Prominent cases of human rights violations in Basilan
Brutal slaying
Soldiers belonging to the 32nd IB opened fire July 11 at Pilot Hamajin, 26; his brother Roque, 17; their mother Jaang Pulaan, 50 and their father all of Barangay Pipil, Tipo-tipo, Basilan while the family was near their farm in Barangay Camamboringan of the same town. Roque fell fi rst, followed by his mother. His father was shot in the chest while trying to help his wife. Pilot Hamajin went home to ask for help but when he returned with his neighbors, they found only his mother�s corpse. They learned that the bodies of his father and brother were taken by helicopter to Zamboanga City and were presented to the media as Abu Sayyaf members slain in battle.
Nuramum Asunum, 27, of Camamboringan was tortured and summarily executed. He was on his way home from the hospital in Lamitan when the jeep he was boarding was stopped at a checkpoint of the 18th IB. He was ordered to get off the vehicle he was repeatedly punched in the stomach and other parts of his body. A few minutes later, the remaining passengers heard a gunshot. Asunum was suspected of supporting the Abu Sayyaf because he was carrying medicines.
Jasan Linungan, 22, was summarily executed on June 10. He was aboard a passenger jeep bound for Isabela city proper along with Benjie Dilong, 20; Totong Dilong, 18, and Misar Rizal, 23, when soldiers and CAFGU elements conducted an inspection in Barangay Melige of the city. The four were accused of being Abu Sayyaf members. The soldiers shot Linungan who died on the spot. The remaining three were illegally detained for a week in a detachment in Isabela. They were hogtied, burned with cigarettes and wounded in different parts of their body with a knife.
Torture, illegal arrest and detention
Didoy Otong, 26, was picked up at a checkpoint and was tortured to make him confess that he is an Abu Sayyaf member. He was punched in the chest, stomach and the side. The soldiers undressed him and burned his genitals with a lighter. He was brought to the Seaborne Camp in Maluso, Basilan and then forced to drink liquor (Islam forbids the intake of alcoholic drinks � AB). When he poured some of it on the concrete fl oor, they forced him to lap it up. On July 30, they put him on a truck to take him to Tabiawan Brigade Camp in Isabela. While the truck was on its way, they hit him in the back with the butt of a rifl e. The next day, he was blindfolded, taken outside the camp, was again being made to confess and was beaten up whenever he refused to answer. He fainted four times due to severe torture.
Abubakar Asalin, 45, a councilor of Barangay Sinangkapan, Tuburan, was blindfolded and was also being made to admit to being an Abu Sayyaf member while he was being beaten up. The soldiers put chili pepper into his armpits and his penis and inserted the latter into a bottle. A bottle was likewise shoved into his anus.
Gafar Mundi, 19, was arrested in July 13 while he was praying in a mosque. The military left him out in the heat of the sun insisting that he was among those who attacked Lamitan. Whenever he refused to confess, he was beaten and kicked. The soldiers made him lie down, poured gasoline on him and threatened to burn him. He was blindfolded and taken by helicopter to Zamboanga City. Along the way, they repeatedly banged his head onto the chopper�s wall. They kept whacking his elbows with a piece of wood and his head with a long metal object.
From the Initial Report on the Fact-finding on Human Rights Violations, Relief and Medical Mission, September 9-16, 2001, Basilan.
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