The militarism that killed P/CInsp. Abelardo Martin and continuing state fascism
Since January, the Party and the New People�s Army have stated their readiness to release prisoners of war P/Chief Insp. Abelardo Martin and Army Maj. Noel Buan. But in spite of this, militarists now dominating in the Macapagal-Arroyo regime to preempt the NPA�s release of the captives.
The bungled rescue operation on March 8 resulted in the death of Martin. It also wrought havoc among the residents of Sitio Oblian, Barangay San Marcelino, General Nakar, Quezon. In order to cover up their failed operation, the AFP gave an utterly distorted version of the actual events surrounding the gunbattle between Martin�s NPA custodians and government troops.
It was dawn of March 8 when Gen. Jose Lachica, Southern Luzon Command chief, boasted of having successfully rescued prisoner Martin from the NPA. But after having confirmed that Martin had died during the operation, they altered their story. Upon the direction of Executive Secretary Renato de Villa and then Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Lachica and Lt. Warren Lee Dagupon (leader of the 8th Scout Rangers Company [SRC] forces that attacked the NPA custodial force) concocted a series of lies. What was earlier vaunted as a triumphant rescue operation was made to look like a simple chance encounter that occurred while the military was allegedly in pursuit of the NPA.
Based on an assessment by the Melito Glor Command (MGC), the 4th Intelligence Security Unit (ISU) had already known the location of the camp of the five-man NPA team guarding Martin for a month. This formed the basis of the planned surprise attack by Dagupon�s group and elements of the 4th ISU on March 8. Contrary to Dagupon�s report, more than 30 and not merely 10, elements of the 8th SRC and the 4th ISU entered San Marcelino on March 6. After the early morning gunfight and upon the break of dawn on March 8, the barriofolk reported that the number of AFP troops had already grown to more than a hundred.
Part of the rescue operation involved the infliction of severe fascist violence by soldiers on the residents of Sitio Oblian.
As early as the evening of March 6, a 10-man AFP squad had molested a peasant family in the area. The head of the family was forced out of his house, with an M16 pointed at his nape. He was handcuffed, made to wear a bonnet and ordered to walk ahead of the soldiers as they prodded his back with the tips of their rifles. Later, the butchers dragged another farmer out and ransacked his house. They barred the victim�s family from following him outside. The soldiers aimed their guns at his genitals while forcing him to admit to being an NPA supporter. With every answer he gave, the soldiers countered with blows to his back and sides using the butts of their rifles. The fascists even threatened him before allowing him to go home.
In the evening of March 7, columns of soldiers coming from various directions gathered in Sitio Oblian to begin the attack against the hut where PCI Martin was staying. According to the MGC report, PCI Martin immediately identified himself as the first volley of gunfire rang out at around one o�clock in the morning. But the attackers kept shouting "Hala, sige lang!" (Just go on!) and "Sige, banatan pa!" (Go hit them more!). As they retreated, the members of the custodial force tried to bring along Martin, who had already been wounded in the buttocks. But they found this too difficult because of the heavy volume of gunfire from the SRC. The enemy held their fire only by around three in the morning. The SRC found Martin where the comrades had secured him. It was well into the morning when the soldiers finally brought his body down and loaded it on a dugout canoe.
Before finally leaving the area, another house was searched and robbed by the soldiers.
The NPA arrested Martin during an operation in Dolores, Quezon in November 1999. Even then, the NPA had expressed its readiness to release Martin but this went unheeded by the Estrada regime. For the more than one year that Martin spent in the custody of the NPA, he benefited from the latter�s policy of humanely and leniently treating prisoners of war. Particularly during these past months, he was allowed to freely mingle with the masses in the barrio. He was often seen jogging along the seashore and bathing in the sea.
He received generous medical attention. In fact, a cataract in one of his eyes was surgically removed by NPA medics.
A few days before the bungled rescue operation, he had even asked some Dumagat tribespeople to make him some pasiking (backpacks made of rattan) and baskets to bring home to his family upon his release. These were stolen by the soldiers who carried out the failed rescue operation.
The AFP matched the NPA�s benevolent treatment of PCI Martin and his forthcoming release by killing him in an utterly cruel and disastrous rescue operation.
Macapagal-Arroyo declared a suspension of offensive military operations (SOMO) in Southern Tagalog after PCI Martin�s death. But it was too late. The SOMO had long been demanded by the revolutionary movement and the people.
Before this, the SOMO declaration had been obstructed by militarists within the new administration in order to deny the NPA the opportunity to show its compliance with the rules of war and humanitarian laws. In a statement, Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal also said that the planned rescue operation proves how ready the militarist leaders of the AFP are to sacrifice the lives of their own personnel in their rabid refusal to recognize the NPA�s status as an equal entity in a civil war and their view that waging revolution is a criminal activity.
Releasing prisoners of war is part of upholding the peace talks. Despite the botched rescue operation and the killing of Martin, the revolutionary movement stands ready to continue the peace negotiations.
Similarly, the NPA remains ready to release Army Major Buan. The NPA shall carry this out in accordance with the revolutionary movement�s exercise of democratic power and revolutionary rules governing the conduct of war and the treatment of prisoners, in compliance with international humanitarian law and rules of war, and in response to requests from his family, the humanitarian and peace mission and the Macapagal-Arroyo regime as well.
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