Emil Paragas, a member of an investigative team sent to Sta. Ignacia town by the human rights group Karapatan, quoted witnesses as saying that they saw four military men arresting the two "civilians" a day before their bodies were located in a local funeral parlor.
Paragas identified the two as cousins Dante Salgado and Allan Ibasan. The third civilian was a certain William Santos.
"Dante was arrested while he was clearing bamboo plantations in the area. He was merely hired to do the job," Paragas quoted witnesses as saying.
Allan, meanwhile, was merely on his way to buy cooking oil when the soldiers forcibly took him, Paragas said.
He said the cousins were accosted in Barangay Sapang Dalag while the firefight with communist rebels was raging some kilometers away in Barangay Sta. Ines West in Sta. Ignacia.
"Their relatives even protested when they saw the two being (taken) away by the four soldiers who just ignored them," Paragas said.
The victims’ relatives recalled that one of the soldiers wore a nameplate identifying him as a certain Sgt. Canlas.
The following day, the relatives of Salgado and Ibasan found their bodies at the Corpuz funeral parlor.
The military has reportedly counted them as among the 10 NPA guerrillas killed in the clash that lasted from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. last Tuesday.
Paragas said the relatives of the two are set to file complaints with the Commission on Human Rights.
He said Karapatan is still looking into the circumstances surrounding Santos’ death as well as reports that one of the slain NPA guerrillas was allegedly killed after he had surrendered to the military in Sta. Ines West.
"Witnesses said the suspected rebel initially fled to an abandoned hut which was surrounded by the military. He surrendered to the military men who surrounded the house. He was made to lie down on the ground and was shot at close range," he said.
The firefight also resulted in the death of Cpl. Jerry Galas and the wounding of Lt. Ali Sumanquil, Pfcs. Jesus Oczona and Armand Cavasito, and Pvt. Aristotle Lomibao.
Officials of the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command said the rebels whom the Army’s 71st Infantry Battalion encountered in Sta. Ines West were planning to attack the police station of either Sta. Ignacia or San Jose City.
Nolcom spokesman Col. Preme Monta said the military used rocket bombs and caliber 50 and 30 machine guns against the rebels in the forest of Barangay Sta. Ines West.
Military aircraft also backed up the ground forces, he added.
Soldiers found 12 M-16 rifles and an M-79 grenade launcher at the scene of the clash.
After the encounter, police said a band of NPA guerrillas fired at a cell site of Globe Telecom in Barangay Nambalan in Sta. Ignacia.
Senior Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome, Tarlac police director, said those who attacked the cell site could be among the rebels fleeing from the scene of the firefight. — With Ric Sapnu