A 69-member fact-finding mission experienced harassment from elements of the 67th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in Sitio Cabuyao, Barangay Binondo in the heavily militarized town of Baganga, Davao Oriental.

While conducting investigation into reported cases of human rights violations in the area on April 19, drivers of vehicles rented by the FFM Team were reportedly threatened with harm by soldiers from the 67th IB.

The mission members were only able to leave Binondo the next day, April 20, after progressive groups and media people arrived from Davao City to fetch them. The mission members refused “help” from the military and the local government, for fear of further compromising their safety.

The drivers fled Brgy. Binondo, leaving their vehicles and causing the members of the FFM Team to be stranded for the night (April 20) in Sitio Cabuyao, according to Pinoy Weekly journalist and FFM Team member Macky Macaspac.

“Di kami makalabas d2 sa erya, tinakot ng military mga driver (We cannot leave the area. The drivers were threatened by the military),”  Macaspac texted to Pinoy Weekly editors.

Sr. Nina Achacoso, another FFM Team member, contacted the Manila office of the church group Promotion for Church People’s Response and also relayed the same information: “We are trapped because military paralyzed all means of our transportation. Please share this information and pray for our safety here.”

Macaspac earlier told Pinoy Weekly that the military set-up checkpoints and roadblocks along the roads, thereby hindering the way of the vehicles used by the mission members.

The Davao City-based online news site, Davao Today, reported that the commanding officer for the 67th IB, Lt. Col. Krishnamurti Mortela, denied that his men were involved in any harassment against the participants of the mission.

Mortela said the local government and the military “even helped” the mission members leave the area, reported Davao Today. The military said it helped them “even if they had not coordinated their efforts with us, and instead independently initiated the activities in the area,” Davao Today quoted Mortela as saying.

The FFM team, composed of church workers and human rights activists, as well as journalists including Macaspac of Pinoy Weekly, was conducting an independent investigation into reported cases of human rights violations in the area since April 18.

Among the cases of violations was the killing of Cristina Jose, a local leader of Barug Katawhan and one of victims of Typhoon Pablo. Jose was assassinated by suspected military elements in the same area, Brgy. Binondo, where the FFM Team members were stranded.

The mission also investigated the humanitarian situation in Baganga, which was one of the towns most affected by  Pablo last December 2012. It also conducted medical mission in some of the affected barangays.

Titled “Duyog sa Panaw alang sa mga Biktima sa Bagyong Pablo (Journey for Peace for the victims of Typhoon Pablo)”, the mission also included ocular visits in the neighboring towns of Boston and Cateel.