Her name was Grecil
by Patricia Evangelista
(Patricia Evangelista, who writes for the Inquirer, is admirable not only for her intelligence but for her deep concern for justice. She is one young lady worth watching. The following piece is heart breaking. I am outraged.)
She was 9 years old. She had big brown eyes and shiny black hair. She liked spider-fighting and watching “Wowowee,” and woke up at six every morning for the hour-long walk down the mountain to her second-grade class. Her teacher said she should study harder, and she did, because she was a little girl who wanted to be a nurse someday. She had a medal for “Most Neat” at the end of the school year. In the summer, she played with the other children, racing rubber bands while hopping in green-slippered feet.
Her name was Grecil, and she was killed, shot once on the elbow and once on the head. Her father did not believe she was dead until he saw the small shattered body laid out under the scorching sun at the PNP headquarters, the foot in a dusty green rubber slipper, the grimy rubber band attached to the foot.
Her mother says that she was sometimes naughty, but the military says she had been very, very bad.
On March 31, 2007, more than 30 men from the New People’s Army appeared in Purok 6, Barangay Kahayag in Compostela Valley, Grecil’s neighborhood. Five men went to her home, carrying arms and asking to use the family’s pots and pans to cook. Grecil’s father Gregorio allowed them. The NPA’s guns were long, he says, and he was afraid for his children. A Commission on Human Rights report verifies his claim, saying, “The residents had no other recourse but to abide [by] their request.”
On that morning,replica handbags, Grecil and her 6-year-old brother Dodong had gone to the river behind their house to bathe. Her two other sisters, both younger, stayed at home.
It was around nine o’clock when the military arrived. Grecil’s father Gregorio says there was no warning for the civilians to take cover, just three staccato bursts of a gun and then the rapid fire of machine guns.
The family ran down the mountain with the two younger children. “My wife asked me about Grecil and Dodong, I said they were safe in the river, they were bathing far away from the gunfire.” The shooting between military and NPA lasted two hours. Gregorio’s home, now riddled with bullets, was the target.
Gregorio left his wife and children with his mother-in-law in the village. He was on the way to find Grecil and Dodong when his son caught up with him. He asked the boy where his sister was; Dodong said she was right behind him when they heard shots. When he looked back again, she was gone. In an affidavit, witness Lorena Seguido said Grecil had run back to the house in the midst of the shooting.
No one was allowed up the mountain. Conflicting stories filtered down to the family. Three children were killed. One child was killed. Grecil was carrying a gun. Grecil was dead.
Gregorio was told to stay in the barangay hall. Someone from the military would come to talk to him. He waited until two o’clock, until he saw a minicab pass by, guarded by two APCs loaded with soldiers. There was a body in the minicab.
The next time Gregorio saw his daughter, it was in the PNP headquarters. Grecil’s godfather, the barangay captain, had carried her down from the mountain. In an affidavit, Barangay Captain Eulogio Bigno Almasa stated he,Cartier Bags, with others, had gone up to Purok 6 to assist the populace after they heard the gunfire. At the encounter site, they saw the dead girl lying on the ground. The back of Grecil’s head had been blasted off. Almasa claims no firearms were found near the body. The military watched as Gregorio cried and cursed.
Grecil’s death was initially reported by the military as that of an 11-year-old boy’s. On April 2, 2007, the Inquirer released a report based on statements from the 10th Civil Affairs Unit of the Army’s 8th Infantry Battalion: a 12-year-old child warrior in the New People’s Army was killed during heavy fighting between government forces and NPA rebels in New Bataan, Compostela Valley province. They identified her as Grecil Buya.
“Buya was spotted earlier armed with an M-16 rifle at the encounter site at Purok 6, Sitio Simsimin, Barangay Kahayag in New Bataan before the gun battle between a platoon of soldiers led by 2nd Lt. Francis John Gabawa and 30 NPA rebels under a Ka Maya and a Ka Pandi.”
The CHR released the military’s After Encounter Report of the operation, detailing the losses from both government and enemy. On the government side, one Pfc. Ruben Brecero, PA was killed in action. On the enemy side, there were two casualties, one was undetermined, the other was Grecil Buya—killed in action.
Soldiers told Gregorio they would prove that he was an NPA member, and so was his daughter. They told him they found the guns left by the NPA during the encounter in Gregorio’s home, and they had Grecil’s school ID. They said they were forced to shoot Grecil because she was carrying a gun. Her father said it wasn’t true, that all she carried to the river was a bar of soap in a green plastic bag. They said they would file charges of rebellion and illegal possession. They asked him repeatedly if he was going to file a case against the military. He did not answer—he wanted to mourn for his daughter first. The child had not even been buried yet. Neighbors claimed harassment. The soldiers tried to strike a deal—they would not file if Gregorio would not file.
Both villagers and barangay officials vouch for Grecil and Gregorio. The barangay captain claims he is 100 percent certain they are not NPA, that Grecil goes to school and that Gregorio plants, and sells tuba daily. Gregorio’s own father was killed by the NPA.
Gregorio and Pacita are now in Manila,Replica Wallets, filing charges against the military. They are here to clear Grecil’s name. They have no money and no lawyer, their children have been scattered for their protection, except for one-year-old Angeline, who clings to her mama and giggles with every beep of a cellular phone.
Army Brig. Gen. Carlos Holganza, head of the 101st Infantry Brigade, said at first that he was standing by the report of his men that the “child warrior” was killed in a “legitimate” encounter. “She was seen holding a long firearm,” he claimed. “On one hand, she was holding a long firearm; on her other hand, she was holding a mirror. She knows how to handle a long firearm.”
An M-16 A2 rifle measures 3 feet 4 inches. So did Grecil.
Holganza now says that he is inclined to believe that Grecil was not a child-soldier, but he will only apologize if other minor details would be clarified further. That an innocent child was killed is probably a minor detail, too.
To date, according to Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns, the death toll of children killed by the military during operations has reached 54. Seventeen children have been tortured, 69 illegally arrested, three raped and 63 beaten. This story is just one of many.
Her name was Grecil Buya, and she will always be 9 years old.
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=61778
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