Political assassinations in this region have targeted respected political activists, including human rights and labor lawyer Fedelito Dacut and activist priest Rev. Edison Lapuz, Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI or Independent Church of the Philippines).

Pablo Dacutanan Jr., shared how he was tortured by AFP soldiers in an apartment located in a densely populated area before he was able to escape. Dacutanan was laughing throughout his testimony, proof that his sufferings have affected his mental health as well. There have been 31 cases of torture reported in this region.

Government officials have also been threatened and harassed by the military. Samar Reps. Catalino Figueroa (second district) and Reynaldo Uy (first district) have attested in Congress to being harassed. Even barangay officials are regularly terrorized.

For the period Feb. 10 to Aug. 4 (25 weeks or 175 days), Karapatan-EV has documented 513 cases of violations of international humanitarian law.

Karapatan-EV secretary general Alex Lagunzad said that these violations resulted from three military operation plans (oplan): a) Oplan Kalinaw Visayas (literally, “Operational Plan Peace-in-the-Visayas), the over-all counter-insurgency operations plan of the 8th ID PA in the region, b) Oplan Gold Rush 8, a plan to “neutralize” progressive people’s organizations, which the AFP considers as legal fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and c) Oplan Ligpit (literally, “Operational Plan Liquidate”), which aims to execute about 36 leaders and members of progressive organizations who are included in the Order of Battle (OB) list. This list was confirmed by Palparan himself in a media briefing sometime in June.

In a newspaper report on Aug. 19, Palparan said his six-month anti-insurgency campaign has been successful and he is just about to neutralize “communist-terrorists” (CTs) in the island.

Amid this so-called success however are widows and orphans who have been denied justice. For the villagers affected by military operations, it has been six months of torment. (Bulatlat.com)

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