Caught between rebels, police

UNTOY Agaw's body was meant to be found, and in a gruesome state. His killers made sure of it.

On April 18, his body was found not far from a military detachment in Oriental Mindoro province. The 34-year-old Mangyan farmer had a gaping hack wound in the neck; he was hogtied and his mouth was stuffed with cloth. Some of the photos are too unsightly for publication.

The message was clear: be warned, more could follow. But who killed him? Why was he killed?

Untoy was only one of four Mangyan victims in a series of abductions and murders in March. Very little was heard about these bloody events that visited the Mangyan communities in the province. At first, the tribal people wanted to just bury their dead and be left alone to go on with their lives. Peace, even an uneasy one, was paramount for them.

Neighter Left nor Right

When two suspected leftist activists were killed in Mindoro in April, allegedly by military troopers, a furor was whipped up by human rights advocates, leading to a Senate investigation.

The Mangyans preferred not to be linked to any of the contending groups. In general, they have never wanted to be identified with armed groups operating in their area. At one time, they even had a score to settle with the communist New People's Army rebels who took away their mapping equipment on suspicion that they were surveillance devices.

The people were also aloof to the military. They feared that warming up to either side could give rise to suspicions. But unlike the Mangyans of old who feared the lowlanders, many of them today are no longer reclusive and reticent. Thanks to education and the efforts of development and Church-supported nongovernment organizations, they have emerged from their placid and below-subsistence lifestyle to claim their birthright and place in the larger society-peacefully, and not through violent means.

With vigor and resolve, they are reclaiming their lost Eden, their ancestral domain that is dwindling in size and much coveted by miners, loggers and land prospectors.

Ambushes, abductions

But a pattern and motive emerge as one views the series of tragedies that took place in March in Oriental Mindoro.

In the morning of March 21, four soldiers were killed and two others were wounded when an improvised land mine, purportedly planted by NPA rebels, exploded when a military vehicle carrying soldiers passed over it. According to officers of the 68th and 204th Infantry Brigades of the Philippine Army, the soldiers were on their way to Pinamalayan town when the explosion and ambush took place. The site is near the Pambisan Elementary School.

Six days later, on March 26, close to midnight, Rizal Matri, a member of the Taubuid Mangyan tribe in Sitio Mayi, La Fortuna, Socorro town, was abducted by 10 men with high-powered firearms. The following day, his body was found on the bank of a nearby river. According to the autopsy report of the municipal health center, Matri died from multiple bullet wounds in different parts of the body.

Another ambush took place on March 27, in sitio (hamlet) Balete, barangay (village) Hagan in Bongabong town. Two soldiers were killed during the gun battle between Army troopers and communist rebels.

Finding Untoy

Three days later, on the night of March 30, Untoy Agaw, a Buhid Mangyan from Sitio Ugun Liguma of the same barangay, was abducted from his house by five armed men in civilian clothes. His family and community searched for him for more than two weeks. Had he been released and was on his way home? He could not have gotten lost in the woods on his way back as he knew the terrain like the back of his hand. Did he fall, did he drown, was he devoured by wild beasts?

The answer came on April 18 when Untoy was found in Sitio Pagasa in Barangay Morente. His hands and feet were bound and his body bore marks of cruelty. He had not been dead a long time. His neck wound was still fresh, which meant that his captors had him alive for almost two weeks before they decided to end his life brutally. And why did they have to stuff his mouth?

Witnesses claimed that a vehicle had driven to that spot where Untoy's body was found. Whoever brought his body there would have had to pass near the military detachment. Passing by unnoticed would have been unlikely.

The autopsy report said the hack wound in Untoy's neck cut through the esophagus carotid artery and vein, and he died of external hemorrhage.

At the time of his death, Untoy was an active member of a community organization called the Sadik Hbanan. Although not a leader, he was a potential one. His father had been an active Mangyan figure until his illness and it was likely that Untoy would follow in his footsteps.

More murders

On March 31, the day after Untoy was abducted, another Mangyan was forcibly taken by armed men from inside his house in sitio Tibong in Pinamalayan. Taubuid Mangyan Dino Matri, a nephew of Rizal Matri was taken and killed less than 50 meters from his house.

That same day, Butuan Sagbus, also a Taubuid, was forcibly taken from his house so he could serve as guide to the house of Dino. The armed men killed him, too. His family buried him the following day at the Saban Mangyan reservation. There was no autopsy.

The families of Rizal and Dino Matri, the Taubuid leaders and staff members of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples have gone to the provincial office of the Philippine National Police to request for an investigation. They have also requested that Dino's body be exhumed and examined.

These tragic events have been documented by the provincial office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). A report has been forwarded to Lagtum A. Pasag, a Mangyan himself, and NCIP commissioner for Island Groups and Visayas. Pasag knew Untoy Agaw personally.

In November last year and in March and April this year, harassment, threats, physical assault, illegal arrests, displacement from homes, abduction and summary killings have been the lot of Mangyans living in different towns. The Mangyans belong to tribes such as Iraya, Taubuid, Buhid, Hanunuo, Bangon and Tadyawan.

The cases have been documented. Is anyone in the government looking into them?

Not by NPA

An NCIP report for the Senate committee on indigenous peoples said the killings could not have been done by the NPA rebels. It pointed out that the abductions took place in the vicinity of the ambush sites and, therefore, these may have been "a reprisal action of the military" for the death of the soldiers.

The NPA could not have operated in those areas after they had staged an ambush as the areas were considered "hot" zones. The rebel group had not claimed responsibility for the abduction, something they usually do to make clear their motive and show their might.

Said the report: "There are no other reasons that could be given for the abductions and killings except the problem of armed conflict between the government and the NPA. Nothing was stolen from the victims, no witnesses have come out to say that there may have been personal problems that could cause such violence."

Bonnet Gang

The so-called Bonnet Gang has reportedly been operating in Oriental Mindoro since the Armed Forces' 204th Infantry Brigade come to the island. Its members are reportedly anti-NPA and have been suspected as behind summary killings in the past. They use ski bonnets to cover their heads and faces when they do their job.

An NCIP report said some military men in the 204th IB think that the Mangyans in the uplands are either members or supporters of the NPA. Not true, the report said. "The soldiers do not take into consideration the culture of the Mangyan tribes in Mindoro, which is peaceful and non-aggressive," it stressed. It pointed out that the Mangyans could not even chase away outsiders who encroach on their ancestral domain.

As Mangyan custom dictated, after the mourning period for Untoy was over, the wooden house he had built for his family-wife Man-ayan Bakay and four children-was torn down. This was to prevent Untoy's soul from coming back, for him to be at peace in the dwelling place of the guardian spirits and in the company of his ancestors.