LEGAZPI CITY --- The mysterious killings of six children in Rapu-Rapu, Albay, summary executions of five farmers in Camarines Norte and the gun-slaying of an Albay-based pastor-freelance journalist were on top of the list of 51 cases of human rights violations investigated by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in 2007.

        The other bad news is that all the three cases were already pulled out from CHR files because no charges were filed in court against the suspects of each case.

        CHR Public Information III Amelia Espinas said no charges were filed because it was either the witnesses failed to establish the identity of the suspects or the witnesses and/or the victims’ families feared the backlash of the suspects or their cohorts.

        Meanwhile, for the period January to June this year alone, 28 cases, eight of them for murder, were already recorded by the CHR Bicol. The eight cases involved the murder of a construction worker, a fisherman, two farmers, one personnel of the Philippine National Police and three public officers.

        Ironically, some of these public officers or civilian workers or employees connected with local government units or any of the national government’s line agencies also came out as prime suspects in other cases of human rights violations, mostly heinous crimes, committed in 2007.

        Such cases include multiple murder, murder, physical injuries, frustrated murder, anti-graft and corrupt practices act, abuse of authority, mischief, grave misconduct and violation of RA 9262, an act defining violence against women and their children.

        Unidentified armed individuals, policemen, and suspected New People’s Army rebels and Philippine Army personnel were also involved in cases ranging from robbery and murder to arson and multiple murders.

6 girls murdered

        Among the gruesome murders that gave CHR a tough job involved the lifeless bodies of three girls found floating near a seashore where they had fun collecting seashells two hours before the tragic incident that happened last July 15, 200 in Rapu-Rapu island, Albay.

        CHR Special Investigator I Mary Janice Ceneta, in her investigation report, said that although initial findings showed that cousins Sheena Mae, 12; Mira, 11; Angel, 9; Clarence, 8; Lovely, 6 and Beverly, 5, all surnamed Adornado, had been found to have died of asphyxia secondary to drowning where “material obscurities are still hanging because of the frontal contusion of Clarence’s head.”

        She argued that drowning was only a consequence of a preceding incident which caused the contusion. The killing, which was investigated by the CHR and agents of the National Bureau of Investigation, took place in Sitio Maingat in Barangay Galicia, Rapu Rapu, Albay.

        Ceneta’s theory that there was a foul play in the deaths of the children has gained impetus after a hesitant witness quoted a 15-year-old boy named Charles Raquion as angrily telling the girls, “Gusto mo, garadanon ko kamo?!”

        Recommending that the case be pursued once a new angle surfaced, Ceneta lamented the refusal of witnesses to cooperate which made her findings merely circumstantial.

Pastor-journalist killed

        Tension that once gripped the peaceful town of Daraga, Albay was thought to have simmered down after CHR Special Investigators Donnah Federico and Reynaldo Matociños recommended the filing of murder charges last year against some 20 operatives of the Philippine Army’s Military Intelligence Group (MIG) who were believed behind the abduction and killing in 2006 of Isaias Sta. Rosa, reportedly a pastor and freelance journalist.

        Sta. Rosa, according to CHR and the Task Force Detainees-Karapatan, was abducted and killed by hooded armed men near his residential house in Barangay Malobago, Daraga, Albay.

        Based on investigation report, Sta. Rosa succumbed to several gunshot wounds. Beside his cadaver that was lying on a creek more than 100 meters away from his house where his abductors had reportedly taken him was the lifeless body of Cpl. Lordger Pastrana, a PA trooper assigned at 9th Military Intelligence Battalion, 9ID based in Camp Weene Martillana in Pili, Camarines Sur.

        Pastrana’s identity was established because of his identification card which was in his pocket recovered together with other items found in his possession such as cell-phone and wristwatch owned by the victim.

        Sta. Rosa was said to have been tortured by Pastrana and his men. The victim’s valuable belongings such as laptop and printer were also taken including his bag containing cash of undetermined amount.

        Sonia Sta. Rosa, the victim’s wife, identified Pastrana as one of the armed men who forcibly entered their house, made illegal search and carted away valuable items. Bloodstains in the victim’s pillows were also noticed, a tale tell sign that her husband was tortured after his hands were tied with a nylon rope. She said the suspects paid no mercy even to the condition of their autistic child who was verbally abused and threatened due to the child’s behavior that irked the suspects.

        The wife further claimed that she and her four children, two brothers-in-law were forcibly herded in a room at gunpoint while her husband was being interrogated and tortured in the adjacent room.

        She positively identified Cpl. Pastrana as among the armed soldiers numbering about 20 who surrounded their house and that of their relatives.

5 farmers slain

        In another case, the Commission on Human Rights in Bicol has recommended the filing of murder charges against several persons believed to be members of the New People’s Army for murdering four farmers in Camarines Norte and one in Guinobatan, Albay.

        Killed in Camarines Norte were farmers Pablo Edora, Januario Borabien, Lazaro Molina, of San Vicente town, Felix Sanchez of Labo, and Blandino Montino, of Guinobatan Albay.

        Espinas, however, said justice may not be served to the victims and their families after witnesses in the murder cases refused to give any statement during the investigation for fear of reprisal.

        The CHR has recommended also the filing of multiple murder cases against a group of armed men believed responsible for the killing of Federico Esclares, Allan Luna and Abelardo Brioso last year in Banuyo, Pilar, Sorsogon.