Abra IP family massacred; HR group point to Army as culprits

A former New People’s Army rebel, his father, and his brother were massacred in Abra last week after they were tortured with the military blaming the NPA for their deaths while a national indigenous rights group said army troops were responsible for the crime.  

The Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP) said the murder of LicubenLigiw, Freddie "Fermin" Ligiw and Edie Ligiw, all farmers and members of the Binongan tribe in Baay-Licuan, Abra was atrocious and its perpetrators should be punished and made to account for their crime.

The KAMP pointed to army troops as responsible for the crime and urged the national government to probe the matter and bring perpetrators to justice. 

But according to a statement by 1st Lt. Rowena Abayon, 5th Infantry Division spokesperson, the Ligiws were executed by the NPAand buried in a “mass grave.”

Abayon said human rights violation charges are being prepared against remnants of the NPA tagged in the brutal murders in a remote village in Abra.

Abayon, chief of public affairs office of the army’s 5th ID based in Isabela province, said the case will be filed before the Commission on Human Rightsregional office in Baguio City.

Involved in the filing of the complainants are elements of the Army’s 41st Infantry Battalion, the Philippine National Police and barangay officials of Dominglay in Baay-Licuan, Abra, who responded to the scene where the bodies of the victims were found to bear torture marks last March 7.

Abayon said former NPA rebel Freddie Ligiw, 30, who had chosen to return to the fold of the law, was found with his hands behind his back, his mouth gagged with a handkerchief, and his body bearing multiple bruises.

The bodies of his father, Licuben, and brother, Eddie – a daycare center volunteer, were also found in the same state when dug up from a shallow grave between Barangays Mugao and Dominglay in Licuan-Baay.

Authorities declared the victims died of mauling and asphyxiation.

“The atrocious acts of the NPA remnants do not help the country and do not serve the interest of the people,” said Lieutenant General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. of the Northern Luzon Command.

But the KAMP pointed to the military as responsible for the murders.

"This was no mass grave. Rebel executions are a worn lie of the AFP, meant to overshadow the fact that the AFP is victimizing unarmed civilians under its counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan," Piya Macliing Malayao, spokesperson of KAMP said. "The Ligiws are civilians but are a thorn on the side of the AFP, because of the family's involvement in organizations that condemned the militarization and human rights violations exacted by the military to the people in the province."

KAMP said Fermin was due to file on March 4 a human rights violation report to the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) after he was used as a guide to aid the military in pursuing members of the NPA.

According to a report made by the CHRA, the Ligiws were reported missing by their family on March 6, and were found after a search on March 7, buried in a shallow grave near their hut.

They were bound and gagged, and placed on top of one another. The CHRA said members of the 41st IB were conducting operations in the area when the Ligiws were last sighted on March 2 and could be involved in the killings.

"These slays top off the headcount of extrajudicial killings of indigenous peoples. There is no end to the military's brutality against the indigenous peoples and the Filipino people fighting for their rights. We condemn the massacre of the Ligiw family, and demand the pullout of the military in indigenous communities in Abra," Malayao said.

The Ligiws were also active members of activist organizations, said KAMP.

Fermin was reportedly a member of activist group Anakbayan. All three are members of KASTAN (KakailianSalaknibanTay Amin tiNagtaudan), the provincial chapter of Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) in Abra.

"Like other indigenous peoples slain before them, the Ligiw family has gained the ire of the military because of their political affiliations and involvement in anti-mining plunder, and anti-militarization campaigns in the province. The killings of activists like themselves are no news in the Aquino administration, who had cradled impunity so well," Malayao said.

Earlier, government troops said they discovered what could possibly be a mass grave of the NPAin the remote village March 7, according to an Army report.

The 5th Infantry Division said soldiers of the 41st Infantry Battalion, along with the police, village officials and civilians, found the mass grave in SitioSucao, Barangay Dominglay.

The army report said the discovery came barely a week after the reported sighting of 15 NPA guerrillas in the remote mountain community and the disappearance of three villagers.

The report said missing villagers were later identified as Freddie Ligiw, 30, a former NPA rebel who surrendered to authorities on March 23, 2011, and his father and brother.   

The Army said the remains of the Ligiws were found in the grave, saying they were believed to have been executed by the rebels “for betraying the communist movement.” 

“This is what the (NPA) is all about – to deny freedom to those who choose to get out of their movement and join the mainstream of society,” said Lt. Col. Danilo Domingo, 41st IB chief. -- With reports from Freddie Lazaro, Raymond Catindig and Charlie Lagasca