What fact-finders have discovered so far on the Toboso encounter

CEBU, Philippines – Nineteen people were killed on April 19, in a clash between army forces and suspected communist rebels in the village of Salamanca, Toboso town, Negros Occidental.

The army confirmed in a statement on April 23 that troops of the 79th Infantry “Masaligan” Battalion, under the 303rd Infantry Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, engaged in a firefight with members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in the northern Negros area.

“19 members of the armed group were neutralized, including identified leaders, and 24 firearms were seized,” their statement read.

Despite the army’s claims, the CPP-NPA said on April 27, that only 10 of the 19 alleged combatants were members of the rebel group, while nine were civilians.

Included on the CPP-NPA’s list of civilians were UP Diliman Student councilor Alyssa Alano, community journalist RJ Ledesma, activists Lyle Prijoles, Maureen Santuyo, Errol Wendel and Kai Sorem, and residents Dexter Patajo, Roel Sabillo and Jemina Gumadlas.

The military has maintained that the 19 were all armed combatants, and that the operation was conducted “in accordance with established rules of engagement and with full regard for civilian safety.”

In response to this, human rights advocates, and even lawmakers initiated a fact-finding mission on May 14. Prior to this, forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun and a team of doctors conducted an autopsy on five of the bodies recovered from the Toboso clash.

Here’s what fact-finders have learned so far on the April 19 encounter in Toboso, Negros Occidental.

Six were civilians

Witness testimonies from residents in Sitio Sinugmawan and Sitio Plaringding in Toboso confirmed that six of the 19 alleged combatants were unarmed civilians. These include Alano, Santuyo, Wendel, Ledesma, Sorem, and Prijoles.

“The evidence found belies the narrative created by the military, who had complete control of the site from April 19 to 21,” Peter Murphy, chairperson of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, said in a statement on May 17.

According to residents of Sitio Sinugmawan, a day before the incident, on April 18, heavy military presence was observed in the village. 

“[18 residents] nagsabi na ang bahay nila ay binisita ng mga members ng Philippine military (18 residents said that their homes were visited by members of the Philippine military),” human rights lawyer Sol Taule said during a press briefing on May 15.

Taule added that residents spotted drones hovering over their village days before the clash on April 19.

Mishandled corpses

More testimonies revealed that the bodies of those killed in the clash were only recovered two days after, on April 21, and were brought to the funeral homes.

“There is no actual documentation of the processing before the recovery of the bodies,” human rights group Karapatan’s report read.

Fortun, in a press briefing on May 7, criticized the lack of basic evidence handling, especially since the bodies had already begun to decompose.

“Where are the clothes? Clothes help a lot [in identification]… I only received two bags [of clothes]. One of them was mislabeled,” the pathologist said.

According to Fortun, the body of Errol Wendel was mistakenly identified, stating that the clothes brought in with the body did not even belong to Wendel, based on a relative’s testimony.

Gunshots to the back

Fortun also questioned if the encounter was really a confrontation between armed forces and rebel groups when the recovered corpses revealed that there were gunshot wounds to the back of the bodies.

Three bodies Fortun examined had gunshot wounds to the head, while the rest suffered wounds to the trunk and the lower parts of the body.

“The bullets we recovered? What can I say about them? They are consistent with the weapons used which would be, in the general sense, high-velocity rifles,” Fortun said.

The pathologist added that the range of the gunshots may have been distant, owing to the fragments of the bullets recovered and wounds found on the bodies.

Tensions in Toboso

A resident of Sitio Plaringding, whose identity is withheld for security reasons, claimed that on April 19, soldiers illegally detained and interrogated him and two other civilians, asking them about the presence of the NPA in the village.

The resident, who went to harvest shellfish with two other civilians, were brought to a hill where soldiers stayed with them.

“At about 10 am, [the resident] saw soldiers indiscriminately firing towards the direction of the fishponds,” Karapatan’s report read.

More than 600 residents were evacuated from Toboso on April 19 and were only allowed to return on April 22.

Karapatan claimed that soldiers used civilian homes as military encampments, harassed and intimidated farmers in the name of counter-insurgency operations. The military has denied these claims.

“Sa panahon ng mga araw na ‘yon na pina-evacuate sila ng military, ang military lang ang nandoon sa area. Kaya kami nagraraise ng doubts ng pagtatamper ng evidence at pagseset-up ng crime scene,” Taule said.

(In the days that they were evacuated by the military, only the military was in the area. This is why we are raising doubts — that they tampered with evidence and set up the crime scene.) – Rappler.com