CHR urged to probe alleged NPAs’ slay

MANILA, Philippines — A coalition of indigenous peoples’ groups has called on the Commission on Human Rights to investigate the death of five suspected communist rebels in an alleged encounter in New Bataan, Davao de Oro late last week.

The Sandugo Movement of Moro and Indigenous Peoples for Self-Determination (Sandugo) said the victims were not killed in an encounter, but were allegedly murdered by the military.

“Sandugo holds the Armed Forces of the Philippines accountable for the murder of volunteer teachers Chad Booc, Gelejurain Ngujo and three others,” the group said.

“We appeal to the Commission on Human Rights to investigate the killing of Booc and his companions in order to establish the facts behind the murders,” it added.

The Army’s 10th Infantry Division earlier said that Booc, Ngujo and the three fatalities were members of the New People’s Army (NPA).

Booc, a Computer Science graduate of the University of the Philippines, was an activist, lumad school volunteer teacher and one of the petitioners in a case questioning the Anti-Terrorism Law filed before the Supreme Court.

He was among those arrested on Feb. 15, 2021 at the San Carlos University in Cebu City, where lumad students and their teachers were taking shelter.

Police charged Booc and his companions with kidnapping, child exploitation and human trafficking.

The charges were dismissed by the provincial prosecutor of Davao del Norte for lack of jurisdiction and probable cause, and insufficiency of evidence.

The Sandugo said the five victims were in a vehicle and were unarmed when members of the state forces shot them.

Meanwhile, in Negros Occidental, the military denounced the NPA for killing and terrorizing civilians who refused to support the communist movement.

From December to this month, the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade (IB) recorded the execution of seven civilians by the NPA as well as several bomb attacks.

“These killings were undertaken by the NPA to intimidate the civilians. It is also their way of preventing their members from abandoning their ranks,” Brig. Gen. Inocencio Pasaporte, chief of the 303 IB, said.

Aside from the civilians, the military said the NPA’s Mt. Cansermon Command claimed responsibility for the murder of Bertito Roso for being an asset of the military.

The murder of Roso on Feb. 13 in Binalbagan town resulted in the attack on a group of police officers dispatched to respond to the incident.

Two officers were wounded in the attack.