Families remember Leyte’s Inopacan purge victims

BAYBAY CITY, Leyte, Sept. 4  -- Surviving families of the Inopacan Massacre, remembered their loved ones, who were killed in a mass execution perpetuated by the New People’s Army (NPA) in the 1980s.

During the 12th commemoration anniversary of the incident on Monday, families continue to cry for justice for their loved ones summarily executed by the armed rebels on suspicion of their ties with the military.

Multiple murder charges had been filed against some top leaders of communist group, including its founding leader Jose Maria Sison, National Democratic Front (NDF) chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni and former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo.

No one among the suspects has so far been convicted.

Charges were filed in 2006 after the victims’ bodies were exhumed.

The court continues to hear the cases filed against the accused. This year, at least 17 hearings were scheduled for presentation of witnesses against the NPA leaders.

During the commemoration held at the Immaculate Conception Parish Church in this city, surviving family members recalled the day when their loved ones disappeared.

Some were killed by rebels in front of them, others were abducted midnight, while some were invited by NPAs and never returned.

Carmela Amadora, whose father Balbino Rim, was among those executed by rebels, asked parents to closely supervise their children to avoid being brainwashed by communist rebels.

“Keep your children away from these kinds of people, whose aim is to indoctrinate the youth to go against the government,” Amadora said.

Feliza Apiba, a daughter of another massacre victim, asked the public not to support any advocacy of the communist movement. Apiba’s father was fatally shot after he was suspected of being a military informant.

“The NPA are only good at the start, but eventually they will show their real intentions. They have no respect for human lives,” Apiba said, adding that her younger brother was also killed by rebels while tending their farm.

Philippine Army 78th Infantry Battalion Lt. Col. Danilo Dupiag asked the public to help address the insurgency problem through cooperation.

“Inform us whenever you learn their presence so that we at the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police can immediately go after them,” Dupiag said.

Baybay City Vice-Mayor Michael Cari told locals not to be afraid of the NPA and report to authorities if they experience threat from rebels.

“Report them to the police or to your local chief executives if they go to your house to convince you to join them or if they threaten your family,” Cari said during the event.

The city government also assured the surviving family that the skeletal remains of their family members will be transferred to a new location after the burial site at the Baybay Public Cemetery was hit by a road widening project.

The skeletal remains of 67 individuals were unearthed from shallow graves at Subang Daku village in Inopacan town on August 28, 2006 through the help of villagers.

The mass purging in the 1980s, tagged by the NPA as “Oplan Venereal Disease,” had claimed the lives of about 300 residents in Leyte province based on estimates of former rebels and the victims’ relatives. (RTA/PNA)