Digging continues at the mass gravesite at Mt. Sapang Dacu

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
September 4, 2006

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte – Digging for the remains of the victims of the alleged “cleansing” conducted upon orders of the leadership of the CPP-NPA in the 1980’s, continues at the Garden, mass grave site at Mount Sapang Dacu at Barangay Caulisihan, Inopacan, Leyte.

This was revealed by Lt. Col. Mario Lacurom, commander of the Philippine Army 43rd Infantry Battalion based at Barangay Hibod-Hibod, Sogod, Southern Leyte, in an interview with PIA. Col. Lacurom said that his battalion has received reports from the residents of the nearby barangays that there are others who are being missed by their relatives. He said that these relatives must be given the chance to dig for the remains of their relatives who were abducted by the NPAs in the 80’s. Some of them are now at the gravesite digging for the remains of their relatives, Lt. Col. Lacurom said.

He said that it is but just to allow these relatives to continue excavation so that they will obtain peace of mind which were deprived of them for so many years because they did not know where to find the dead body of their missing love ones. He noted that when the names of the victims were being read at the site, some of the residents, even one child asked why the name of his father is not included in the list. That is why the list of victims became more than 100.

The young commander said that one company of the 43rd Infantry Battalion is still in the area of Sitio Sapang Daco in order to secure the area. He declared that the military will remain in the area for as long as it is needed, to assist the people who want to find for the remains of their missing relatives. He said it is not easy to exhume the remains because the place is thickly vegetated and the roots of the vegetation have already intertwined.

Lt. Col. Lacurom described the Garden or the gravesite where the CPP-NPA buried the members who are suspected to be government informers or deep penetration agents, as thickly vegetated forest. In the main grave site, there are many holes. Some contained three or four or six who are either lying side by side or one after the other. In the grave site, exhumed were skulls, some fractured, some have blindfolds, others, still tied up.