by Romy Sabaldan
Davao City (8 September) -- A TOTAL of Php 300,000 in grants await winners of the Hatag Kalinaw Grant Competition being undertaken by the British Council Philippines in collaboration with UK Partners for Peace.
This, as the organizers of the grant announce today the selection of ten finalists from participants composed of school and community-based youth organisations in Mindanao.
The finalists and the name of their organizations, place where they belong and names of the projects are as follows:
TAGABILI of Koronadal City for "Kumustahanay", LInayag Artist (Cotabato) for "Painting for Peace",
Kids for Peace Foundation, Inc. (Cotabato City) for "Paminaw Ug Ipadayon ang Kalinaw",
Bangsamoro Center for JustPeace (Cotabato City) for "Engendering Awareness on Protection of Children ion in Armed Conflict",
Tri-People Silent Club (Cotabato) for "Inter-Faithg dialogue for Deaf Youth in the Quest for Peace and Development",
Mangagawang Kababaihang Mithi ay Paglaya-MAKALAYA (Davao City) for "MA", Bangsamoro Youth-Ranao Center for Peace and Development, Inc. (Marawi City) for "Peace, Justice and Development through Education", Philippine Women's College of Davao (Davao City) for "Peace Enhancement among Community and Student Organisations (PEACSO)", Lumad Inter-Tribal Student Organisation, Inc. -LISO (Tagum City) for "Promotion of Peace and Culture among IP Youth thru Cultural Arts" and Inspired Young Optimists Guild - IYOG (Marawi City) for "IYOG sa Kalilintad".
The top five project proponents based on points gained from the on-line voting and scores earned in the preliminary judging will advance to the final phase of the competition. They will battle it out on a panel presentation on September 16 2006. The three winning proponents will receive up to Php100,000 to implement their projects over a six-month period. (PIA-XI)
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Temporary Restraining Order (TRO): Never Again!
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Diplomatic row grants aid to human rights winning projects
MANILA, Dec. 10 (PNA) — The embassies of Spain, Australia, Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom, European Union and the Asia Foundation on Tuesday each awarded grants of up to P1 million to winners in eight categories of an inaugural human rights writing competition billed as “Kasama” (Karapatan Sa Malikhaing Paraan) convened by the Asia Foundation.
Kasama was launched last October 13 “to foster bold ideas and encourage innovation, risk-taking and determination in addressing perennial human rights concerns,” according to the Asia Foundation.
The winners in the respective categories were: Indigenous People - Developmental Legal Assistance Centre, Farmers - Water, Agro-forestry, Nutrition and Development Foundation, Women - The Forum for Family Planning and Development Inc. and Engende Rights Inc., Prison - Humanitarian Legal Assistance Foundation, Media and the Arts--VERA Files Inc., Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, Dakila Philippines, and Anthroposophia Wellness foundation Inc., Poverty — Filipino Matters, Desaparecidos—Free Jonas Burgos Movement, and Peace —Bangsamoro Center for Justpeace in the Philippines Inc.
The winner in the Indigenous People category’s winning project was titled, “Start-up for DepEd-Acredited, Culturally-Appropriate, Pre-School Curriculum for Indigenous Children of the Menuvu and Mehindanew.”
The project, “Establishment of Community-based Human Rights Watch”, was the winning entry of the Bangsamoro Center under the Peace category.
The winning entry in the Farmers’ category was a project titled “Emancipation of the Near-landing Farmers and Implementation of the Co-management Land Scheme in Dipology City.
”Paralegal Coordinators Project” was the title of the winner in the Prison category, while “Naks! A non-profit junkshop and Recycling Center” was the winning entry under the Poverty category.
Kasama is described as a “facility for development partners on one hand to share resources, and for non-governmental organizations, people’s organizations, student groups, cooperatives and other private non-profit organizations, on the other hand, to develop and obtain funding for their ground-breaking work.”
