Soldiers accused of killing innocent farmer

BAGUIO CITY — The provincial peace and order council has formed a fact-finding panel to investigate the alleged involvement of members of the Army’s Third Special Forces Battalion in the fatal shooting of a farmer who was reportedly mistaken as a communist rebel.

The victim, Johnson Camareg, a resident of Sitio Posong, Barangay Anabel, Sadanga town, was gunned down during a supposed encounter between the Army unit and New People’s Army (NPA) rebels last Aug. 9, according to reports reaching the council.

Camareg’s body was found on Mount Butacag two days later, covered with leaves in an apparent move to hide his death. The mountain is a favorite hunting ground of natives.

Three witnesses, in sworn affidavits, said Camareg was a just a hunter, not a communist fighter, and that the armed men they saw in the vicinity where he was shot were military personnel.

Maj. Carlito Bueno, the Army unit’s commander, however, said Camareg was a suspected rebel who was killed in an encounter.

Maj. Elmer Quiros, the Armed Forces’ civil relations chief in the Cordilleras and Ilocos, claimed Camareg was in their "order of battle."

Last week, Quiros said two NPA rebels were killed and three others were wounded in a clash with government troopers in the area.

The conflicting claims of the military and the villagers prompted the peace and order council to initiate its own inquiry. — Artemio Dumlao