Japan Group Releases Report on Killings in Philippines

Case 2: Benjaline Hernandez56

Background Information:

【Victims】 Benjaline Hernandez (22 years old, female)

Deputy Secretary General of the human rights organization KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) in Southern Mindanao Region based in Davao.

Third year university student at Ateneo de Davao University and the Vice President for Mindanao of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP)

Crisanto Amora(23) 　Vivian Andrade(18)　Labaon Sinunday(30)

Members of the Arakan Progressive Peasant Organization (APPO)

【Incident】 The victims were killed on April 5, 2002 in Barangay Caridad, Arakan Valley, North Cotabato.

The incident happened in the course of the victims’ human rights research.

【Perpetrators】Master Sergeant Antonio Torella of the AFP and CAFGU members were identified as perpetrators by witnesses

Circumstances of the Killings

On 5 April 2002, Hernandez was in Arakan Valley conducting a follow-up documentation on the fact-finding mission on the Tababa Massacre, an unsolved massacre where three peasants were killed in Arakan Valley in 2001. Hernandez was accompanied by members of the Arakan Progressive Peasant Organization (APPO), namely, Crisanto Amora, Vivian Andrade and Labaon Sinunday.

According to a witness, when Hernandez and her companions stopped for lunch in an abandoned hut, armed men strafed the house with no warning. Some of the men were wearing bonnets, which covered their faces. After hearing the gunfire, the group ran out of the hut. Sinunday was shot and killed first.

Hernandez, Amora and Andrade begged for their lives while explaining to the armed men that they were civilians, and unarmed. However, they were all shot at close range.

A witness, a 16 years old boy, who accompanied the victims was able to survive the incident by jumping out of the hut and hiding in the grass. According to the witness they were shot and killed at the same time by a group of armed men. He suffered psychological trauma having witnessed the killings at such close range.57 The boy identified the perpetrators as Sgt. Antonio Torella of the 7th Battalion (Airborne), the AFP and members of the paramilitary group called CAFGU (Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit). According to the boy, there were six CAFGU involved, including Leo Ingatan, Edwin Arandilla, Edgar Alojado, and Bernabe Abanilla, who were all led and directed by Sgt Torella.

After the armed men killed Hernandez and company and were leaving the scene, they encountered a group of people from the neighboring village. The armed men told the villagers that they could view dead bodies and to check if they were relatives or acquaintances. Traveling with the villagers were medical mission volunteers with cameras. Together they rushed to the site and took pictures of the dead bodies. Copies of the photos of the dead body of Ms. Hernandez now form part of the evidence.

Investigation and Prosecution

Two days after the incident, the AFP and the governor of North Cotabato, Manny Pinol, held a press conference where they claimed the incident was a legitimate encounter between the military and the rebel group, New People’s Army (NPA). In this press conference, the victims were accused as being members of the NPA.

The Commission on Human Rights’ Region 11 office conducted an investigation of the incident. The Commission’s report stated the incident was not an encounter between the military and the NPA and there was no exchange of gunfire. A criminal case was filed in the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2002.

The case was then forwarded to Kidapawan City Regional Trial Court. Sergeant Antonio Torella of the 7th Battalion (Airborne), the AFP and two other persons who belong to the CAFGU were charged for the killings of the victims. Sergeant Torella and the CAFGU members were jailed, but after six months, were granted bail. When asked if the military removed the alleged perpetrators from their ranks, Hernandez’s mother replied: “The military did not fire Sgt. Torella. He continues to work for the military and receive salaries from the government.”

While all of the witnesses for the victims have testified, the lawyers for the defendants have filed a motion to dismiss for lack of evidence. In March 2006, Ms. Hernendez’s mother filed a case at the UN Human Rights Commission. The mother stated that “Before the incident, I was an ordinary mother, but since then, for 5 years, I have been fighting for justice.”