It invited human rights advocates from various parts of the country to craft and submit exceptional proposals on a wide range of human rights issues, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.(PNA)
Kasama was launched last October 13 “to foster bold ideas and encourage innovation, risk-taking and determination in addressing perennial human rights concerns,” according to the Asia Foundation.
The winners in the respective categories were: Indigenous People - Developmental Legal Assistance Centre, Farmers - Water, Agro-forestry, Nutrition and Development Foundation, Women - The Forum for Family Planning and Development Inc. and Engende Rights Inc., Prison - Humanitarian Legal Assistance Foundation, Media and the Arts--VERA Files Inc., Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, Dakila Philippines, and Anthroposophia Wellness foundation Inc., Poverty — Filipino Matters, Desaparecidos—Free Jonas Burgos Movement, and Peace —Bangsamoro Center for Justpeace in the Philippines Inc.
The winner in the Indigenous People category’s winning project was titled, “Start-up for DepEd-Acredited, Culturally-Appropriate, Pre-School Curriculum for Indigenous Children of the Menuvu and Mehindanew.”
The project, “Establishment of Community-based Human Rights Watch”, was the winning entry of the Bangsamoro Center under the Peace category.
The winning entry in the Farmers’ category was a project titled “Emancipation of the Near-landing Farmers and Implementation of the Co-management Land Scheme in Dipology City.
”Paralegal Coordinators Project” was the title of the winner in the Prison category, while “Naks! A non-profit junkshop and Recycling Center” was the winning entry under the Poverty category.
Kasama is described as a “facility for development partners on one hand to share resources, and for non-governmental organizations, people’s organizations, student groups, cooperatives and other private non-profit organizations, on the other hand, to develop and obtain funding for their ground-breaking work.”
It invited human rights advocates from various parts of the country to craft and submit exceptional proposals on a wide range of human rights issues, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.(PNA)
Displaced children gets food feeding program in Datu Piang
Some 400 internally displaced children seeking refuge at Datu Gumbay High School in Datu Piang, Maguimdanao were served with a food feeding program initiated by non-governmental organizations.
Datu Gumbay High School hase been covereted into an evacuation center since August last year, thus depriving the children of education.
Pasasambao Health Services, Incorporated (Pihsi) and Bangsamoro Center for Just Peace (BCJP) spearheaded the food feeding program yesterday as part of their continuing monitoring on the condition of the children’s health, psychology and education since their deplorable case displacements in August 2008.
“We served complete meal for the children who had been staying in the severe-conditioned evacuation centers, particularly in Maguindanao,” told an organizer to Luwaran.Com/Net.
He said that the clear effects on education, emotion / psycholgy and health of the children brought about by the resumption of hostilities between the government soldiers and fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are “unimaginable.”
Renewed government military operations brandishing the entire might of the Philippine armed forces, paramilitaries and armed militias and civilians against the MILF in Maguindanao started on August 20, 2008.
The total number of internally displaced persons due to these armed confrontation had reached to a high of nearly 600,000, wherein more than half of this are children.
Pihsi and BCJP had called on concerned agencies to intensify regular health / medical, vitamin supllementation and sanitation services for the children, even as they appealed to stop using schools as evacuation centers so as not to hamper the education for the children.
Both NGOs expressed anxious on the dire consequences of the continuing militray campaign, atrocities and violence especially on the psyche of the innocent children.
Datu Gumbay High School hase been covereted into an evacuation center since August last year, thus depriving the children of education.
Pasasambao Health Services, Incorporated (Pihsi) and Bangsamoro Center for Just Peace (BCJP) spearheaded the food feeding program yesterday as part of their continuing monitoring on the condition of the children’s health, psychology and education since their deplorable case displacements in August 2008.
“We served complete meal for the children who had been staying in the severe-conditioned evacuation centers, particularly in Maguindanao,” told an organizer to Luwaran.Com/Net.
