns. Ganyan na lang ba palagi – barilan? Same goes for the rebos – ganun na lang ba parati – barilan?

Aren’t we Pinoys supposed to be civilized? – or maybe, we are uncivilized brutes but we pretend to be otherwise and take offense when that is pointed out. There is a crime of commission and a crime of ommission.

Ang hirap kasi nito is when guns are drawn – what follows is a spiral of violence that escalates and no one remembers how it first started.

The Philippines is a country gone to the dogs.

can…
in some weird convoluted way

cut short the lives of good people.

Unintended consequences.