DAVAO CITY — Two years after the killing of Rebelyn Pitao, the case seemed to have gathered dust since no witnesses have surfaced and her killers are still at large.
Pitao, daughter of New People’s Army (NPA) leader Leoncio Pitao a.k.a. Commander Parago, was abducted on her way home in Barangay (village) Bago in Davao City. The following day, her partially naked body was found in an irrigation ditch in Barangay San Isidro in Carmen, Davao Del Norte, about 50 kilometers north from this city.
While the government authorities are claiming that the case has not really progressed and the killers remained at large, her father admitted to have already killed three of the dozen suspects, all of them are military personnel according to the rebel leader.
But rights lawyer Carlos Zarate believes that the case of Pitao is not just a plain crime saying that it is more of a political issue given that the victim is a daughter of a revolutionary.
Zarate, along with his colleagues at the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers for Mindanao (UPLM), said that they are raising this issue before the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) peace panels. Read More »
At first look, you would assume that there’s another bombing incident in Mindanao in the regions’ section of GMA News Online. But actually, the upper headline is just the sames as the previous one. Editors could have simply marked it as update– as they always do. Otherwise, the public would assume that there was a separate bomb attack in Mindanao.
Photos: AKP Images / Keith Bacongco | Music: Kapayapaan by Tropical Depression
DATU PIANG, Maguindanao – What would have taken only a few minutes to negotiate the 14-kilometer stretch from the Cotabato-General Santos highway to Datu Piang in Maguindanao took more than an hour as thousands ofevacuees and residents lined the road chanting “MOA-AD,” raising messages written down on manila paper, sack and plywood, demanding government to “respect, implement, sign and support” the MOA-AD (Froilan Gallardo / Mindanews) . read more
During the funeral march for Rebelyn Pitao, daughter of Commander Parago, on Saturday…police elements were like in every hundred meters. Even at the Davao Memorial Park, the police is everywhere… and not just with their short firearms…What does it mean? What kind of statement is it? What if Duterte is no longer the mayor of Davao City?
DAVAO CITY – Rebelyn was wearing her white school teacher’s uniform when she left home to go to work. “Ma, lakaw na ko,” (Ma, I have to go now), she called out to her mother Evangeline.
It was 6.30am – the last time Mrs Pitao saw her 20-year old daughter: It was the last time she ever heard her voice.
Rebelyn usually arrived back home by 6:30 pm each school day. But last week, Wednesday March 4, there was no sign of her. Mrs Pitao was worried: An hour and a half later, local police officers and a tricycle driver knocked on her door and brought news that Rebelyn had been abducted on her way home by armed gunmen. Read More »
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DAVAO CITY — Two years after the killing of Rebelyn Pitao, the case seemed to have gathered dust since no witnesses have surfaced and her killers are still at large.
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