Carpenter, Ex-Political Detainee Latest Victims of Extrajudicial Killings

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PUBLISHED ON January 23, 2008 AT 3:52 AM

A carpenter and a former political detainee have fallen victims to
political killings at the start of 2008.

Tildo Rebamonte, a 45-year old carpenter from Claveria town, Masbate
province was allegedly abducted by members of the Philippine National
Police-Regional Mobile Group (RMG) on January 12, 2008 at around 5 am.

According to reports, Rebamonte’s house was ransacked by police and he
was forcibly taken to a ranch owned by Claveria mayor Eduardo Andueza
in Brgy. Binas. Witnesses said the policemen tried to force Tildo to
disclose the alleged New People’s Army (NPA) camps in the area. On
January 14, the policemen allegedly took Tildo along in their
operation in search of NPA camps.

Rebamonte was dead by January 16. His mutilated body was brought by
the policemen to the municipal hall of Claveria. His hands were
crushed and he had gashes on the face.
A neighbor of the victim informed KARAPATAN-Masbate about the incident.
In another incident, ex-political prisoner Ronald Sendrijas was gunned
down in Tagbilaran City, Bohol province, on January 17, 2008, his 35th
birthday. Sendrijas was released from prison in August 2006 after
being charged with rebellion and criminal cases.

The victim visited his sister who had just given birth at the Ramiro
Hospital in Tagbilaran City. He came out to buy medicine at the Paz
Pharmacy across the hospital when two men on board a motorcycle
stopped in front of the pharmacy. The man riding on the rear of the
motorcycle alighted and approached him from behind, put his arm around
the victim’s neck and said, “Ronald”, as if to confirm his identity,
then shot him twice at the back of his head with a 9-millimeter pistol
instantly killing the victim. The perpetrators sped off to an unknown
direction after the shooting.

Prior to Sendrijas’ death, he became a target of the police and
military’s vilification campaign. He was implicated by no less than
the former Police Superintendent of Bohol, Arturo Evangelista in the
assassination of BAYAN-Bohol Chairperson Victor Olayvar who was gunned
down on 17 September 2006.

He told his colleagues that he was offered with positions within the
government in exchange for his surrender and cooperation with the
302nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army.
Sendrijas’ sister told Karapatan-Bohol that the victim told her that
he was under surveillance and had been receiving death threats
through his mobile phone.

Karapatan condemns these killings in the strongest terms. These
incidents indicate that the extrajudicial executions have not stopped
and will continue with the AFP’s counter-insurgency program, Oplan
Bantay Laya II.

Karapatan reiterates its call to stop the killings and calls on the
public and the international community to continue their vigilance.
###

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