The families of three of 19 killed in the April 19 encounters in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, have requested the exhumation of their kin for the conduct of autopsies, a Commission on Human Rights (CHR) official said on Thursday, May 21.
The autopsies are being sought to determine where the victims were hit by bullets, which will form part of the CHR investigation.
The requests were for the exhumation of the bodies of Errol Wendel, Joros Caramihan, and Labskie Enustacion, CHR Commissioner and Spokesperson Beda Epres said in an interview with reporters at the Bacolod City Government Center.
The CHR is waiting for clearance from the Toboso Municipal Health Office for the exhumation, he said.
The CHR will then send a team from its Forensic Division, Epres said.
The commission has already augmented its regional team conducting the investigation of the Toboso incident with five investigators from its head office, he said.
They are also investigating human rights groups’ claims that six civilians were among the 19 dead in Toboso, Epres said.
“If we establish that there were civilians then that is a clear violation of the International Humanitarian Law,” he said.
The Army, on the other hand, claims that all of the 19 were combatants.
Epres said their findings will be evidence-based through interviews with people in the locality to determine if they were civilians or combatants.
“We want to conduct an independent investigation based on evidence gathered on the ground,” he said.
He also said reports that the wrong body was sent to a family raises concern on the proper handling of the remains.
The CHR en banc’s directive is “to finish the investigation as soon as possible as the case is not just a national concern, even the international community is looking at this incident.”
He said they are calling on all agencies of government to cooperate with the CHR.
They have coordinated with the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines on documents needed in the investigation and until now they are awaiting compliance with their subpoenas, Epres said.
He said they are in the process of affidavit taking in the area and the investigation is about 50 percent complete.
Since encounters are increasing, the CHR decided to conduct an inquiry in Bacolod, and to determine their root cause, Epres said.
The inquiry is in the planning stage and they are looking at the last week of July or the first week of August, wherein they will hear all sides, he added.
There are also complaints that the CHR does not investigate when AFP and PNP personnel are killed by the NPA, he said. “We want to correct that misconception,” Epres said.*
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