FINAL REPORT - Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

his residence. They would ask around about his whereabouts. Worse, on or about 26
September 2005, they broke into his house. His wife was even slapped in the face by
the military intruders. Even his children in school experience harassment by the
military.
As a final note, Mr. Galang reiterated the unacceptable silence of Ms.
Macapagal-Arroyo and her apparent utter lack of concern over the grave problems
confronting the hacienda people. He sees her cold response as a ratification of the
continuing unlawful aggression committed by the military and police as well as
paramilitary forces, in collusion with the hacienda owners, against the poor people of
the hacienda.
Mindoro Human Rights Abuses
A child eye-witness to the brutal killing of her parents was next presented by
the lawyer-presenters. ADELIZA ALBARILLO, now 14 years old, is a daughter of
spouses Expedito and Manuela Albarillo who were abducted and murdered by
elements of the military on 8 April 2002 in San Teodoro, Oriental Mindoro.
Adeliza, who was then ten years old, was awakened by a loud bang in the early
morning of 8 April 2002. When she peeped through the window, she saw around 90
soldiers scattered outside their house. Around eight soldiers wearing bonnets to cover
their faces went inside their house. She said she was certain they were military men
because they barged into their house, were wearing military uniform and combat
shoes and were armed with long firearms.
She saw them clutching her mother’s arm while her father was tied to the door.
She heard the soldiers say they only wanted to talk to her parents inside the military
camp. But when her parents asked if they could first change their clothes, the military
refused. The latter said that there was no need because the Albarillos would be put to
death anyway.
The military then forcibly seized her parents. They hit her father’s leg with a
gun when he resisted. Her parents were taken towards a mountain, about 20 meters
from their house.
When the soldiers were no longer in sight, Adeliza ran to her relatives and
reported the incident. A moment later, they all heard a series of gunshots. Adeliza’s
relatives rushed toward the mountain to see what had happened. When they got
back, they were carrying the lifeless bodies of Adeliza’s parents. She noticed that her
mother’s shoulders were broken and her father’s left eye was blown out.
Adeliza’s uncle went to town to seek police assistance. Police officers who
responded, however, took the longer path to the mountains and arrived with some
soldiers. Adeliza and her relatives later learned that these military men came from the
mountains where her parents were brutally executed.
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