Two Years after Rebelyn Pitao’s Killing: Justice Remains Elusive

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 »