On December 27, 2018, combined elements of the police and military launched “Oplan Sauron,” a so-called “one-time-big-time” Synchronized Enhanced Managing Of Police Operations (SEMPO) purportedly as part of government’s efforts against illegal drugs and loose firearms in the Central Visayas Region.
While Oplan Sauron was supposedly designed to cover the entire region, its focus was on Negros Oriental particularly Guihulngan City and the towns of Mabinay, Sta. Catalina and La Libertad. Oplan Sauron was effected upon orders of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Central Command (CENTCOM). Mobilized for such purpose were around 3,000 composite troops of the 94th Infantry Battalion (IB) and 62nd IB of the 302nd Brigade of the Philippine Army, in coordination with various units of the Philippine National Police (PNP) such as the Special Action Force (SAF), Regional Mobile Force (RMF7) and the Negros Oriental PNP Office (NOPO), including those from the Philippine Navy and Philippine Air force who were either on stand-by mode or in the field of action.
Oplan Sauron, however, did not run after criminals involved in the illegal drugs trade but was rather a highly coordinated military and police operation that targeted and employed illegal and brutal acts against unarmed civilians belonging to legitimate peasant groups, farmers associations, and local government units in the barangays. To justify the atrocities, the victims were later falsely tagged by the military as armed rebels or members of the NPA.
The real story behind Oplan Sauron
Initial reports from a fact-finding mission initiated by human rights group Karapatan Negros claim that the Dec. 27, 2018 SEMPO or Oplan Sauron resulted in the killing of 6 unarmed civilians, the synchronized conduct and brutal pattern of which are described as follows:
• Around 5:00 am, in Sitio Panagtugas, Brgy. Trinidad, Guihulngan City, fully-armed elements of the PNP and 94th IB forced their way into the house of JIMMY FAT, 57, shooting the latter to instant death. They dragged and hurled him out towards the front yard where his children were assembled, then “planted” a .38 revolver and some bullets beside the dead body.
• Around 5:00 am, in Sitio Punong, Brgy. Trinidad, Guihulngan City, the PNP and 94th IB, together with 3 CAFGU personnel, raided the house of JUN COBOL. Cobol immediately raised both his hands and kneeled to let the assailants know that he was unarmed and was not offering any resistance. Despite Cobol’s obvious gesture of submission, the armed men shot and killed him in front of his wife, Benecia. They then carried the victim’s body and heaved it onto their vehicle.
• Around 5:00 am, in Sitio Kaingan, Brgy. Trinidad, Guihulngan City, the PNP and 94th IB raided the house of JAIME REVILLA, a community organizer, and shot the latter to death. They then “planted” a .38 revolver and some bullets beside the victim’s body.
• Around 5:00 am, in Sitio Ilaya, Brgy. Hilaitan, Guihulngan City, the PNP and 94th IB raided the house of RENEBOY FAT, a habal-habal (motorcycle) driver, and shot the latter to death.
• Around 7:00 am, in Sitio Malabyokon, Brgy. Buenavista, Guihulngan City, the PNP, 94th IB and PAF raided the house of JESUS ISUGAN, 26 years old, a habal-habal driver and construction worker. The assailants asked Isugan if he knew where a certain Tomas Isugan was. When Jesus answered in the negative, the armed men dragged him towards the back of the house and shot him to death in front of his wife, child, siblings and father. They then placed the victim’s body inside a sack and tossed it by the road.
• In La Libertad, Negros Oriental, GABBY ALBORO, a media practicioner for the DYJL FM radio station also known by his media moniker “Kumander Aguila,” was gunned down by armed men riding-in-tandem. Aside from these incidents of extrajudicial killing, other rights violations were committed by armed state forces during and after the December 27 SEMPO such as the mass warrantless arrest of 50 unarmed individuals from 8 barangays most of whom were “planted” with firearms and falsely identified as NPAs, illegal searches of private dwellings in at least 5 barangays, expropriation of cash and crops, destruction of properties and burning of homes;
The terror sown by Oplan Sauron and the continued presence of military and police forces in communities have forced many residents, most of whom are farmers, to evacuate, making it difficult for them to attend to the land they till and for their children to go to school.
Local, national and even international rights groups and people’s organizations have strongly condemned Oplan Sauron. The Archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, The Most Reverend Bishop Gerry Alminaza, described the climate of brutal repression on the entire Negros Island as tantamount to martial law.
