PREDA Answer-Counter Affidavit
ANNEX C: Chronology sent by Tambayan
Case Study: Summary Execution & Harassment
(The following events started from the shooting of two male street youths
in one of the major streets (Illustre Street) in Davao City.)
July 6, 1999, Tuesday
Afternoon:
Royroy and Mamay were gunned down in public by two unidentified men in black in liustre St., near Galaxy Theater. Three (3) of them were together but one (1) was able to run away.
July 7, 1999, Wednesday
Evening,
Around 8:00 pm, two (2) young girls who were sitting at Elma's, a store in the Bankerohan public market, were called by an unidentified male riding a black motorcycle with no plate numbers. They were asked what their names were, what they do in the marketplace and what were their vices.
July 8, 1999, Thursday
Evening.
Friends of Royroy and Mamay attended their wake at Anghel Funeral Parlor.
According to one (1) girl:
She went out of the funeral parlor with another young girl to pee. When
they came back, they were followed by a man riding a motorcycle wearing
a black jacket, a helmet, with a red kerchief around his neck, with a gun
on his side and a yellow paper tucked on the, other side. The man stopped
them and showed them a yellow paper containing a long list of names on it
. Included in the list were two (2) names with check marks on the side and
one of them was Mamay's name. The other one was Darwin. (Darwin is 22 years
old & he was also shot by unknown men last March 29, 1999, 11:00 pm,
while eating at the Bankerohan market.) They did not finish reading the
whole list. Someone by the roadside remarked "better leave. Things
are getting hot here." They quickly walked away and did not go back
to the funeral home.
July 9, 1999, Friday
Afternoon:
A young girl in Bankerohan market was approached by a man unknown to her. She was asked what her name was, her activities in the market and her vices.
July 11, 1999, Sunday
Evening:
The young people were at the Anghel Funeral Parlor to attend the wake.
According to one of the young men:
He noticed two (2) men. "It was easy to see that they were strangers.
Nobody in our group knew them. They were observing us. I went out of the
building and saw that there were seven (7) other men outside. There were
also four (4) men by the card table, a couple were standing and a couple
were sitting. Black motorcycles without plate numbers were parked further
away. I went back in and I saw that I was followed. Each one of us were
being observed. There were many of them who came in, It was clear that they
were after us because there was no wake in the middle funeral room. One
side was Roy's wake and the other side was Mamay's while the room in the
middle was empty. So I hid under the hearse until the men left. They were
holding cell phones, with guns on one side and paper tucked on the other
side. "
The other young people also observed this. The men would move around and stare at them. According to them "this was obvious since they only drank and stayed in the empty room in the middle. They really stared hard at us. They had cell phones and guns on their side that could be clearly seen." One young person said, " We did not go out of the funeral room anymore."
July 12,1999, Monday
Early mording:
From the wake, the young people went home with some men tagging behind them. According to one young man, which was confirmed by his othercompanion that "around 2:00 am we took the taxi and some of us took thejeepney. The taxi was followed by seven(7) motorcycles and jeep was also followed by seven(7) motercycles. Then we got off at Bankerohan, they were already there before us. They stared hard at us. They did not look familiar. One of the men shook the hand of our friend, a girl. Ahead of us a man with a blue XL motorcycle was waiting. We ran away and lost them."
According to two(2) young girls they went home to Malvar at around 2:20 am. They narrated that "we were also followed by men. When we walked fast , they walke fast. When we slowed down, they also slowed down. When we passed by a dog, we managed to ran home fast without looking back." They didn't know if the men were still behind them.
Morning:
Around 10:00 am at the Bankerohan market, a man approached a young street boy and asked about a certain Budlat. He was looking for him because he stole something.
Afternoon:
Around 2:00 pm, six (6) girls reported to the staff at Tambayan Center about the incidents and expressed their fears.
According to two (2) girls, after the meeting at Tambayan, around 4:00 pm, they left the center and when they turned the corner near Tambayan, two (2) motorcycle riding men followed them. One of them was wearing a helmet & one was wearing a black jacket. They quickly avoided the men. They noted that their motorcycle had no plate number.
Evening:
Not all of the boys and girls went back to attend the wake because they sensed that it was dangerous for them, to be seen around. Those who did go just stayed in the funeral room because they were also scared.
July 13, 1999, Tuesday
Morning:
The group who did not go to the wake went straight to attend the funeral. But there were those who did not attend the mass and the funeral rites. The reason was this, "we did not attend the mass because we knew that they were going to take pictures of streetboys/girls. One of our companions heard two (2) men talking softly saying, that the best thing that they could do was to take the pictures of the kids (referring to the street children) & give it to the vigilante. Our friend immediately told us about this. We left immediately and took a short cut. A man saw us and stared hard at us and used his cell phone. We went straight to Bankerohan public market."