He said that the clear effects on education, emotion / psycholgy and health of the children brought about by the resumption of hostilities between the government soldiers and fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are “unimaginable.”
Renewed government military operations brandishing the entire might of the Philippine armed forces, paramilitaries and armed militias and civilians against the MILF in Maguindanao started on August 20, 2008.
The total number of internally displaced persons due to these armed confrontation had reached to a high of nearly 600,000, wherein more than half of this are children.
Pihsi and BCJP had called on concerned agencies to intensify regular health / medical, vitamin supllementation and sanitation services for the children, even as they appealed to stop using schools as evacuation centers so as not to hamper the education for the children.
Both NGOs expressed anxious on the dire consequences of the continuing militray campaign, atrocities and violence especially on the psyche of the innocent children.
Reporting on Mindanao’s war front
DEVELOPMENT DIALOGUE
By Nora O. Gamolo
Journalists who joined the first ever combined coverage team of Manila and Mindanao-based writers (including this writer) find ominous the succession of bombings in different parts of Mindanao after they concluded their almost aborted visit to evacuation centers in Cotabato.
Just two months ago, the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Center noted that the Philippines had the largest number of “conflict-induced” newly internally displaced people in 2008. Some 600,000 people fled the fighting between the Philippine military and rebel groups in Mindanao. They accounted for 13 percent of the 4.6 million newly internally displaced people around the world in 2008. Mindanao’s latest round of bombings cements its unfortunate tag as the violence capital of the country.
On July 5, the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Cotabato City was bombed at about 8:40 a.m., killing five and wounding 52 civilians. Next day, bombs were also set off in Jolo and Iligan City. All bombed areas are part of the disputed Bangsamoro Homeland. One wonders who the bombers were and what motivated them to set off those bombs. Soldiers claim it was the handiwork of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels. Critics suspect men loyal to President Gloria Arroyo, accused of planning to keep her post at all costs. Others say the US soldiers now in several points in Mindanao may have a hand in this outrage.
In Mindanao, every act of violence can set off a chain reaction of almost unmanageable proportions, heightening long-raging conflicts in this beautiful but bloodied land. Only those who gain from people’s confusion and predictably emotional reactions can possibly do such dastardly acts. It is easy to identify the losers in the continuing drama in the Bangsamoro Homeland. These are civilians who die or get bereaved in the violence, or who get dispossessed of their land and property as they move out of the battlegrounds, or from harm’s way. Mindanao’s losers count the women, children, elderly, and economically marginalized who do not have the resources to pit against the agents of violence.
Many are now housed in evacuation centers made from partitioned classrooms, barangay halls or public places. Many such structures are now decrepit due to multiple uses and users. Identifying the gainers in the violent cycles in Mindanao is probably the main challenge of journalists who stake their lives to cover Mindanao’s war fronts, and the stakeholders who dream of a peace-filled, developed, and providential Mindanao. Mindanao beckons all who are willing to accept these challenges. Yet, these are only for the courageous, since one could lose not just his shirt, but dear life as well, in the process.
With the bombings, the situation has become tensely fluid, with all stakeholders demanding an impartial investigation, and for all concerned parties to observe sobriety and strengthen their efforts in promoting inter-peoples’ unity and peace-building. Said Abdulbasit Benito, head of the Cotabato City-based Bangsamoro Center for Just Peace in the Philippines (BCJP), “Aggrieved families should calm down and wait for the result of the investigation to avoid panic and possible religious conflict.”
While drowning out long-standing problems from the media and the public’s attention, the bombings are also aggravating them. They mask the harsh realities of all forms of violence, including evacuations that affect more than 693,000 civilians displaced from August 2008 to date. Before the new bombings, Mindanao witnessed a comedy of errors.
On June 30, soldiers stopped the joint media coverage team who trooped to the evacuation centers last week. The blocking soldiers from the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division said they were ordered by superiors not to let the journalists pass through without clearance from their superiors.
