Last Seen:

March 16, 2004

Camarines Sur
Three farmers were reported abducted in separate incidents in Camarines Sur, and one of the victims survived and escaped from his captors.

The victims were identified as WILFREDO VELARDE and JOSEPH CARLOTE. The two were picked up by several armed soldiers (believed to be members of the 9th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army) from their farm hut at Tinambac, Camarines Sur, on March 16, 2004. The other victim who survived and escaped was identified as JOEL GUILAN.

Benita Velarde, 34, wife of Wilfredo Velarde, said her husband and Carlote were working at their copra stockroom at about 6:00 a.m. when the soldiers came and started looking for high-powered firearms allegedly kept in their house. The soldiers then handcuffed the victims. Benita requested they allow Joseph Carlote to accompany Velarde, and the military agreed.

Since then, the two never returned home.  According to Joel Guilan, he was violently grabbed and taken away by 3-armed military men at gunpoint while he was taking a bath in a creek near their house when soldiers asked where Juanito Guilan, his father, lived. He said he pointed to their house, located several meters from the creek. One of the soldiers told Guilen that his father was actually an NPA rebel.

Then the soldiers covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief that made him lose his consciousness. When he woke up, he found himself above a dugout copra kiln with his hand tied to his back. Then he was led to a cocon area and tied to a tree.   He then saw and heard WILFREDO VELARDE hollering for help at the foot of the hill while a soldier and paramilitary civilian volunteer led him to the edge. A paramilitary man allowed him to escape from captivity, and after the escape, Joel Guilan sought refuge at the Bayan Muna Office in Camarines Sur.

Guilan believed that the government soldiers were the perpetrators of the abductions of civilians suspected to be members of, or aiding, the NPA rebels.  But a spokesperson of the military in Camarines Sur denied that the 9th Infantry Battalion was responsible and blamed the NPA instead.

details about their circumstances.