One the male street youth remarked: "I am worried because I helped carry the coffin and maybe they took my picture."
Evening:
The girls also narrated the following incident: In Bankerohan, in a food stall in Bankerohan a man was eating. They observed that while he was eating he was not looking at his food. He sat sideways and was staring at us. When he was done, he stood up and he still stared at us. He did this for about an hour. He left still staring at us until he stumbled. But he still continued to stare at us.
According to one girl: "I taking a ride on a trisikad (motorized tricycle used for public transport) for fun when suddenly there was a motorbike followed following our trisikad. He was moving at a slow speed that sometimes we went ahead of him. But there were times he would be behind us, following us. I told the trisikad driver and we went around and lost him.
July 15, 1999, Thursday
Early morning:
One of the girls approached the Tambayan staff for help since the men had been following her since the previous night. She was not able to sleep at all. When she arrived at Tambayan Center, she was crying incessantly telling the staff over and over again that she was being followed. Her fingers were very stiff because of fear and she had great difficulty resting or sleeping. After some time she was able to sleep but when she woke up and went out of the Center, her earlier behavior came back and she was constantly looking around fearfully even if she was accompanied by the Tambayan staff.
Her companions explained that since the previous night, three men were following her. This happened from 3:00 am to 7:00 artil Fliey tried to call up Tambayan to ask the staff to fetch them, but the office was still close. She was crying the whole night. The children described the incident as " wherever our group was, the men were there too. When we went down from the second floor of the Bankerohan market because it seemed dangerous in the upper area, they [the men] would be there already before us. They would be on the stairs. It was as if they had the power to know where we wanted to go. Once one of the men came near us & we recognized him as one of those we have seen during the July 11, 14, 15 incidents. The girls also went on to say that even when they were lying down [to sleep] they [the men] would really peer down on them.
morning: The meeting for action
A meeting was held at Tambayan Center attended by the youths (boys and girls) who experienced harassment. Other partner organizations were also asked to attend the meeting. Staff from Higala Foundation and the Commission on Human Rights attended the meeting. The followingis the transcription investigation conducted by Mr. Mike Penalosa of the Commisssion on Human Rights.
M: Do you know all the children who a,re in Bankerohan ?
Yes.
M: If there was a new kid would you be able to know this immediately?
Yes.
M: Can you identify those who work for the government? Police? CSU (Civilian
Security Unit)?
Yes. They would even hit us with their belts or the stingrays tail.
M: When did they [the men] start following you around ?
Since Roy and Maymay died (referring to the two street youths who were gunned
down in Illustre Street).
M: How many do you think are the "vigilante"?
About 49.
M: Did you observe the same faces in the different incidents?
Yes.
M: Can you remember their faces ?
> Yes, we can remember their faces.
M: If you see them again, would you be able to remember?
Not so much.
M: How old are they [the men]?
About 30-40.
M: Are their motorcycles new?
Yes.
M: Are you going back there to Bankerohan?
Yes, since we don't have any choice. We have no where to go.
M: Why are they doing this to you ?
That is the question. We haven't done anything wrong.
M: What about Roy?
He didn't do anything wrong.
M: What about Maymay ?
> He used to snatch baseball caps and necklaces.
After the meeting, there was a suggestion that the children bring out their issue in a dialogue with the City Mayor, Benjamin de Guzman. However, the children were ambivalent because of the following fears:
We don't trust them [the government].
We have to be really careful or we might get ourselves into a jam.
We don't know who our enemies are and who are our friends.
Children's Suggestions,
Not to report because there are rumored "government assets"
there.
To talk with the Mayor but the venue should be at Tambayan and he [the
Mayor] should come alone and not inform others about it.
To make a letter narrating the incident & to be signed by the youths concerned. They will not appear before the mayor. Tambayan staff will request & attend a dialogue with the Mayor. The children can go on voluntary basis. The other witnesses to the meeting will also sign the letter.
July 19,1999, Monday : Dialogue with the City Administrator
Tambayan & Kabiba (another NGO) staff together with 11 children & youth attended a dialogue with the City Mayor. However, the Mayor was not around. Atty. Nestor Ledesma, City Administrator represented the meeting.
After the meeting, the children & staff had an evaluation. One of the girls, who witnessed the shooting of Mamay & Royroy stated that she saw & positively identified one of the gunmen at the City Hall.
As of August 17, 1999, there were no updates from the city government regarding actions that they have taken.
Note: This is a translation. Original report in Cebuano.
Tambayan 1/administration/report/program/factsheet-vigilante
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