The journalists’ visit was publicly announced and known beforehand to the military. They were even scheduled to have a dialogue with military officers in the afternoon of the same day. Obviously flabbergasted, the media were told that soldiers first had to clear the path they were taking to Datu Piang and Mamasapano towns. An incendiary explosive device exploded a day earlier in an adjoining town, and the military supposedly didn’t want any untoward incident involving the media.
Now, that was uncustomarily sweet. Mindanao journalists have always been apprehensive of soldiers, police and the paramilitia units they have set up, including the private armies of politicians. These forces are accused of complicity in several media killings, from martial law years to the present. June 30 was different. More than 60 journalists and civil society guides spent a precious hour and a half arguing their right to pass through in the name of media freedom, and the outnumbered soldiers were obviously discomfited by this garrulous group.
Within that time, a convoy of provisions from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) came by and in minutes, allowed to pass through. The journalists were left behind in the checkpoint still awaiting their clearance, and wondering why the soldiers were less disposed to “secure” the ICRC personnel.
ngamolo@manilatimes.net ngamolo@gmail.com
By Nora O. Gamolo
Journalists who joined the first ever combined coverage team of Manila and Mindanao-based writers (including this writer) find ominous the succession of bombings in different parts of Mindanao after they concluded their almost aborted visit to evacuation centers in Cotabato.
Just two months ago, the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Center noted that the Philippines had the largest number of “conflict-induced” newly internally displaced people in 2008. Some 600,000 people fled the fighting between the Philippine military and rebel groups in Mindanao. They accounted for 13 percent of the 4.6 million newly internally displaced people around the world in 2008. Mindanao’s latest round of bombings cements its unfortunate tag as the violence capital of the country.
On July 5, the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Cotabato City was bombed at about 8:40 a.m., killing five and wounding 52 civilians. Next day, bombs were also set off in Jolo and Iligan City. All bombed areas are part of the disputed Bangsamoro Homeland. One wonders who the bombers were and what motivated them to set off those bombs. Soldiers claim it was the handiwork of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels. Critics suspect men loyal to President Gloria Arroyo, accused of planning to keep her post at all costs. Others say the US soldiers now in several points in Mindanao may have a hand in this outrage.
In Mindanao, every act of violence can set off a chain reaction of almost unmanageable proportions, heightening long-raging conflicts in this beautiful but bloodied land. Only those who gain from people’s confusion and predictably emotional reactions can possibly do such dastardly acts. It is easy to identify the losers in the continuing drama in the Bangsamoro Homeland. These are civilians who die or get bereaved in the violence, or who get dispossessed of their land and property as they move out of the battlegrounds, or from harm’s way. Mindanao’s losers count the women, children, elderly, and economically marginalized who do not have the resources to pit against the agents of violence.
Many are now housed in evacuation centers made from partitioned classrooms, barangay halls or public places. Many such structures are now decrepit due to multiple uses and users. Identifying the gainers in the violent cycles in Mindanao is probably the main challenge of journalists who stake their lives to cover Mindanao’s war fronts, and the stakeholders who dream of a peace-filled, developed, and providential Mindanao. Mindanao beckons all who are willing to accept these challenges. Yet, these are only for the courageous, since one could lose not just his shirt, but dear life as well, in the process.
With the bombings, the situation has become tensely fluid, with all stakeholders demanding an impartial investigation, and for all concerned parties to observe sobriety and strengthen their efforts in promoting inter-peoples’ unity and peace-building. Said Abdulbasit Benito, head of the Cotabato City-based Bangsamoro Center for Just Peace in the Philippines (BCJP), “Aggrieved families should calm down and wait for the result of the investigation to avoid panic and possible religious conflict.”
While drowning out long-standing problems from the media and the public’s attention, the bombings are also aggravating them. They mask the harsh realities of all forms of violence, including evacuations that affect more than 693,000 civilians displaced from August 2008 to date. Before the new bombings, Mindanao witnessed a comedy of errors.
