CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Geneva-based International Organization against Torture (OMCT) have taken interest in the case of a soldier who is now the lone witness against 13 other military men, including a colonel, accused of killing six workers eight years ago.
In an interview here, Max de Mesa, chairperson of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), said Army Sgt. Esequias Duyogan has refused to be placed under the government’s witness protection program and opted to be secured by human rights groups.
“He is the only person who could lead to the resolution of the case, since all evidences have been obliterated, including the victims’ bodies which were burned,” De Mesa said.
While the case happened 10 years ago, De Mesa said that the continuing testimony of Duyogan against other soldiers is considered significant in human rights cases involving the military in the country.
On October 14, 2000, Duyogan witnessed fellow soldiers in herding six workers of Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines (PICOP) in Agusan del Sur, and then later killing them by bashing their heads with pipes. He and the soldiers then belonged to the 62nd infantry battalion under the 8th infantry division of the Philippine Army.
Wilma Tizon, Secretary-General of Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND), a nationwide human rights non-government organization which has a chapter in Northern Mindanao, said that in July last year, the case “scored a breakthrough” when the Agusan del Sur Regional Trial Court presiding judge Dante Luz Viacrucis found Army CPL. Rodrigo Billones guilty on the case. Duyogan testified Billones led the group that abducted the six workers.
She said the international groups FIDH and OMCT recently expressed their interest in the case.
The PICOP workers included Romualdo Orcullo, Jovencio Lagare, Arnold Dangquiasan, Joseph Belar, Diosdado Oliver, and Artemio Ayala whose families pursued criminal cases against the 13 military men identified by Duyogan.
The other suspects were identified by Duyogan were Col Eutiguiao Mumar Cabando Jr., 1st Lt. Enrico Calumag, Pfc. Cesar Polito, Pfc. Bienvenido Veto and others identified only with their surnames as Sgt. Saballa, Pfc. Ronda, Bachecha, Cagadas, Castaneda, Angel, Perilla, and Patrimonio.
Duyogan said he heard Cabando give orders to Calumag to kill the six workers in the same way that two New People’s Army rebels were earlier killed. He remembered the names of the rebels as Chris Duenas and Roberto Papintahan, who were slain in Talacogon in Agusan del Sur. He identified Veto, Polito, Ronda and Saballa as the ones who smashed with iron pipes the heads of the victims.
Tizon said the conviction of Billones and the pending cases against the other military men have attracted the attention of the Paris-based FIDH) and the Geneva-based OMCT. Based on Duyogan’s testimony, after the judge in the case said “there is cause now for the Department of Justice to start an inquiry into their criminal liability” of the other Army soldiers identified by Duyogan.
“They are now watching closely the development in the prosecution of the perpetrators in the PICOP workers,” she said, as she noted that Billones had appealed his case before the Court of Appeals in Cagayan de Oro City.
This, even a human rights advocates and defenders lament the failure of government to enact the anti-enforced or involuntary disappearance bill into law. The bill was already approved on third and final reading in both the 13th and 14th Congresses, but was never signed into law.
“It was one of the priority measures in the Senate during the last three weeks of session but was bypassed by the C-5 imbroglio in the plenary,” Tizon noted.
In an interview here, Max de Mesa, chairperson of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), said Army Sgt. Esequias Duyogan has refused to be placed under the government’s witness protection program and opted to be secured by human rights groups.
“He is the only person who could lead to the resolution of the case, since all evidences have been obliterated, including the victims’ bodies which were burned,” De Mesa said.
While the case happened 10 years ago, De Mesa said that the continuing testimony of Duyogan against other soldiers is considered significant in human rights cases involving the military in the country.
On October 14, 2000, Duyogan witnessed fellow soldiers in herding six workers of Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines (PICOP) in Agusan del Sur, and then later killing them by bashing their heads with pipes. He and the soldiers then belonged to the 62nd infantry battalion under the 8th infantry division of the Philippine Army.
Wilma Tizon, Secretary-General of Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND), a nationwide human rights non-government organization which has a chapter in Northern Mindanao, said that in July last year, the case “scored a breakthrough” when the Agusan del Sur Regional Trial Court presiding judge Dante Luz Viacrucis found Army CPL. Rodrigo Billones guilty on the case. Duyogan testified Billones led the group that abducted the six workers.
She said the international groups FIDH and OMCT recently expressed their interest in the case.
The PICOP workers included Romualdo Orcullo, Jovencio Lagare, Arnold Dangquiasan, Joseph Belar, Diosdado Oliver, and Artemio Ayala whose families pursued criminal cases against the 13 military men identified by Duyogan.
The other suspects were identified by Duyogan were Col Eutiguiao Mumar Cabando Jr., 1st Lt. Enrico Calumag, Pfc. Cesar Polito, Pfc. Bienvenido Veto and others identified only with their surnames as Sgt. Saballa, Pfc. Ronda, Bachecha, Cagadas, Castaneda, Angel, Perilla, and Patrimonio.
Duyogan said he heard Cabando give orders to Calumag to kill the six workers in the same way that two New People’s Army rebels were earlier killed. He remembered the names of the rebels as Chris Duenas and Roberto Papintahan, who were slain in Talacogon in Agusan del Sur. He identified Veto, Polito, Ronda and Saballa as the ones who smashed with iron pipes the heads of the victims.
Tizon said the conviction of Billones and the pending cases against the other military men have attracted the attention of the Paris-based FIDH) and the Geneva-based OMCT. Based on Duyogan’s testimony, after the judge in the case said “there is cause now for the Department of Justice to start an inquiry into their criminal liability” of the other Army soldiers identified by Duyogan.
“They are now watching closely the development in the prosecution of the perpetrators in the PICOP workers,” she said, as she noted that Billones had appealed his case before the Court of Appeals in Cagayan de Oro City.
This, even a human rights advocates and defenders lament the failure of government to enact the anti-enforced or involuntary disappearance bill into law. The bill was already approved on third and final reading in both the 13th and 14th Congresses, but was never signed into law.
“It was one of the priority measures in the Senate during the last three weeks of session but was bypassed by the C-5 imbroglio in the plenary,” Tizon noted.
