Sagada/Benguet Nightmare

[20vanda01]

Ingat lang kayo pag may balak kayong pumunta sa Sagada or Benguet.
Mods pakidelete na lang to pag may post na dati about this.

Exploring the mountains of the region and visiting the famous tourist destination, Sagada, Mt. Province, was a plan-come-true for eleven backpackers coming from different parts of the country who journeyed to the city with a plan to hitch hike their way to Sagada. Little did they know that their adventure would lead them to their most traumatic and tragic experience in life.


In a personal interview with the hitchhikers, they related that on February 14, 2006, while the eleven backpackers, one of them a woman, were hitching a ride in a dump truck along the Halsema Highway, they were stopped by members of the PNP Provincial Mobile Group and the PNP Regional Mobile Group who were in full battle gear, and who ordered them to alight from the vehicle while brandishing and pointing their long fire arms against them. Their nightmare has just begun. All their belongings were confiscated. Any movement from them, while they were lying face down on the side of the road, brought them punches, kicks from feet wearing combat shoes and smacks from the butts of M-14s and M-16s. One was even ordered to kiss with a dog brought by the PNP. They were thereafter brought to the 1604 th camp where they were subjected to various forms of torture – they were hit on different parts of the body, including the genitals, gravely threatened to be killed, ordered to kneel on the ground under the heat of the sun, drowned in water, suffocated in plastic bags, thrown in dug outs deep enough to be human graves, made to stand in the nude in the middle of the night while really cold water are being poured on them and punches and kicks were being delivered to their bodies, and so many other forms of torture were done on them.

All the physical, emotional and mental torture done on them were primarily for the purpose of making them admit a crime which they never committed. Their torturers wanted them to admit that they were the ones who staged a raid on a military camp in Cabiten, Mankayan, Benguet on February 10, 2006. The New Peoples Army in press interviews and releases earlier admitted being responsible to the Cabiten raid. Due to the unbearable suffering they received, the eleven backpackers admitted all the charges against them. Finally, after more than a day of continuous torture, they were brought to the Benguet Provincial Jail where they are now presently detained. They were charged with Robbery with Homicide.


The eleven backpackers are:


1. Rundren Berloize G. Lao, Davao City

2. Anderson Tabocanon Alonzo, 18 yrs old, Malagos, Baguio

St., Purok 2, Calinan, Davao City

3. Aldoz Christian Maòoza, 18 yrs old,, #2 Sampaloc St.,

Santolan, Pasig City

4. Ron Baquiran Pandino, 20 yrs old, Brgy. Mayatba, Siniloan,

Laguna

5. Ray Lester Esguerra Mendoza, 16 yrs old, Blk. 157 Lot 32

San Francisco St., Barangay Rizal, Makati City

6. Jethro Villagracia, 21 yrs old, Malagos, Baguio St., Purok 2

Calinan, Davao City

7. Neil Russel Sarmiento Balajadia, 25 yrs old, #026 Tawiran

St., Santolan Pasig City

8. Darwin Padilla Alazar, 21 yrs old, Brgy Tipuso, Urdaneta

City, Pangasinan

9. Arvie Molmog Nuòez, 21 yrs old, Brgy Silangang Mayao,

Lucena City

10. Jefferson delacruz DeLaRosa, 20 yrs old, #211 A.M. De Leon

St., Santolan, Pasig City

11. Frencess Ann Galdonez Bernal, 15 yrs old, Camupang,

Marikina City


They are appealing to the authorities for justice and they are seeking the assistance of the media to inform their families and the Filipino nation of their unfortunate plight. As they stated in a letter addressed to the Benguet Governor and to the PNP Chief Gen. Arturo Lomibao, "This has been a tragic and traumatic experience for us. We no longer feel safe to travel anywhere in the country because the very persons whom we depend to support us are the very ones who would subject us to unbearable and unimaginable physical, mental and emotional torture. We are still suffering from this disastrous experience and at this time of distress, most of us cannot even contact our families because our cell phones were confiscated. We can only turn to you as a public officer while we are in this strange region where we don't have our families and friends nearby."

[miLes]

dammit no more biking from banawe to sagada to baguio...

[NightRock]

Totoo ba eto??? parang ang babaw naman ng reason ng mga Militar... almost under age pa yang mga yan pano makaka pang raid ng military camp??? at saka may nakuha ba silang armas na dala..

[niky]

I'm waiting to hear about whether this is true or not. Whether or not this story is true, I do know of a lot of high school / college kids who've gone to the area for indoctrination to the communist party.

[StraightSix]

Hitchhiking is probably not a good idea - when you're backpacking in a trouble spot and in a group numbering about a squad. But abusing people is absolutely a bad idea whatever the excuse is. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what really happened.

Can someone remind me why the military charges rebel suspects with robbery/homicide instead of rebellion (and/or others)? Is it for easier prosecution and longer sentences?

[wildthing]

parang hoax ang story...its big enough to land into the tabloid or tv news...bakit wala pa.

[Walter]

Doubtful story. They were allowed to write a letter to the Governor and PNP?

