House committee berates CHR exec on slain boy’s case

DAVAO CITY—Lawmakers took the regional Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to task for not acting on the case of an 8-year-old boy who was killed, allegedly by soldiers in Mabini, Compostela Valley province, in 2013, that did not even reach the court.

“Why did you allow this case to be dismissed?” Rep. Guillermo Romarate, chair of the congressional human rights committee, asked Irene Joy Tala-Montero, acting head of the CHR in Southern Mindanao.

“When it was dismissed, why did you not follow it up? Did you ask the parents what they felt about the dismissal? Did the parents sign an affidavit of desistance?” Romarate asked.

Montero said the case was already out of the CHR’s hands when the prosecution made its decision.

On Thursday, the mother of 8-year-old Roque Antivo broke down in the middle of her testimony during the congressional inquiry that the case of her son’s death was quickly dismissed by the prosecution barely six months after it was filed.

Romarate and Representatives Luz Ilagan (Gabriela), Carlos Isagani Zarate (Bayan Muna), Fernando Hicap (Anakpawis) and Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers) took turns in castigating the CHR for not pursuing its mandate to protect the life and human rights of people, especially when it concerned the life of an 8-year-old child.

Montero, who had a hard time answering the committee’s questions, said the documents on the case were still in her office, and that the CHR’s role was only recommendatory in nature.

The CHR report also cited the soldiers’ testimonies that the boy had died in a crossfire in an encounter between communist rebels and government soldiers.

But Antivo’s mother, Evelyn, said her son and two older boys—Earl John Antivo and Jesse James Hernan—were walking at their farm at the time and were about to take a ride home on a motorcycle when they were fired upon by soldiers who had been staying there.

She insisted that there was no encounter between the New People’s Army rebels and the soldiers in the area where her son was killed.

“How can that be a crossfire when the firing only came from one direction and there was no gunshot from the other side?” Ilagan asked.

The human rights group Karapatan cited an autopsy report that showed that the boy died of one bullet wound in the left chest. Only seven empty shells and four kinds of bullets were recovered from the scene, it said.

“This is a very special case because it’s not possible for an 8-year-old boy to just get killed without anyone killing him,” Romarate said. “As Representative Ilagan said, the boy could not have committed suicide, which was not very likely.”

Later, Montero said the CHR had given financial assistance of about P10,000 to the Antivo family, P5,000 for Hernan and P4,000 for Earl John Antivo, who were both wounded.

“This is not just about giving financial assistance. This is about giving justice to the victims of human rights, which was supposed to be the reason that your office existed,” Zarate said.