‘They were all shot in the head’

BY STEPHEN LOUIE CHECA and GLENDA TAYONA

ILOILO City – All the seven persons whom policemen and soldiers killed in Barangay Atabay, San Jose, Antique past midnight on Wednesday had gunshot wounds on the head.

According to human rights group Panay Alliance Karapatan, this indicated that what happened was not an encounter contrary to what the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) claimed.

The seven were most probably sleeping when they were peppered with bullets, said Reylan Vergara, secretary general of the rights group.

Panay Alliance Karapatan conducted a fact-finding mission, said Vergara. The crew of a local funeral parlor where the bodies were brought told the group that all the seven casualties were shot frontally and likely at close range because the bullets did not exit their bodies.

The gunshot wounds on the heads and chests appeared to be “finishing shots”, said Vergara.

The #Antique7, as the human rights group called them, were members of the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army, according to the PRO-6 and Philippine Army.

According to Karapatan, what happened was a “massacre” and a violation of the international humanitarian law.

“NPA or not, they had rights. These should have been respected,” said Vergara.

Even the residents were saying that the shots were coming from the police and military only, claimed Vergara.

His group also believed the firearms and explosives that were supposedly recovered from the casualties at an abandoned village church were “planted.”

‘BARBARIC’

While the PRO-6 and Army painted the casualties as rebels and extortionists, their grieving families sought the help of Panay Alliance Karapatan.

“Ngaa gin-finishing gid sila sa ulo? Wala gid sila kaluoy,” said Lina Mesinas, wife of one of the casualties, Peter Mesinas of Leganes, Iloilo.

She described her husband as “mabuot, mabinuligon kag maluluy-on (kind, helpful and compassionate).”

“Barbaro nga klase sang pagpatay (They killed my husband barbarically),” said Ruth Fe Salditos, wife of another casualty, Felix Salditos of Ilog, Negros Occidental.

According to the PRO-6, the group of the seven casualties put up resistance when policemen and soldiers tried to serve an arrest warrant so a gunfight ensued.

Lina denied her husband was extorting money from others.

“Why would he resort to extortion? His family was well-off. They were landlords in Antique. He did not even have to work. But he was a kind man whose passion was to help the poor and the downtrodden,” she said.

Lina said she had not seen her husband since March.

“He did not say where he was going but he told me he was helping farm workers. He would text me every now and then and asked how I was,” said Lina.

The other casualties were Jason Talibo of Barangay Indayon, Igbaras, Iloilo; Jason Sanchez of Barangay Igtuble, Tubungan, Iloilo; Liezel Badiola of Nabas, Aklan; Karen Ceralvo, 41, of Kalibo, Aklan; and Eldy Labinghisa.

‘LEGITIMATE OPERATION’

Senior Inspector Norby Escobar, information officer of the Antique Police Provincial Office (APPO), insisted that what happened on Wednesday was a legitimate operation.

“We have witnesses,” he said.

Escobar also said documents recovered proved the casualties and their group were collecting revolutionary taxes.

He urged rebels still in the mountains to return to the fold of the law and live better, peaceful lives with their families.

“The government welcomes and protects all who come back to its fold. Whoever lives by the sword dies by the sword. There is no better life there,” said Escobar.

He appealed for continued public help in detecting rebels in communities./PN