The 59th IB abducted on March 27 three civilians in Batangas and held them incommunicado for almost three weeks. Lloyd Descallar, Alfred Manalo and Angelito Balitostos were abducted in front of the Medical Center-Western Batangas in Balayan. Balitostos, 65, was incidentally passing by while the first two were being abducted.

Manalo and Descallar are volunteers for the Sugarfolks Unity for Genuine Agricultural Reform (SUGAR)-Batangas. After several days of searching and demanding their release by human rights groups, the 2nd ID was forced to admit custody of the three.

Forced surrender in La Union. Police forced four fisherfolk members of the Timek ken Namnaman dagiti Babassit a Mangngalap iti La Union (TIMEK La Union-Pamalakaya) to “surrender” in the second week of March. The four are residents of Barangay San Manuel Norte, Agoo, La Union. They were invited to a police station to supposedly receive aid but upon arrival were presented as “surrendered rebels.”

Harassment of civilians in Negros Occidental. Danilo and Libeth Gerunda were interrogated after 62nd IB soldiers forcefully entered their house at Sitio Caliban, Barangay Banog-banog, Isabela on March 26 and March 28. Soldiers took photographs of the couples’ children aged 16, 12 and 5 years old.

Militarization in Tondo and Batangas. More than 90 soldiers of the 11th IB scoured the communities of Hapilan and Aroma of Barangay 105, Vitas, Tondo on March 9. They searched the community to pinpoint the whereabouts of members of women’s group Gabriela and Kadamay. Hapilan and Aroma are communities facing impending demolition to give way for the Skyway Extension project and land reclamation.

Elements of the 59th IB also went house-to-house in Barangay San Isidro Sur, Sto. Tomas, Batangas on March 12. The said community will be displaced by the Sto. Tomas-Malvar Diversion Road project.