On June 30, soldiers stopped the joint media coverage team who trooped to the evacuation centers last week. The blocking soldiers from the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division said they were ordered by superiors not to let the journalists pass through without clearance from their superiors.
The journalists’ visit was publicly announced and known beforehand to the military. They were even scheduled to have a dialogue with military officers in the afternoon of the same day. Obviously flabbergasted, the media were told that soldiers first had to clear the path they were taking to Datu Piang and Mamasapano towns. An incendiary explosive device exploded a day earlier in an adjoining town, and the military supposedly didn’t want any untoward incident involving the media.
Now, that was uncustomarily sweet. Mindanao journalists have always been apprehensive of soldiers, police and the paramilitia units they have set up, including the private armies of politicians. These forces are accused of complicity in several media killings, from martial law years to the present. June 30 was different. More than 60 journalists and civil society guides spent a precious hour and a half arguing their right to pass through in the name of media freedom, and the outnumbered soldiers were obviously discomfited by this garrulous group.
Within that time, a convoy of provisions from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) came by and in minutes, allowed to pass through. The journalists were left behind in the checkpoint still awaiting their clearance, and wondering why the soldiers were less disposed to “secure” the ICRC personnel.
ngamolo@manilatimes.net ngamolo@gmail.com
Re: PHILIPPINES: Soldiers torture and shoot a farmer dead in front of his family
Name of the victim: Katog Sapalon, 37 years old, married with three children, a farmer and charcoal maker, a resident of Barangay Makir, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao province. He was a Muslim of a Maguindanaon tribe.
Alleged perpetrators: Five soldiers attached to the 6th Infantry Battalion (IB), Philippine Army, stationed in Barangay Gubat Datu, Odin Sinsuat.
Date of incident: June 3, 2009 at 7:30am
Place of incident: At the boundary of Barangay Makir and Sapalan, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao province
I am shocked to learn that Katog Sapalon, a farmer and a charcoal maker, was tortured and shot dead by soldiers in front of his family in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao province. The soldiers shot him at close range at his home after he refused to confess that he was a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebel group.
According the information I have received on June 3, 2009 at around 7:30am five heavily-armed men, who later identified themselves as soldiers on a military operation, began interrogating Katog. They punched and kicked him while asking questions, using their fists and feet, and the butts of their armalite rifles. The shots that killed him shattered his left eye and fractured his head.
After several hours the family saw the soldiers taking the victim’s corpse away; they borrowed a water buffalo (carabao) to transport it. It was seen being taken to the detachment of the 6th Infantry Battalion (IB), Philippine Army (PA) in Barangay Gubat Datu, Odin Sinsuat by witnesses, and a village chairperson later went to the camp to claim the body for the family.
It has been a number of days since the incident but police officers from the Municipal Police Station in Datu Odin Sinsuat say they have not been able to investigate the case. They did not log the incident in their police blotter.
I therefore urge the government agencies concerned to ensure that an impartial investigation into this case is conducted. The five soldiers responsible for torturing and killing the victim must be identified and prosecuted in a court of law, and should the victim's family decides to pursue complaint against the five soldiers they should also be afforded with the necessary legal assistance and protection.
The government should also ensure that the victim's family is offered compensation and financial assistance for their livelihood, if needed. The victim was the family bread winner and his death will affect their daily survival.
Also, please also ensure that the victim's wife and children are offered trauma counseling and rehabilitation for the psychological trauma that they have experienced
Alleged perpetrators: Five soldiers attached to the 6th Infantry Battalion (IB), Philippine Army, stationed in Barangay Gubat Datu, Odin Sinsuat.
Date of incident: June 3, 2009 at 7:30am
Place of incident: At the boundary of Barangay Makir and Sapalan, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao province
I am shocked to learn that Katog Sapalon, a farmer and a charcoal maker, was tortured and shot dead by soldiers in front of his family in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao province. The soldiers shot him at close range at his home after he refused to confess that he was a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebel group.
