REMEMBERING SAG-OD MASSACRE: 15 SEPTEMBER 1981

Excerpts from: “ Report of an Amnesty International Mission to the Republic of the Philippines”

11-28 November 1981; pages 47-49.

In the early morning of 15 September 1981, 45 people were massacred in Barrio Sag-od, Las Navas,
northern Samar. Survivors of the attack have stated that about 18 armed men entered the barrio and
separated the inhabitants into two groups; men and older children, and women and young children. As
they were being led away, the women and young children heard gunfire in the barrio. The commander of
the armed men then questioned the women on the whereabouts of the New People's Army, which he
accused the villagers of supporting. After the group denied all knowledge of the New People's Army, the
men opened fire, killing all but a few of the assembled women and children. A few hours later a unit of
the 14th Tnfantry Battalion arrived and burned some of the houses with bodies in them. Some of the
survivors, who worked for the nearby .San Jose Timber Corporation, which has large logging concessions
in the provinces of northern and eastern Samar, claimed that the armed men were part of a special
security force hired to guard the timber company against the New People's Army. Two guides
accompanied the armed men and were recognized by villagers as belonging to the ICHDF based at a
camp at "Kilometer 7" within the timber company's logging area. One of the men involved in the
massacre was identified by a survivor as a member of the special security unit.

The massacre was not reported in the Philippine national press until 24 September, when the Manila
newspaper Bulletin Today reported that 35 men, women and children had been killed by "still
unidentified armed men"; it erroneously located the barrio of Sag-od in the province of eastern Samar.
Camp Aguinaldo in Metro Manila, the headquarters of the military command and the Ministry of
National Defense, was named as the source of the report. According to Bulletin Today, "some survivors
said the armed men said they were army troops". The next day it reported that the Minister of National
Defense, Juan Ponce Enrile, had ordered a thorough investigation into the reported massacre. The article
again located Sag-od and Las Navas in the province of eastern Samar. The minister was quoted as saying
that he had directed General Fabian Ver, AFP Chief of Staff and head of the Presidential Security Forces,
and Lieutenant Colonel Fidel V. Ramos, Vice-Chief of Staff and Chief of the PC, to undertake the
investigation immediately.

On 29 September Bulletin Today reported:

"Authorities here identified today the armed group responsible for the massacre ... as the security forces
of a big logging company. The commander of the group [Meaning the whole security force], said to
number about 80 men armed with Armalite rifles, M-203 grenade launchers, and other high powered
guns, was identified as a "Lieutenant Colonel" known in some areas as "Tatang" /an honorific meaning
uncle/
"Officials who supplied these details requested anonymity, saying for the massacre. (*) that the group
was vicious and had shown no mercy to people who had antagonized them in the past. They attributed
some unsolved killings to the group. ...

"Eastern Command authorities [the military command responsible for Samar] have vehemently denied
that the group was a unit attached to the command.

"Sources disclosed the big logging concessionaire in Las Navas had influential connections. The firm had
reportedly been repeatedly harassed by Communist dissidents active in the place. "Provincial
authorities, meanwhile, asked President Marcos to act on the killings and rid Samar of the vicious armed
group. ... "The Lieutenant Colonel was described as between 50 and 55 years old and sporting a long
beard and moustache. He was further described as a very well-informed man

On 2 October Bulletin Today, quoted the Minister of National Defense as warning against "speculations"
and reported that 16 people had survived the massacre, six of them children. The newspaper said that
the management of the logging company in Las Navas had denied involvement in the massacre, claiming
that "the firm's security forces have strict orders not to operate outside the firm's premises". The
newspaper added that "sources said that the suspected killers are members of the 'Lost Command' in
Mindanao"

On 29 September 1981 Lieutenant Colonel Lademora had invited friends to his birthday at his house in
San Francisco. One of the guests showed him the report in Bulletin Today , datelined Samar, which
identified the armed group responsible for the Sag-od massacre as the security force of the timber
company and mentioned that the commander was a lieutenant colonel known as "Tatang". According to
information received by Amnesty International, Lieutenant Colonel Lademora left for Manila the next
morning after instructing his son, "Boy" Lademora, to assassinate the political leaders associated with
the Agusan del Sur provincial governor, Valentina G. Plaza, if he had not returned in seven days. On 30
September he flew to Manila. It has been reported that while there he had his hair cut short and bought
two or three wigs. He then reportedly went to Samar and returned to San Francisco with the bodies of
two members of the unit based at the timber company. According to one theory, the Sag-od villagers had
been massacred to avenge killings of these two members of the Lost Command. Lieutenant Colonel
Lademora was reported to have contacted several people in San Francisco after his return from Samar
with a view to establishing that he was in the town on 15 September.

The investigation of the massacre ordered by the Minister of National Defense was headed by Brigadier
General Salvador Mison, Commander of Eastern Command. Other members of the panel included three
colonels: Romeo Tarayo, Commander of the 14th Infantry Battalion, Bayani Fabic, PC brigade Task Force
Commander, and Vicente Garcia, Chief of Staff of the PC/INP Region VIII. In October 1981 Brigadier
General Mison told a meeting of the provincial council in Laoang that the Sag-od matter was closed and
that the investigation had determined that the New People's Army was responsible for the massacre.
Despite these findings the Lost Command security force at the San Jose Timber Corporation was
withdrawn in mid-October and reportedly shipped back to Mindanao. In San Francisco Lieutenant
Colonel Lademora was reported to have said that he had been investigated by the r

(*) In an interview with WHO magazine (27 February 1982), Brigadier General Mison said: "We have not
found any witnesses who can positively identify [the killers]. We have been inviting people to give to the
Provincial Fiscal statements that may lead to the positive identification of the perpetrators. We have
even guaranteed them the full protection of the law, but you know how it is ... nobody came.