Rebel returnee identified as one of the armed men in Mindoro slays

Members of the human rights group Karapatan and the peasant group Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-SK) failed to give direct evidence yesterday that elements of the Army’s 204th Infantry Brigade were behind the abduction-killings of two human rights activists in Oriental Mindoro two weeks ago.

But Josephine Musico and Christopher de Lara identified a rebel returnee named "Silver" as one of the armed men who flagged them down and who introduced themselves as belonging to the anti-communist vigilante group Alsa Masa.

Militant groups have linked soldiers of the 204th IB, headed by Col. Jovito Palparan, as behind the killings of Eden Marcellana, secretary-general of Karapatan-Southern Tagalog, and Eduardo Gumanoy, chairman of Kasama-TK, whose bodies were found last April 21.

Christine de la Cruz, a member of the League of Filipino Students, told the Senate committee on justice and human rights chaired by Sen. Francis Pangilinan, that she was one of nine people who were with Marcellana and Gumanoy.

De la Cruz said a certain Nomer Marave offered to give them a ride in his van at the terminal in Pinamalayan.

"Marave told me that he is from Bongabong," she said.

De la Cruz said Marcellana sent her a text message that a Karapatan team would conduct an investigation into the abduction-killings of three human rights advocates in Barangay Gloria in Oriental Mindoro, allegedly by Palparan’s men.

Along the way, she said they encountered a group of armed men who claimed to be Alsa Masa members.

Musico said she recognized one of them as a certain Silver, a former New People’s Army member who gave himself up in 2001.

"I saw one of the armed men slapping one of our female companions. I asked them that I thought that the military was good, and one of them answered back, ‘We are not (from the) military, we are members of the Alsa Masa," Musico said.

Musico said she overheard a familiar voice among the armed men. "When I looked at him, I realized that he was Silver, a former NPA member. He had a towel tied over his head. He was very familiar to me because I always saw him in Mindoro when he was still an NPA (member) conducting seminars in our place," she said.

De Lara seconded Musico, saying he also saw Silver on television and in a magazine while being presented by the military as one of the rebel returnees in 2001.

De Lara said Silver could be in his early 40s.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said the identification made by Musico and De Lara could be used as a lead in unmasking the real killers of Marcellana and Gumanoy.

Earlier, Justice Undersecretary Jose Calida, who heads a Department of Justice task force probing the killings, said anti-communist vigilantes could not have committed the crime.

He said those behind an incident in Barangay Tambong in Gloria, Oriental Mindoro last April 20 could likely be the killers of Marcellana and Gumanoy.