Army captain tagged in activist’s slay

BAGUIO CITY — An Army captain of the Ilocos Sur-based 50th Infantry Battalion was tagged by a witness in the Nov. 28, 2005 killing of activist Jose "Pepe" Manegdeg, prompting human rights groups to insist that the military is indeed behind the spate of killings of leftists in the country.

Joel Castro, a captain of the Philippine Army formerly assigned at the Military Intelligence Company (MICO), was identified by a witness (who requested anonymity) as the one who gunned down Manegdeg in Sitio Bigbiga, San Nicolas, San Esteban town, in Ilocos Sur.

Manegdeg, a coordinator of the church-based Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) in the Ilocos and Cordillera regions, was waiting for a bus when he was gunned down. He sustained 22 gunshot wounds from a caliber .45 pistol.

The slain activist was on his way to the airport to fetch his wife who is working in Hong Kong.

The witness has also identified Castro in the "rouge gallery" by the Task Force Usig of the Ilocos Sur police office.

Army Lt. Col. Harold Cabreros, commanding officer of the supposed Army unit that Capt. Castro belongs, said he still has to verify the report even as he earlier challenged human rights groups to present evidence proving their allegations.

"I will give (you) comment as soon as obtained (i.e. report)," Cabreros said in a text message. He also denied that they are maintaining a "death squad."

The Vigan City-based Ilocos Human Rights Alliance (IHRA) and Baguio City-based Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) in a press conference on Monday noon both commended the San Esteban police and the people who dared to come out to shed light on the killing.

"The findings validate our earlier claim on who are responsible for the death (of Manegdeg) and clearly debunk the malicious NOLCOM special report released last November which stated that Pepe was set up and killed by people he worked with who were tagged as top-ranking officers of the CPP-NPA," lawyer Randy Kinaud, secretary general of the CHRA said.