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FARMERS
from Tineg, Abra, have asked President Arroyo to relieve
Chief Supt. Eugene Martin as Cordillera police
commander, for his alleged failure to solve a spate of
killings in their town and for harassing Mayor Edwin
Crisologo.
The
Tineg residents sent similarly worded letters to
Director Gen. Avelino Razon Jr., Philippine National
Police (PNP) chief; Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno,
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, the Commission on
Human Rights, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the
Philippines, the National Council of Churches of the
Philippines and other government officials reporting the
reign of terror in the town.
Martin
has been involved in peace-keeping operations in Abra
since 2001, when he headed Task Force Abra, and had
shown interest in Tineg, the biggest town in the
province.
Marilyn
Batoon of the Caganayan Farmers Association and Nora
Tabaniag, adviser of the Timpuyog Dagiti Inna
Association, said in their letter to Arroyo that 12
people had been killed in Tineg since July 2001, and all
incidents were never solved.
The
letter was in addition to a petition signed by 98
residents, urging the National Police to create a Task
Force Tineg composed of officers from Camp Crame who are
not beholden to politicians and not associated with
Martin, natives of Cordillera, and who would go after
death squads.
Among
those killed were Benjamin Sawadan in July 2001, Luis
Putol in January 2002, Lazaro Sabado and Jeremias Segbu
in July 2002, Yangco Gaoilan in August 2002, Johnson
Zapata in January 2004, Manuel Guayen in May 2004,
Meljhun Teofilo in June 2004, Benjamin Magalim in
January 2006, Erick Banao in March 2007, Carlito Mariano
in May 2007 and Billy Acosta in June 2007.
In their
letter-complaint to Arroyo, the Tineg residents stressed
that the latest to be killed by a gunman was Tineg
Sangguniang Bayan (SB) member Pedro Enon, 65, who was
gunned down in his residence at Transmitter, Kalaba,
Bangued at 8:30 p.m. on May 19.
The
police have not arrested the assailant, who left one of
his slippers at the house of Enon.
Investigators claimed that Crisologo was involved in the
killing.
Enon’s
widow slammed Martin for his theory, insisting that
Crisologo is a nephew of the victim and the alleged
gunman was in another house when the shooting happened.
Batoon
and Tabaniag assailed Martin for being too interested in
Tineg even as he has not done anything about illegal
logging and illegal mining activities in Abra, nor has
he solved the murders of several Abra mayors, the
P3-million payroll robbery in Apayao and the increasing
drug trafficking in the province.
Town
councilors also dismissed as a lie the claim by police
officials that Enon was killed because he demanded
P700,000 monthly from the town’s calamity fund. The
truth is that the one-time P700,000 appropriation was
for the rice supply of people affected by typhoons and
it was approved by the Sangguniang Bayan on March 3,
2008.
The PNP
has rejected a request by Crisologo to be provided
police security, with a deputy of Martin saying that
there was no threat to the Tineg mayor, whose wife,
Brenda, was shot by a gunman associated with a political
rival.
Crisologo’s wife died after a month of confinement at
the Saint Luke’s Hospital in Quezon City.
Crisologo has no police escort while the death squads in
his town headquartered in barangay Alaoa brandish M-14
and M-16 automatic rifles, wear fatigue uniforms and
kill people with impunity. Not one of the gunmen has
been arrested, the residents said.
Martin
and the Abra police director, Senior Supt. Alex Pumecha,
have demanded that Crisologo stay in the town but
residents said this is not the issue since the police
itself had not solved a single murder nor has it gone
after the armed men in barangay Alaoa, the bailiwick of
the Tineg Death Squad.
Tineg
Vice Mayor Noel Quezada and other SB members also passed
a resolution denouncing the murder of Enon and called
for a swift and credible investigation into the killing
of the town councilor. |
