B’laan leader Capion confirms brother killed in clash with soldiers

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GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines—The leader of a group of B’laan natives waging war against the copper and gold mining project of Xstrata’s Sagittarius Mines Inc. confirmed Thursday that his brother was killed in a raid by government soldiers on Tuesday and called the operation an act of betrayal as their surrender was being arranged.

Daguil Capion, often referred to as a bandit by the authorities, said his brother,  Kitari, and two others died in the Tuesday military operation in a remote area of Kiblawan, Davao del Sur.

Capion said he and his men felt betrayed by the authorities because just last Sunday, Kitari discussed their planned surrender with a relative working for SMI and a military officer.

He said that, with his blessing, Kitari met with Dot Capion and Army Capt. Joel Wayagwag, head of Task Force Kitaco, in an area in Barangay Bong Mal, a village that borders Kiblawan and Tampakan, South Cotabato.

Task Force Kitaco is a special unit created under the Army’s 1002nd Infantry Brigade in the wake of attacks by various armed groups against SMI and is mandated to secure the areas where the mining company operates.

“During that meeting, Dot and Capt. Wayagwag pledged to help us in our planned surrender. Kitari had relayed to them my vow that we will cease our armed struggle,” he told the Inquirer by phone in Filipino. Capion said they were tired of running from the law and were ready to face a string of charges filed against them, including murder and robbery in band.

But he clarified that while their armed struggle would cease, their opposition to SMI’s operation continued.

Capion said that after the meeting with Dot and Wayagwag, their group converged on Sitio Nakultana in Barangay Kimlawis in Kiblawan. He and Kitari stayed in separate huts while awaiting news about their surrender feeler.

He said they had expected the “good news” to arrive on Tuesday, as Dot and Wayagwag had pledged.

“But instead of the good news, soldiers came and strafed the hut that Kitari was occupying,” Capion said.

He said some of their men fired back but they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of operating troops—ironically, he said, they were led by Wayagwag—and decided to fall back, leaving the wounded Kitari and two other dead comrades behind.

Kitari subsequently died in a hospital in Koronadal City, where soldiers had rushed him, according to a military report on the incident.

Army Capt. William Rodriguez, spokesperson of the 1002nd Infantry Brigade based in Malungon, Sarangani, dismissed Capion’s claim. But he confirmed that Wayagwag led the troops that killed Kitari and two other “bandits.”

“Government troops under Capt. Wayagwag of Task Force Kitaco were conducting a patrol when fired upon by the group of Dagil Capion. The firefight ensued for about five minutes. Kitari was injured and was brought to a hospital but was later declared dead,” Rodriguez said.

Kitari was the younger brother of Daguil and Batas Capion, whose family remains in the forefront of the armed struggle against Sagittarius Mines Inc.

Despite the “betrayal,” Capion said he was still determined to surrender but would wait for the intervention of “an honest and trusted government official.” If such intervention does not take place, then his group would continue the  struggle against SMI and other  interests threatening the B’laan  way of life and ancestral domain.

“We are ready to die for our struggle,” he said.

“We are only trying to protect our right to existence within the domain that our forebears left for us to care for our tribe,” Capion added.

The Capions, who descended from a long line of traditional B’laan leaders, maintain that SMI has caused dislocations among B’laan communities and that its operations threatened the livelihood of the natives.

But for authorities and government officials in areas where SMI operates, including Kiblawan, the Capions and their band of fighters are plain bandits who have been involved in senseless killings and robberies.

The Capion brothers have pending warrants for their arrest, including one for murder issued on January 29 last year.

Soldiers and policemen have been hunting them down in the hinterlands of the provinces of Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato.

On Oct. 18 last year, one of the many operations aimed at capturing the Capion brothers turned ugly when soldiers instead killed Daguil’s wife and his two sons. The deaths of Juvy and her two children, Pop, 13,  and John, 8,  caused an uproar and put in question anew the military’s respect for human rights.

The Eastern Mindanao Command maintained that the deaths of Daguil’s wife and two sons were the result of a legitimate encounter but it was eventually forced to conduct an inquiry. Lt. Col. Lyndon Paniza, 10th Infantry Division spokesperson, later announced that a military prosecutor had recommended the court-martial of a junior officer and 12 infantrymen for  tactical lapses in the Oct. 18 operation.

The case against the soldiers remains undecided to this day.