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With the campaign against terrorism as pretext, repression against Moro and lumad communities and people also increased in March. Nonetheless, military abuses attendant to intense militarization in the countryside continue without letup. Following are some of the most prominent cases on record of human rights violations from January to April 1. April 1. Five Moro civilians were illegally arrested and accused of being Abu Sayyaf members and of planning to detonate bombs in Metro Manila. Abduwil Villanueva, one of the arrested Moros, was beaten up and tortured into admitting that he was a terrorist and signing a document acknowledging ownership of explosives seized by the police in raids carried out in Makati and Quezon City. March 27. Unidentified persons seized Mexico Transport Group leader Bong Manalili, in Mexico, Pampanga. Manalili has not been surfaced to date. March 26. Operatives of the National Capital Region Police Office and Central Police Department-Special Weapons Action Team indiscriminately raided the Islamic Center in Ermin Garcia St., Quezon City, abducting two Moro women they accused of being terrorists. March 1-22. The military abducted ten people from the adjacent municipalities of Tinambac, Goa and Lagonoy in Camarines Sur during pursuit operations against New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas who captured two soldiers in a tactical offensive on March 1 in Barangay Bataan, Tinambac. First to be abducted on March 2 was Jaime Rodriguez, 60 and Isiderio de los Santos, both Bayan Muna organizers. This was followed by the abduction of Emilio de los Santos, Sonny de los Santos, Ariel Candelaria and Berning Abellana on March 5. Elements of the 9th ID also seized Joel Guilan, 18, when they could not find his father Juanito whom they accused of being an NPA member. The soldiers covered the young Guilan's mouth and nose with a handkerchief until he lost consciousness. When he regained consciousness, he was tied up in a copra mill. He was released and then tied to a tree trunk. On March 16. Wilfredo Velarde and Joseph Carlote were seized in Barangay Salvacion, Tinambac while working in Velarde's copra barn. Velarde's house was first ransacked in search of a high-caliber weapon he supposedly kept. When none could be found, Velarde was handcuffed and taken. Carlote was also brought along when Velarde's wife pleaded that Carlote accompany her husband. The latest abduction was that of Domingo Mata on March 22. March 13. Fifteen armed men abducted Anakpawis organizer Pedro Bueta, 54, in Barangay Buo, Magdalena, Laguna. He was surfaced only on March 20. March 10. Elements of the 46th IB illegally arrested Anakpawis organizer Joy Batis Paloma, 17, in Barangay Hiluctugan, Carigara, Leyte. Joy was investigated for two days and released on March 12 after human rights organizations campaigned for her release. March 5. A soldier sexually abused a 16-year-old girl while 42nd IB troops interrogated her fianc� Levy Caganda in their house in Del Carmen, Lagonoy, Camarines Sur. March 2. Maximo Pobadora, a barangay tanod, and Iluminado Troyo, a barangay councilor, were forced to serve as guides in a military operation by the 19th IB and the PNP Regional Mobile Group. The livelihoods of residents of Barangays Wague, Cabungahan and Tag-abaca were also disrupted for more than a week when they were forced to evacuate because of the operation. February 21. Bayan Muna organizers Jacqueline Paguntalan, 26 and Rolando Portaliza, 30, remain missing since four men believed to be elements of the Internal Security Unit seized them in Barangay Kilim, Baybay, Leyte. They were on their way to a Bayan Muna meeting when they were forced into a black van. One of their companions was able to escape and reported the incident. Prior to this, another Bayan Muna organizer was abducted by armed men in Can-avid, Eastern Samar in the first week of February. February 18. Seven suspected military men abducted and summarily executed Anakpawis coordinator Edrian Aliaga in Sta. Cruz, Mindoro. He was forcibly taken from his house in Barangay Lumang Bayan, Sta. Cruz at around 2:30 a.m. By morning, his body was found floating in the Amnay River in nearby Sablayan town bearing multiple stab wounds and a bullet wound. February 13. Naujan, Oriental Mindoro vice mayor and Provincial Justice and Peace Council chair Juvy Magsino was brutally murdered along with KARAPATAN-Oriental Mindoro Secretary-General Leima Fortu. They were shot aboard their vehicle in Barangay Pinasabangan-2, Naujan by motorcycle-riding henchmen of the Philippine Army 204th Brigade. Magsino was also a courageous human rights lawyer and a candidate for mayor of Naujan under Bayan Muna. February 12. Nine B'laan were illegally arrested, beaten up, butted with rifles, shamed and forced to admit to being NPA guerrillas when elements of the 66th and 39th IB found them sleeping inside a hut in Barangay Lamalis, Kidapawan, North Cotabato. Flory Balilid was forced to strip while being butted with rifles and threatened with execution. Lucio Peles, her husband and six other B'laan were robbed of rice and other foodstuff and were forced to carry military equipment even though they had grown weak from the beatings. They were interrogated and set free only after signing a document stating that they were NPA members and that they were not maltreated by the military. February 8. Elements of the 71st IB illegally detained Bayan Muna coordinator Teresita Abellera, in Lupao, Nueva Ecija. February 6. Elements of the 31st Recon Company under 1Lt. Raul Vigo illegally ransacked the house of Florida Echalar in Sitio Buyuan, Barangay Tigbanaba, Igbaras, Iloilo. The military also robbed the house of an uncle of Alyansa sang mga Mangunguma sa Igbaras organizer Meryl Eleccion. Eleccion was also harassed. February 2. Elements of the 61st IB arbitrarily arrested, interrogated and detained Anakbayan member Isabel Necessario and Bayan Muna members Julia Tabat and Medardo Sayosa in Barangay Molobolo, Cauayan, Negros. Bullets and documents were planted in their possession. They were accused of being NPA guerrillas. February 1. Elements of the 5th Infantry Division RSOT harassed Maricel Andaya, a resident of Pila East, Sta. Lucia, Ilocos Sur. She was being forced to divulge the whereabouts of her fianc� whom they accused of being an NPA member. January 27. The Philippine Army 50th IB threatened and intimidated residents of Barangay Sapang and Sugay in Sta. Lucia, Ilocos Sur, forcing them to admit to being NPA supporters. The military imposed a curfew. Military operations were also launched in the barrios of Baracbac and Abaya in Galimuyod town. 
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Human rights violations in the first quarter of 2004 were marked by the abduction, murder and harassment of candidates and members of progressive parties as campaigning for the May elections grew more frenzied. The most notorious case was the brutal murder in February of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro vice mayor Juvy Magsino, also a Bayan Muna mayoralty bet.
