Massacre of four activists in Compostela Valley strongly condemned
The emotions of members of Anakbayan and the Anak ng Bayan and Anakpawis parties seethed like the hot sun on the afternoon of September 26 as they rallied in front of the city hall of Tagum, Davao del Norte and strongly condemned the Arroyo regime and the military for the recent abduction, torture and brutal slaying of four youths.
Activists Marjorie Reynoso, 18; Jonathan Benaro, 16; Lito Doydoy, 27; and Ramon Regase, 17, the driver of the motorcycle they were riding on, were on their way to the town of Maco, Compostela Valley on September 19 when they were abducted by the military. They were stopped near the Hijo Plantation in Apokon, Davao del Norte, merely 50 meters from a PNP detachment. Five armed men with their faces masked forced them into a Tamaraw FX van. Witnesses say two of the young men were shot in the legs while attempting to escape.
Merardo Arce Command (New People's Army-southern Mindanao) spokesperson Rigoberto Sanchez exposed the abduction and murder of the four youths as the handiwork of the military's Intelligence Security Unit (ISU). Sanchez said the operation was led by a Capt. Denmark Mamaril and involved a 1st Sgt. Roy Telang and certain Adan Marcus, both intelligence operatives. The military brought the four youths to a safehouse in Trento, Agusan del Sur.
Raped, tortured. At around 12 noon on September 23, a worker and a guard stumbled upon the bodies of the four youths in Area 307 of Selecta Farm in Barangay Osme�a, Compostela. According to the police investigation, the victims were tortured before being killed.
The victims' bodies indeed bore torture marks. There were indications that Reynoso, Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) chairperson of Barangay Anislagan and Anak ng Bayan municipal coordinator in Maco, was raped. Masking tape residues were found over her mouth. A bullet shattered her skull. Benaro, an SK councilor of Barangay Mapaang and a member of Anak ng Bayan and Doydoy, an Anakbayan organizer, and even the driver Regase, had rope markings around their necks and stab wounds in various parts of their bodies.  They were buried practically naked in a shallow grave.
According to KARAPATAN-Southern Mindanao, the abduction and murder of these militant youths is clearly meant to harass, terrorize and silence progressive and patriotic organizations critical of the government.
Anakbayan-Southern Mindanao also condemned the military's close surveillance, harassment and intimidation of leaders and members of their organization. Lt. Col. Agane Adriatico, chief of the Civil Relations Group of the Philippine Army in southeastern Mindanao himself admitted their surveillance of the youth. However, he was hard-pressed denying that the military was involved in the "salvaging" (summary execution) of the four youths, and instead ridiculously hurled the accusation at the New People's Army.
More and more youth are rising in resistance. This heinous crime manifests the Macapagal-Arroyo regime's intense fear of the militant youth, said Kabataang Makabayan spokesperson Andres Guerrero II. "In reality, the Arroyo regime fears the continuous growth of the revolutionary movement to which more and more youth have been giving their all-out support," said Guerrero.
Meanwhile, Communist Party of the Philippines spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said that the Arroyo regime has been venting its anger on the youth who have been joining the NPA in their numbers. This tactic, he says, will backfire on the Arroyo government because more and more youth are joining the revolutionary movement and the NPA in the areas where the terrorist all-out war is being launched.
Bayan Muna coordinator abducted. Even as demonstrators in Tagum City denounced the military and the police for the brutal kidnapping and summary execution of the four activists, the regional coordinator of Bayan Muna in Central Visayas was abducted that same night by elements of the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division (RIID).
He was on his way home to Mandaue City when he was waylaid by two RIID agents and forced into a van. Taken to a safehouse in Lapu-Lapu City, his captors tried to convince him to turn informer for the RIID. He was interrogated about Bayan Muna activities and about persons they believed to be NDF and NPA leaders in the region. When his captors left him alone in the safehouse on September 27, the victim had an opportunity to call a Bayan Muna lawyer, who went to the safehouse to pick him up.
Meanwhile, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN)-Panay and Provincial Board Member Cesar Talabucon of Capiz assailed Maj. Oscar Lasangue of the AFP Civil Relations Group when he linked BAYAN, Bayan Muna and Talabucon himself to the revolutionary movement's activities. BAYAN said that such baseless and malicious accusations by the military are meant to condition the minds of the people to accept the intensifying military offensives against the legal democratic movement and its personalities.
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