Suspect in alleged abduction of Gloria folk now in army custody

The Army master sergeant being tracked down by a Department of Justice task force for the alleged abduction and mauling of residents in Gloria, Oriental Mindoro on April 20 is now under the custody of the provost marshal. M/Sgt. Donald Caigas, intelligence chief of the Army‚s 204th Infantry Brigade, surfaced a few weeks after he reportedly went into hiding.

His colleague in the brigade, T/Sgt. Alex Corres said Caigas did not yield to the task force on May 8 because he was intimidated by armed National Bureau of Investigation officers that went to investigate and invited people who could shed light on the killing of human rights activists Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy. This was disclosed during a public hearing conducted by the task force on the April 20 incident, whose perpetrators were believed to be the same ones involved in the apparent liquidation of the two activists.

DOJ Undersecretary Jose Calida, head of the task force, said Caigas is now in the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Makati City. He refused to attend the public hearing since he did not have a counsel. During the hearing, Corres and Sgt. Espiridion Martizano were questioned by Calida about Caigas since they stayed in the same quarters.

Corres and Martizano said they did not know anything about the April 20 incident or the killing of the two human rights activists and the alleged involvement of Caigas. They further said they were not part of the brigade’s special operations group going around Oriental Mindoro.

Earlier, Calida announced the task force will file kidnapping, less physical injury charges and direct assault against person in authority charges against Caigas. But the DOJ said Caigas and his colleagues will have to be first subjected to questioning. They will also have to undergo a lie detector test to determine whether they are concealing the truth behind the incidents being investigated by the task force.

Calida said Caigas was positively identified by witnesses as one of those involved in the April 20 incident in Barangay Tambong in Gloria municipality that Marcellana and Gumanoy investigated as they would come out with a documentary on the alleged abuses being committed by the military against suspected New People’s Army rebels and their sympathizers.