CAFGU strikes anew,
indigenous leader shot and tortured to death – Karapatan
By KARAPATAN
September 20, 2012
QUEZON CITY – Karapatan today received report of another case of torture and
extrajudicial killing of an indigenous leader, Genesis Ambason
Saguitan, 23, secretary general of TAGDUMAHAN Lumad organization in
the municipality of San Luis, Agusan del Sur. Karapatan secretary
general Cristina Palabay calls the latest incident as “an affirmation
of the continuing vestiges of martial law under the Aquino
government.”
Saguitan’s relatives found
his body mutilated by the perpetrators, identified as members of the
Civilian Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) attached to the 26th IB
Detachment in Sitio Tambo, Brgy. Binikalan, San Luis Agusan del Sur.
His body was on the road side, some 130 meters away from the
detachment of the 26th IB in Sitio Tambo.
According to the report sent
to Karapatan, Almira, Saguitan’s wife who is eight months pregnant
with their first child, “wept while cleaning his husband’s body” when
she saw the two gunshot wounds in his right chest and another two
gunshot wounds in the hip area, near his spine. His face and chest
were covered with bruises. Ambason’s teeth are all gone. His head was
deformed, and his face unrecognizable because of the bruises due to
heavy beating.
Palabay said that the
brutality of Saguitan’s death is “reminiscent of how Fr. Tullo Favali,
PIME was killed by paramilitary forces in 1985, under the Marcos
dictatorship. In 2011, the same paramilitary forces killed another PIME priest, Fr. Pops Tentorio.”
The report indicated that,
prior to the incident, Saguitan and four others were on their way to
Sitio Tambo, Brgy. Binikilan to mine and buy gold. He had with him
18,000 pesos in cash. They were riding a motorcycle but decided to
hike uphill when the motorcycle broke down. Some 200 meters away from
Sitio Tambo, Ambason and his group decided to rest as they were
already exhausted from hiking. From where they rested, they could see
the detachment of the 26th IB; and those at the detachment could also
see them.
A few minutes later, they
heard footsteps approaching them. Upon hearing this, Ambasong
immediately stood up and pointed his flashlight to where the sound was
coming from. But as soon as he turned on his flashlight, they were
immediately fired at. A series of shots fired also came from the
direction of the detachment. Ambason’s companions ran to different
direction toward the forest, leaving behind Ambason, who could no
longer move because of gunshot wound. That was the last time he was
seen alive. His wife would later find out that the P18,000 he was
carrying was lost.
Ambason was active in the
anti-mining campaign in the area of San Luis. The CAFGU, according to
the residents in the community, were deployed in the area because of
the anti-mining campaign. Ambason was also involved in the
anti-militarization campaign which he believed has brought about a
string of human rights violations among his fellow Lumad.