By JUSTIN UMALI
Bulatlat.com
SAN PABLO, Laguna – Soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ 80th Infantry Battalion are denying access to the remains of a Dumagat slain in Famy municipality, Laguna province last November 28.
Susan Ritual, a 40-year-old indigenous Dumagat, was killed by elements of the 80th IBPA in barangay Bacong-Sigsigan in Famy, November 28. Police and military reports claim that Ritual was a member of the New People’s Army and was killed in the ensuing firefight.
Attempts by Ritual’s siblings, Paulino and Sherlyn, have been frustrated by state forces. Human rights watchdog Karapatan Southern Tagalog said that the military refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of the siblings to claim the remains.
“The police and military are subjecting Ritual’s family to harassment and psychological torture,” said Karapatan ST in its statement. “They are forcing an undue process and adding unusual requirements to prove their identities as kin.”
The group revealed that the police have deliberately delayed the processing and verification of necessary documents while also subjecting the siblings and their paralegals to surveillance and intimidation. MCT Funeral Homes, the funeral parlor where Ritual’s remains are interred, has likewise refused to allow Paulino and Sherlyn to view Susan’s remains for verification.
Things came to a head on December 2 when Famy police forcibly transported the siblings to the Philippine National Police Region 4A Headquarters in Camp Vicente Lim, Calamba following a “drawn-out interrogation session” that barred them from consulting with their paralegals. Paulino and Sherlyn surfaced the next day in a video posted by the 202nd Infantry Battalion.
That evening, MCT Funeral Homes began the transfer of Ritual’s remains to a military truck, ostensibly to bring the remains to Ritual’s home province of Aurora. “The military has taken ownership of Ritual’s remains and claimed the body for themselves,” said the group. “This is a grave violation of the family’s rights under international humanitarian law.”
The circumstances of Ritual’s death have also raised alarm. According to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines Laguna, soldiers indiscriminately fired upon a group of houses in Famy, resulting in Ritual’s death while endangering civilians. Soldiers from the 80th IBPA also “forcibly held down and tied up” children during the encounter.
“This is a clear violation of both the Geneva Conventions and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law,” said NDFP Laguna spokesperson Malaya Asedillo in a statement sent to the media.. “Additionally, this incident is sure to have caused trauma to the residents of Brgy. Bacong Sigsigan, especially the children.”
The 80th IBPA has claimed that their operation did not violate humanitarian law and that their procedures “followed the rules of war.”
Armed conflict between the Philippine government and the New People’s Army is governed by a series of joint agreements as part of the peace negotiations between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. The Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) signed by the Philippine government and the NDFP in particular prohibits the “desecration of remains of those who have died in the course of the armed conflict … and breach of duty to tender immediately such remains to their families or to give them decent burial,” in compliance with standards of international humanitarian law. CARHRIHL also mandates that civilians must be “treated as such and shall be distinguished from combatants.”
Peace talks between both sides are currently in limbo, following former President Rodrio Duterte’s unilateral decision to terminate the negotiations in 2018. Most recently, both the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the NDFP signed the Oslo Joint Declaration signaling their intent to resume peace talks, last November 2023.
Formal talks have yet to resume. The GRP insists that the peace talks would be a “restart” of the peace process, while the NDFP insists that the talks must be a continuation of previous rounds. (RTS, RVO)
