SAN JOSE DE BUAN, Samar
– A father of six young kids and a village chief here who decided
to stop giving ‘revolutionary tax’ to the underground movement operating in
the tri-boundary of this province was snatched by the rebels and feared dead
now.
The victim, identified as
one Peter Dacles, village chieftain of Brgy. Cataydungan, this municipality
was declared missing since December 11, this year. His wife, Salvacion and
some residents strongly believed that he was abducted by the rebels
belonging to the Arnulfo Ortiz Command of the Samar Front Central Committee
of the Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee (SFCC-EVRPC).
In an interview, the
victim’s wife narrated that since her husband decided to stop contributing
“revolutionary tax” to the underground government last March 2005, her
husband continuously received a “stern warning” coming from the rebels’
leader, a certain “Kumander Payong.”
“If you will not meet me and
give your share, something bad will happen to you and one of your family
members,” the New People’s Army leader said as quoted by the victim’s wife.
Apparently, Cataydungan,
among other villages in this town, gave some P4,000 as their monthly
contribution to the rebels every month since immemorial. The amount was
being sourced out from the regular Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of the
village, it was learned.
But prior to the alleged
abduction, the victim was planning to escape to Calbayog City along with his
family scheduled on December 12 but when he realized they cannot escape the
rebels for long, he had a second thoughts and decided to meet the rebels a
day before that schedule.
On December 11, at around
4:30 in the afternoon, he was reported abducted and now feared dead by his
family and residents of the village. This belief that the victim might be
dead was even confirmed when the rebels sent them a letter saying, “Don’t
wait for him anymore because he’s already dead.”
Of this development, the
victim’s wife sought the help of San Jose de Buan mayor Ananias Rebato in
his residence in the provincial capital of Catbalogan but failed to see the
latter.
Ironically, the victim’s
wife refused to cooperate with the national police especially to the Army’s
8th Infantry Division, when these government troops asked some information
to recover the “abducted village chief.”
“I am afraid to talk because
my children were still in that village and they (rebels) might harm my kids
if they suspect me that I am reporting information to the military,”
Salvacion said.
In a press statement, Major
Ruben Sumawang, the executive officer of the 34th Infantry Battalion which
jurisdiction includes this town said: “How can we be able to help recover
her missing husband if she will not talk and cooperate with us? I’m hoping
that in order for us to serve them, and the rest of the people, they should
also help us.”
The army official, however,
hopes that Salvacion talk this coming Sunday on the culmination day of the
3-day Peace and Development Forum (PDF) being initiated by the military
which started today (January 12-14) in this remote town of Samar.
On the other hand, it was
earlier reported that almost 80 percent of the villages in Samar contributed
a 10% of its IRA to the rebels. But in several testimonies of village
officials, during previous PDF’s, they said the “fear of retaliation”
constrained them to give the “revo tax” to the rebels.
This was, however, reported
declined when the military intensified the combat operations and information
dissemination in almost all villages in the region. To date, the government
has already secured the Cataydungan village and the whole San Jose de Buan
town and is now conducting a hot pursuit operation against the elusive
rebels.
