NPA `killing fields' yield remains of 60 people

DAVAO CITY - Government troops exhumed on Saturday the skeletal remains of at least 60 victims of atrocities by the New People's Army (NPA) in the eighties, in a mass grave at a remote village at the boundary of Cagayan de Oro City and Bukidnon.

Maj. Johnny Macanas, information officer of the Army's 4th Infantry Division, said an informer, who claimed to have witnessed the killings, surfaced and pinpointed the "killing fields" in Barangay Taglimao, 36 kilometers from the Cagayan de Oro City proper.

Macanas said a joint police-military team exhumed the remains of at least 60 people in one site, although they believe that as many 300 people were killed and buried in the village.

The informer, Macanas said, told authorities they were actually three mass graves. "One could have been washed away by the waters of a nearby river, while the other was believed to have been very shallow so that wild boars feasted on the remains years ago," he added.

The exhumation team, composed of at least 50 policemen, a platoon of soldiers from the 9th Infantry Battalion and another platoon of militiamen, began the diggings at 8 a.m. Saturday and brought down the remains to the city proper at 10 p.m.

The informer said some of the victims were buried alive, some struck on the head with a large piece of wood, as evidenced by cracks in the skulls.

Of the exhumed remains, seven were believed to be women because of the clothing and underwear.

Macanas said the NPA group responsible for the killings was reportedly led by a certain Ka Dante, also known as Ka Larry, who was assisted by one Ka Leo and Meriam Purcray.

Purcray is said to have become the deputy secretary of the NPA's Northern Mindanao Regional Committee, while Ka Dante and Ka Larry are now leading civilian lives as businessmen in Misamis Oriental.

Macanas said charges will be filed against the NPA leaders whose identities have been temporarily withheld to prevent them from leaving the region.

Cagayan de Oro City officials, led by Mayor Vicente Emano, are holding a funeral mass for the exhumed remains at 7 a.m. today.

The remains, placed in two coffins, will be buried at the cemetery in Barangay Caman-an.