[niky]

Hitchhiking is probably not a good idea - when you're backpacking in a trouble spot and in a group numbering about a squad. But abusing people is absolutely a bad idea whatever the excuse is. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what really happened.

Can someone remind me why the military charges rebel suspects with robbery/homicide instead of rebellion (and/or others)? Is it for easier prosecution and longer sentences?

Actually, rebellion/sedition merits a death sentence. Siguro robbery/homicide because they're not so sure, and they can detain them longer before legal proceedings.

[20vanda01]

Totoo kaya 'yong kwento about Sagada/Nightmare?... hmmm, na receive ko lang 'yan sa email.

[FrankDrebin]

Hehehe. Sarap sa Sagada! Daming MJ!

[arch_benjie]

haha.. natawa ko dito.... me mga menor pa... this is an impossible story... but chances are....malas lang talaga

anyways last week we've been there... torture tested my everest 4x2, we had our own "pre qualification for amazing race contest" fun with my wife and my 2 boys, (3yo and 6yo)...galing ng caves!...mountain view for 12hrs drive is breathtaking, the halsema and sagada road is being paved right now (with PGMA's direct funding and hopefully will b finished before the next administration)...lots of tourist and backpackers around...the place is SUPER!...cheaper rates.. cleaner air a way lot better than baguio...its a place for a good retreat, bonding, soul searching and rediscovery of the beauty of this sad country....pati ba naman yun bababuyin pa??? wag naman na!....

[umzzzzz]

11. Frencess Ann Galdonez Bernal, 15 yrs old, Camupang,

Marikina City

15 yo na, girl pa. parang hindi kapanipaniwala...dito ko lang nabasa to ah. wala pang ganito sa radyo at newspaper and it's been a week since the incident happened.
sana hindi totoo. maganda kasi yung place. baka matakot na ang mga taong pumunta doon.

[huggybear]

Another hoax running around in e-mails. baka galit sa pnp gumawa nito

[falken]

I think it's a hoax, if they were able to write to the governor, how come there's nothing on the news? And why haven't their friends or relatives approached the media?

[huggybear]

I take back what I said earlier. Just read the news just today on Inquirer

[falken]

It's not a hoax after all:

Clamor grows for backpackers’ release

First posted 09:26pm (Mla time) Feb 24, 2006
By Vincent Cabreza, Desiree Caluza
Inquirer



Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the February 25, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

BAGUIO CITY -- The controversy hounding the arrest of 11 backpackers for their alleged role in an attack on a military detachment in Benguet has drawn the attention of some of the country’s amateur musicians.

On Friday, 30 members of punk and rock bands from Pangasinan, Metro Manila, Tarlac, Laguna and Davao City, set up camp at a park here to demand the release of the 11 backpackers who were accused of being New People’s Army rebels.

Beverly Longid, vice chair of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance, said the backpackers are musicians who belong to a crusade called “Punk’s Not Dead.”

Longid said the group arrived a few days early to see this year’s Baguio Flower Festival parades, so they hitched a ride to Sagada, Mt. Province only to be detained at a police checkpoint in Buguias, Benguet, on Feb. 14.

The backpackers’ parents appealed for their release, saying their children were tortured.

The Cordillera Peoples Democratic Front has claimed responsibility for the raid where two soldiers and a militiaman were killed.

The suspects bore signs of injuries, the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said on Wednesday.

Senior Supt. Marvin Bolabola, CIDG Cordillera director, said the medical reports indicated that the 11 backpackers, now detained at the Benguet Provincial Jail, bore bruises.

The Free Legal Assistance Group (Flag) and the CHRA are working to get two juveniles among this group of backpackers released to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, said Longid.

Bolabola said he would help facilitate the transfer of a 15-year-old girl from Marikina City and a 16-year-old boy from Pasig City.

Flag and CHRA would sue police using a testimony made before the National Bureau of Investigation last week by Rundren Lao, 24, the backpacker who police accused as the leader of the rebels.

Lao jumped off a jeepney ferrying him to the Benguet prosecutor’s office on Feb. 15, and surrendered to Ricardo Pangan, NBI Cordillera director, to testify that the backpackers had been tortured.

Charged with robbery with homicide were Lao; the two minors; Anderson Alonzo, 18, and Jethro Villagracia, 21, of Davao City; Ron Pandino, 19, of Laguna; Darwin Alagar, 20, of Pangasinan; Alduz Christian Mañosa, 18, Jefferson de la Rosa, 20, and Neil Russel Balajadia, 25, of Pasig City; and Arvie Nuñez, 21, of Lucena City.

[Walter]

This is still too weird to believe. Authorities here are really abusive. What will the authorities gain from placing the wrong people in jail?

[niky]

Instant scapegoats? Hell, they do it all the time, and the only difference this time is that they picked minors. Someone's going to get sacked.

I was skeptical before, but not now.

[nugundam93]

wtf?! this is bad.

[quiksie]

uy taga dito sa amin 3 yun babae malapit lang din sa calumpang siguro yun mali spelling. Wala pa naman balita dito sa amin na may nangyari na ganyan