First of two parts
SHE came to Manila to tell her story.

Erita Capion, a member of the Blaan tribe, flew all the way to Manila with her son to tell the world what they went through in the hands of the military as their local campaign against Xstrata-Sagittarius Mining Inc. (SMI) intensified.

Capion, trying to hold back her tears, narrated to The Manila Times her account of the massacre that killed her pregnant sister-in-law, Juvy Capion and two nephews—Jordan, 10 and Mark John, seven—on October 18 by 14 members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ 27th Infantry Battalion. It was definitely not an encounter as the army claimed, she said.

According to Capion, it was about 6:40 a.m. when she saw two women running toward her house, telling her to go to Juvy’s farm hut in Fayahlob, a sitio in Kiblawan, Davao del Sur province. She went there along with the other women of the community but was blocked by a soldier in uniform who told them to ask permission first from their ground commander, First Lt. Dante Jimenez.

“Pero parang di namin naririnig yung sinabi niya sa amin, talagang gusto naming pasukin yung bahay. Hindi niya kami maharang [But it’s like we didn’t hear what he said because we really wanted to enter the house. He was not able to block us],” Capion said.

When they arrived at the scene, she saw the bodies already outside the hut, almost unrecognizable because of the gunshots that pierced their heads. Mark John lay on Juvy’s arms and the right side of the skull was open while Jordan, who was in uniform and about to go to school, was shot at the back of his neck and his right eye was ripped to shreds.

“Nakahiga siya [Jordan] sa lupa, hinahawakan pa niya yung cup niya. Pagtingin ko doon, halos kalahati pa yung kape. Doon ako sumigaw [sa mga militar], ‘Sino ba ang nag-utos sa inyo? Pati yung bata dinadamay ninyo! [Jordan was lying on the ground, still holding his cup of coffee.

When I saw his cup, it was still half-full. That’s when I shouted at the military, ‘Who ordered you to do this? You’re not sparing even the children!’],” she told The Manila Times.

Juvicky, 5 and Riza, 10, survived the indiscriminate firing incident because they were shielded by relatives Aileen Capion and Tessie Aton, when they responded after the gunfire. The children could have died too, if they were not rescued right away.

Dialang entered the hut and saw the walls stained with brains and blood. She also saw that a pail containing rice was mixed with bloody clothes, an act of dishonor in their tribe’s tradition of keeping their food sacred.

At about 9 a.m., as the temperature rose, Dialang asked some of the military to transfer the bodies inside the hut because it was not the way they treat the dead. But no one responded—they just let the cadavers remain exposed to the scorching heat of the sun.

“Sabi ko, ‘sir, tulungan niyo ako.’ Gusto kong ipasok yung patay sa kubo’. Parang hindi niya narinig yung sinasabi ko . . . nasaktan talaga ako. Pinatay na nga, ibinilad pa sa araw! [Ang] sakit talaga, ma’am [I said, ‘sir, help us transfer the bodies inside the hut.’ But it seemed he didn’t hear it. It really hurt me. They already killed them and yet they even exposed their bodies to the sun! It’s so painful]!” Dialang said in a shaky voice.

She went home at about 12 noon—distressed, anxious and hungry—while the bodies remained sprawled on the ground until 3 p.m. Members of the local Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) wrapped the remains of Juvy and Mark John together in a garbage bag, while Jordan was placed in a white sack, tied each of them to a piece of wood, and then carried on both ends.

The Capion family was buried in the evening of October 20 in their backyard in Datal-biao, a sitio in Tampakan, South Cotabato City, contrary to the tradition of the Blaans that the dead—like the in Muslims’ custom—be laid to rest on the same day.

‘Not a bandit’
Dialang said that her brother and Juvy’s husband, Daguil Capion, were not bandits as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) insists but rather a warrior resisting Xstrata-SMI’s presence in their ancestral land.

“Bakit nila tinatawag na bandido si Daguil? Hindi yan tunay na bandido. Karapatan yan ni Daguil.
Ayaw niya na pinag-aawayan yan [mining] ng mga magkakapatid [Why do they tag Daguil as a bandit? He’s not. It’s his right to resist. He hates it when his siblings are fighting over mining].”

Dialang said that Xstrata-SMI caused a rift and conflict among their family. They already had issues with two of her pro-mining brothers, who are now members of Cafgu.

“Si Daguil, ang sabi niya, ‘ayaw kong sinisira niyo itong kabundukan namin kasi san ikabubuhay ng mga anak namin na susunod [Daguil said to the authorities that he does not want them to destroy our mountains. How about the lives of our future children]?’”

To be continued