According the information I have received on June 3, 2009 at around 7:30am five heavily-armed men, who later identified themselves as soldiers on a military operation, began interrogating Katog. They punched and kicked him while asking questions, using their fists and feet, and the butts of their armalite rifles. The shots that killed him shattered his left eye and fractured his head.
After several hours the family saw the soldiers taking the victim’s corpse away; they borrowed a water buffalo (carabao) to transport it. It was seen being taken to the detachment of the 6th Infantry Battalion (IB), Philippine Army (PA) in Barangay Gubat Datu, Odin Sinsuat by witnesses, and a village chairperson later went to the camp to claim the body for the family.
It has been a number of days since the incident but police officers from the Municipal Police Station in Datu Odin Sinsuat say they have not been able to investigate the case. They did not log the incident in their police blotter.
I therefore urge the government agencies concerned to ensure that an impartial investigation into this case is conducted. The five soldiers responsible for torturing and killing the victim must be identified and prosecuted in a court of law, and should the victim's family decides to pursue complaint against the five soldiers they should also be afforded with the necessary legal assistance and protection.
The government should also ensure that the victim's family is offered compensation and financial assistance for their livelihood, if needed. The victim was the family bread winner and his death will affect their daily survival.
Also, please also ensure that the victim's wife and children are offered trauma counseling and rehabilitation for the psychological trauma that they have experienced
PHILIPPINES: Soldiers torture and shoot a farmer dead in front of his family
ISSUES: Torture; extrajudicial execution
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to inform you about the recent torture and killing of a farmer in front of his family. The soldiers, who were on a military operation, assaulted and tortured the victim so that he would confess to being a member of a rebel group. The man repeatedly protested his innocence and the soldiers shot him dead at close range.
CASE DETAILS: (According to information from the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) and the Bangsamoro Center for JustPeace)
On June 3, 2009 Bai Markay and her husband Katog Sapalon, a farmer and charcoal maker, were preparing breakfast when soldiers arrived. It was around 7:30am. According to Bai Markay five heavily-armed men, who later identified themselves as soldiers on a military operation, approached them and began interrogating Katog, who was outside their house cooking fish. The soldiers wanted Katog to confess his involvement with a rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). They punched and kicked him while asking questions, using their fists and feet, and the butts of their armalite rifles.
Katog rushed to embrace his daughter Saida, but as he held her the soldiers continued to punch his left shoulder and pushed him away from her, towards the back of their house. Though Bai Markay pleaded with the soldiers, telling them that he was not an MILF member, they shot Katog at close range in front of his family, hitting several part of his body and killing him instantly. The shots shattered his left eye and fractured his head.
After the shooting Bai Markay asked that she and her children be allowed to leave, but the soldiers initially refused, then told her that she would have to be accompanied by a soldier. However she was eventually able to go freely to the house of her sibling nearby. After several hours they saw the soldiers taking the victim's corpse away; they borrowed a water buffalo (carabao) to transport it. Bai Markay warned her children not to talk about what had happened.
Katog’s corpse was seen being taken to the detachment of the 6th Infantry Battalion (IB), Philippine Army (PA) in Barangay Gubat Datu, Odin Sinsuat by witnesses, and this was later confirmed when a village chairperson went to the camp to claim the body. That person then turned it over to his family and the corpse was buried on the same day, according to Muslim tradition.
Katog was the family breadwinner and was about to enroll his three children at the Datu Butukan Elementary School in Barangay Gubat, Datu Odin Sinsuat. He farmed corn and produced charcoal. Their house in Barangay Makir is about two to three kilometers from the Poblacion (town center) area, in the municipality of Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
On June 5, 2009, the Bangsamoro Center for Justpeace in the Philippines (a non-governmental organisation which documents cases of human rights violations in Central Mindanao) followed this case up with the head of the municipal Police Station in Datu Odin Sinsuat. They learned that the incident has not even been recorded in the police blotter (log).
