LETTERS

An open letter to Cordillera DPWH regional director ariano Alquiza and Asst. director Daniel Domingo

Gentlemen:
This concerns specifically the State of the Nation (SONA) flagship projects of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the Mountain Province.

I had filed a request for investigation on the initial release of one hundred million plus pesos sometime in March 2007 to the office of the Ombudsman, copy furnished the Dept. of Public Works and Highways due to its anomalous implementation and assistant director Domingo came out with a letter to the Ombudsman seemingly as a lawyer for the contractors. As claimed, absolutely there was no anomaly on this.

I again filed a complaint with the Office of the President in June regarding the gravity and persistence of corruption on the succeeding SONA project releases. Again, both of you categorically claimed through the local press that “all was above board and that there was no anomaly in the implementation.” You even challenged all those concerned that “all records are there for all to see because there is nothing to hide.”

In this regards, I the complaint and true-blooded Igorot takes that challenge and challenge you in return furnish the undersigned complete, certified xerox copies of:
1. Documents regarding the approval program of works, advertisements, bidding, TWG report, contracts and attachments up to NTP of all the SONA projects implemented by your office.
2. Documents regarding the collection of the 15 percent mobilization of the same
3. All partial collections paid for the contractors of these projects.
4. Variation orders, time suspensions, extensions and the approved authority to sub-contract almost all the SONA projects. (as claimed by your office that Usec Bonoan approved it)
5. Copies of all documents relevant to the splitting of the funds released.

If you are both men who have the “balls” and if you have nothing to hide, then hand me these documents, even at my own cost. To fast track matters, in the event you have the documents ready then just give me a ring. My cell phone number is 09105353000.

Thank you very much and I pray to the Lord Almighty that He will give you both the strength to make good statements.

JUNIPER C. DOMINGUEZ
Sabangan, Mountain Province
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NPA Liquidated youth to sow fear among the populace -- Army
New People’s Army rebels operating in Abra liquidated a certain Ulysis Dapit aka Asunta of Sallapadan, Abra last July 25 to sow fear among the people who didn’t want to support their cause as they admitted the act through their so-called “Agustine Begnalen Command” and shown through their media press release.

As per text massages from concerned residents, at around 3 p.m. on July 24, a group of armed NPAs arrived in the barangay and immediately confiscated all cell phones they could see. Then they invited the victim in a vegetated area within the barangay premises.

The following day, elders, barangay council and relatives started looking for the victim and at around 5:30 p.m.,his body was found already tortured and murdered. His neck was slashed with a bladed weapon. Allegedly, the NPAs sentenced the victim through their so-called “kangaroo court” with “death penalty” for being suspected as against them.

The victim went home for a vacation at his residence after a year work in Baguio City when the incident happened. According to some friends of the victim, he constantly received death threats from the NPAs and was prohibited to go home. However, the victim did not listen to the accusations of the NPAs for he believed that they were baseless and untrue.

Among the NPA members identified to have participated were Edgardo Molina aka Dong/ Bobby, from Malibcong, their leader and Ayulin Dumayag also a resident of Barangay Sallapadan.

This barbaric action of the NPAs, however, did not sow fear but instead flared anger among the populace such that the people reported the incident through text messages to concerned agencies including the military.

Headquarters
41ST Infantry Battalion
5TH Infantry Division, Philippine Army
Tagodtod, Lagangilang, Abra
Contact person: 2lt Federico M Morales
41IB hot Line -- 09268398159
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Abra NPA responds to army accusations
Herewith is the final edited copy of the ABC statement regarding the revolutionary punishment of Eulysis "Asunta" Dapit. We are issuing this final edited statement in view of criticisms and feedbacks received by the Agustin Begnalen Command.

We apologize for the sexist formulation in the last sentence of the second paragraph of the ABC statement issued on July 27. We uphold the rights of gays, and the mistake was a mere error in formulation. The edited final statement also clarifies that the ABC did not torture or execute Dapit in front of his family or villagemates.

Revolutionary punishment was meted on Dapit on July 25 at 5:30 p.m. at Sallapadan, Abra. A unit of the NPA's Agustin Begnalen Command punished Dapit, 26, a regular intelligence asset of the 41st IB, responsible for providing vital information on the whereabouts of NPA units and the identification of local revolutionaries in the BuDaBoSa Area (Bucloc, Daguioman, Boliney, Sallapadan). He was also active in psywar activities of the 41st IB and involved himself in the campaign for the surrender of NPA Red Fighters from the localities.

Dapit was illegally detained, interrogated and was recruited by the 41st IB in May, 2004, after the death of Ariel "Ka Manny" Balicao, on May 26, 2004. He was offered a P15,000 regular salary if he would agree to become an intelligence asset of the 41st IB. 1st Lt. Vic Seño, then the 41st IB's Intelligence Officer, personally established regular liaison with Dapit. The Army exploited his vulnerability to corruption and invited him to party bashes and decadent practices.

His linkage with the Philippine Army was further strengthened in 2005, when he went to Manila and became a household help for Maj. De Leon. Later, he was tasked by the 41st IB's Maj. Millare to conduct petition-signing among teachers and local government officials for the psywar program of the 41st IB in the renovation of school buildings in the Basar, Sallapadan Barrio, Ududiao area; a project that became a conduit for graft and corruption and civil-military operations of the Philippine Army.

In March 2006, Dapit actively monitored the NPA’s makeshift camps in the area and reported the information he gathered to the 41st IB. Strike operations were subsequently conducted based on his reports. Throughout the first half of 2006, he attended various activities in Abra and in other parts of the Cordillera to conduct surveillance, take pictures and record the names of participants.

It was also during this time that he actively involved himself in the 41st IB's surrender campaign. In July 5, 2006, Dapit was in the Army's detachment in Lamao, Bucloc and reported to Ariel Bautista, the Detachment CO. He was immediately in the vicinity of the firefight in Ududiao, when Simon "Ka Sibat" Naogsan Jr. and Delfin "Ka Ian" Cariño was killed on July 7, 2006. He monitored the transport of Simon "Ka Sibat" Naogsan Jr.'s body from Abra to Baguio, and attended the funeral and other related activities so as to gather intelligence information.

Dapit was thrice confronted by the NPA and by the revolutionary masses regarding his activities as an intelligence asset of the 41st IB. He admitted that he was responsible for ensuring the supplies of the 41st IB's operating troops between Sallapadan Barrio and Bucloc; in actively contributing to the 41st IB's psywar campaign; and in regularly reporting to the 41st IB's HQ at Barbarit, Lagangilang. The NPA urged him to stop his anti-people and counter-revolutionary activities, but always, to no avail.

In June 2006, his status as a regular intelligence asset was established beyond reasonable doubt. And again, on July 24, 2007, he hosted a meeting of local intelligence assets, together with two of his fellow intelligence agents. On July 25, 2007, he was arrested and executed by the NPA. His body was turned over to the Barangay Officials and Community Elders the same day.

The revolutionary movement adheres to International Conventions on the conduct of war and on the CARHRIHL (Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Laws). Contrary to claims by the 41st IB, Dapit was not tortured, nor executed in front of his relatives or villagemates.

Ka Diego Wadagan
Agustin Begnalen Command
New People’s Army
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