Militant groups demand a dialog with Guv, military

“EITHER Governor Erico Aumentado talks to us or we will go for another week-long picket at the plaza.” Whether Capitol would see this as another lame threat or a tourism douser, militant groups dared that they are doing just that if the governor dismisses them this one last time. Sounding off their desperation over the apparent elusive attitude of the governor to look into their plight, Bayan Muna Provincial Coordinator John Ruiz III, during a press conference Thursday at the Jjs Seafoods Village said the prospect is their last card. Getting frantic about “alleged death threats” and the their perceived up-trend of political killings and assassinations of leaders of progressive organizations across the country, militant leaders here demand an audience with Governor Erico Aumentado and the commanding officers of all active military units here to discuss their situation.

This after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered top police heads to set deadline for the resolution of political killings and bringing the perpetrators to justice. The call echoed during a Karapatan press conference also put under one roof Bagong Alyansang Makabayan's Victor Olayvar, Gabriela's Martina Visaya, Bayan Muna Provincial Coordinator Ruiz III, Hugpong sa mga Mag-uumang Bol-anon (HUMABOL) Vice Chair Felipeneri Bihasa, Karapatan and Promotion of Church People's Response Chair Msgr. Feliciano Nalzaro Jr. and Karapatan Secretary General Lisa Serenio.

Six on the military hitlist

Militant leaders' have leaked to the media that they have acquired documents that point to the neutralization of about 6 top leaders, 2 more than what they told a local paper earlier in June. The alleged leak, which Olayvar said comes from an unnamed sympathetic Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) source told them that the names in the list would be neutralized in two weeks time. That was in June.

In June this year, militant groups shared that their top leaders: HUMABOL Chairman William Boybanting (San Jose Mabini), Vice Chair Felipeneri Bihasa (Patrocinio Cortes), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Bohol Chapter Chair Victor Olayvar (Kabiguhan Trinidad) and Kahugpungan sa Aliciahanong Mag-uuma (KASALMA) Chair Tomasa Santos were in military crosshairs. This time, waving a caricature and a poison letter which detail alleged links between above named progressive groups and personalities, the militant groups said such are indicative of the vilification, a prelude to killing those vilified like in other places in the country, said Bayan Muna's Olayvar.

The same literature intercepted by members of the Talibon Trinidad Farmers Association (TTFA) in late July, implicated Olayvar, Boybanting, Bihasa, Visaya, Nalzaro, Serenio and Farmer's Development Center (FARDEC) Executive Director Rene Espinosa of recommending who to liquidate. Humabol's Bihasa also said that linking the farmer's group to armed rebels is another attempt at destroying his group. He clarified that if indeed there are members who have taken arms, such is so because they have become impatient about the constitutional processes advocacy. Fearing that they would suffer the same fate of what they called as Boholano political martyrs: Adolfo Cullano (1998), Eugenio Furog, Olympio Crame (2004) and Nestor Aringue and Liezelda Cuñado (2006), the group called for talks with Bohol top leaders. The calls however have landed on deaf ears of the Capitol chief.

Political killings or petty crimes?

A random research conducted by this paper revealed that Olympio Crame, of Sohoton Calape died in 2004. Independent sources said he was a self-confessed insurgents supporter who went over the fence when he realized the disillusionment. At one time, Crame led a team of military scouts into an active rebel camp, which the government forces over-ran. Days later, the dead Crame was found in a shallow grave in the abandoned camp. Nestor Arinque of San Roque Mabini leads the active local chapter of the HUMABOL in Mabini. He was hit by motorcycle riding bonnet-wearing gunmen. Police said he doubled as a habal-habal driver and rebel tax-collector for Mabini-Candijay area. Military intelligence records say Arinque irked his comrades for failing to turn over his collections and personally brandishing his being an active rebel. While Mabini police is still pursuing a cold trail, speculators did not discount the possibility that local businessmen could have hired assassins to hit him. This early, Mabini police insist that Arinque case is purely personal and petty crime.

Liezelda Cuñado of Panadtaran Candijay was shot to death by neighbor Joel Bayron. Cunado lived next door to the Bayrons. Candijay police investigators said she was shot after a family quarrel turned nasty and went on to say that it was no way political. Later investigations revealed that Cuñado worked as a community organizer of progressive group Gabriela. Militants pressed that gunman Bayron was with a barangay information network and works for the military but 15thIB Officer Lt. Noel Caibigan denied the connections. Bohol Police Provincial Director Arturo Evangelista in an interview also insists that Cunado killing was nothing but a family dispute. despite all of this, militants insist that the Boholano martyrs died in the pursuance of political beliefs and only a dialog with top leaders could ease their worries of assassination.

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