The acting head of the police station said that they did try to retrieve the victim’s corpse from the soldiers' custody at the military camp but that the soldiers had prevented them. The police are supposed to have primary jurisdiction in the community where the incident took place, claim not to be aware of the overall military operation that has sent many of the villagers to evacuation centres.
The police have yet to investigate Katog's torture and murder.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the government asking that they ensure a swift and impartial investigation into the murder of Katog Sapalon. The five soldiers should be identified and held to account. The victim's family should also be given compensation and provided with proper rehabilitation for trauma. Protection should also be made available to them should they require it.
The AHRC has also written letters to the Special Rapporteurs on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions and on the Question of Torture asking for their intervention into this case.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to inform you about the recent torture and killing of a farmer in front of his family. The soldiers, who were on a military operation, assaulted and tortured the victim so that he would confess to being a member of a rebel group. The man repeatedly protested his innocence and the soldiers shot him dead at close range.
CASE DETAILS: (According to information from the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) and the Bangsamoro Center for JustPeace)
On June 3, 2009 Bai Markay and her husband Katog Sapalon, a farmer and charcoal maker, were preparing breakfast when soldiers arrived. It was around 7:30am. According to Bai Markay five heavily-armed men, who later identified themselves as soldiers on a military operation, approached them and began interrogating Katog, who was outside their house cooking fish. The soldiers wanted Katog to confess his involvement with a rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). They punched and kicked him while asking questions, using their fists and feet, and the butts of their armalite rifles.
Katog rushed to embrace his daughter Saida, but as he held her the soldiers continued to punch his left shoulder and pushed him away from her, towards the back of their house. Though Bai Markay pleaded with the soldiers, telling them that he was not an MILF member, they shot Katog at close range in front of his family, hitting several part of his body and killing him instantly. The shots shattered his left eye and fractured his head.
After the shooting Bai Markay asked that she and her children be allowed to leave, but the soldiers initially refused, then told her that she would have to be accompanied by a soldier. However she was eventually able to go freely to the house of her sibling nearby. After several hours they saw the soldiers taking the victim's corpse away; they borrowed a water buffalo (carabao) to transport it. Bai Markay warned her children not to talk about what had happened.
Katog’s corpse was seen being taken to the detachment of the 6th Infantry Battalion (IB), Philippine Army (PA) in Barangay Gubat Datu, Odin Sinsuat by witnesses, and this was later confirmed when a village chairperson went to the camp to claim the body. That person then turned it over to his family and the corpse was buried on the same day, according to Muslim tradition.
Katog was the family breadwinner and was about to enroll his three children at the Datu Butukan Elementary School in Barangay Gubat, Datu Odin Sinsuat. He farmed corn and produced charcoal. Their house in Barangay Makir is about two to three kilometers from the Poblacion (town center) area, in the municipality of Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
On June 5, 2009, the Bangsamoro Center for Justpeace in the Philippines (a non-governmental organisation which documents cases of human rights violations in Central Mindanao) followed this case up with the head of the municipal Police Station in Datu Odin Sinsuat. They learned that the incident has not even been recorded in the police blotter (log).
The acting head of the police station said that they did try to retrieve the victim’s corpse from the soldiers' custody at the military camp but that the soldiers had prevented them. The police are supposed to have primary jurisdiction in the community where the incident took place, claim not to be aware of the overall military operation that has sent many of the villagers to evacuation centres.
The police have yet to investigate Katog's torture and murder.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the government asking that they ensure a swift and impartial investigation into the murder of Katog Sapalon. The five soldiers should be identified and held to account. The victim's family should also be given compensation and provided with proper rehabilitation for trauma. Protection should also be made available to them should they require it.
The AHRC has also written letters to the Special Rapporteurs on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions and on the Question of Torture asking for their intervention into this case.
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