Rights groups allege military atrocities in Aurora

SAN LUIS, Aurora — The fatal shooting of a farmer bathing in a river, the arrest and detention of nine students on a picnic, the indiscriminate firing of firearms, and the imposition of curfew hours have prompted local people’s organizations to decry what they described as "martial law" in two towns in this province.

Karapatan-Central Luzon (Karapatan-CL), a human rights group, finished yesterday its fact-finding report of alleged atrocities in San Luis and Baler towns.

The group reported the fatal shooting of one Reylante de la Serna in the Dimatubo River in San Luis last March 29 and alleged violations by soldiers of the suspension of military operations (SOMO) in the two towns.

Karapatan also alleged that a "reign of fear" hounds residents of Barangay Nonong in San Luis where a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. has been imposed, supposedly as a measure against criminality.

The killing of De La Serna reportedly occurred after an armed clash between elements of the 70th Infantry Battalion and the New People’s Army (NPA) in Sitio Salacsac, Barangay Dimatubo in San Luis.

While the military, in a dialogue with people’s organizations over the weekend in San Fernando, Pampanga, insisted that De la Serna was an NPA member, his mother, Corazon, 50, belied the claim.

She said her 22-year-old son had just left home to take a bath in the Dimatubo River when she heard gunfire coming from the river.

Later, a barangay officer brought her to a funeral parlor in Baler to identify her son’s body which was riddled with bullets.

Karapatan-CL said it gathered testimonies from the victim’s neighbors denying his possible involvement with the NPA.

Fabian Hallig, who documented Karapatan’s fact-finding report, claimed worsening human rights violations in Aurora involved the 70th IB, two companies of the police complemented by a unit of its regional mobile group, one company of the Civilian Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) with about 196 members, and a platoon of special CAFGU active auxiliaries.

During the dialogue, however, Army Col. Herbert Yambing said the clash in Sitio Salacsac did not violate the SOMO which President Arroyo earlier declared.

He said the site of the encounter was within a "regular perimeter patrol" or within the three-kilometer radius of the Army detachment in the area which, he said, was not covered by the SOMO.

A soldier was reportedly killed during the clash, but the military has not confirmed this.

Karapatan-CL also alleged that elements of the 70th IB illegally arrested, at gunpoint, youths on their way home from a picnic in San Luis last March 29.

The youths were reportedly detained and questioned at the Army detachment in Barangay Diyabuyo before they were released to their parents at about midnight.

Last March 4, panic struck residents of Barangay Calabuanan in Baler after gunshots rang out at about 11 p.m. Witnesses told Karapatan that soldiers and CAFGU members, who were on a drinking spree in the house of one Pedro Dumlao, fired the shots.

On March 10, drunken soldiers were also reported to have fired their guns inside their encampment in the barangay.