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Autopsy: Ericson Acosta injured way before fatal shots, after he already died

National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant and celebrated poet Ericson Acosta was shot both on his front and back, bolstering claims by various activist groups he and peasant leader Joseph Jimenez were actually killed execution-style by the military.

In a press conference Saturday, July 29, forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun said Acosta died from hemorrhagic shock resulting from chest wounds that lacerated his lungs.

But Fortun added that Acosta may have been shot way before his fatal wounds and after he died, based on the wound on his right hand that had severe hematoma as well as a back wound that lacerated the aorta at his lumbar area but did not bleed.

“It seemed the shots were fired at different times…On his hand, that was way before the fatal shots,” she said in a mix of Filipino and English.

Fortun underscored that Acosta’s wound from the left side of the torso was probably fired when he was already dead.

“He should have bled profusely (from that laceration of the aorta). He was probably dead by then,” the expert explained of the wound that also shattered two thick vertebrae.

“He had so many wounds and these were in clusters,” she said, adding that Acosta also had edema on his right thigh.

Fortun also explained that Acosta’s wounds on his upper right arm that was earlier reported as stab and hack wounds resulted from exiting bullet wounds.

“He must have had his right arm close to his chest,” she said.

READ: NDF-Negros: Military murdered peace consultant-poet Ericson Acosta

Fortun and University of the Philippines College of Medicine colleague Patricia Ann Franco conducted the autopsy on Acosta’s remains last December 5, five days after he and Jimenez were killed in Kabankalan City, Negros Oriental in what the military claimed was a firefight with the New People’s Army (NPA).

Acknowledging the limitations imposed on an autopsy procedure after embalming, Fortun bewailed that they examined Acosta’s remains after his wounds have already been sutured.

She also noted that the white shirt Acosta’s body was wearing when it arrived in Manila was not the blue shirt he was wearing on the photographs the military posted online.

“There is no independent, immediate and scientific investigation conducted at the scene. That is the problem in this country as far as forensic pathology is concerned,” Fortun complained.

Photo of the poet by the Free Ericson Acosta campaign.

Execution

In their announcement of Acosta and Jimenez’s deaths last November 30, National Democratic Front-Negros spokesperson Bayani Obrero said the victims were killed by the 94th and 47th infantry battalions of the Philippine Army.

The government troopers first strafed the house where the victims were sleeping in and later killed them outside, Obrero said.

Obrero also denied there was a fire fight with the NPA at Sitio Makilo, Barangay Camansi were the victims were killed.

In a separate statement, human rights group Karapatan said Acosta and Jimenez were actually captured alive by the military at 2 AM last November 30 and were taken 200 meters away from the house to be executed.

The 94th Infantry Battalion is also accused of having massacred the Fausto family last June 14 and having killed farmer Crispin Tingal last May 3 in Kabankalan City.

READ: Mission reports AFP responsible for Fausto massacre, other killings

After the release of the autopsy report on Acosta, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) again called for an independent investigation of the killings.

“The militarization and killings in Negros must stop. We call on human rights defenders and the people to fight the increasing trend of fascist terror in the countryside of Negros that has resulted in the deaths of many peasant organizers and masses,” BAYAN president Renato Reyes Jr. said.

“There is armed conflict in Negros but this cannot be solved by militarist means. The social roots must be addressed for there to be a just peace,” Reyes added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

REPORTS: Acosta and Jimenez stabbed, hacked

Churches, groups demand impartial investigation on the death of celebrated poet and peasant organizer

The National Democratic Front in Negros (NDF-Negros) said peace talks consultant and celebrated poet Ericson Acosta and peasant organizer Joseph Jimenez have been stabbed and hacked, further belying military claims the two were casualties in a running gun battle in Kabankalan City last November 30.

NDF-Negros spokesperson Bayani Obrero said soldiers of the 94th and 47th infantry battalions of the Philippine Army first strafed the house were Acosta and Jimenez have taken shelter to rest before dawn yesterday.

They were then “taken forcefully and then ‘salvaged’ (summarily killed),” Obrero added.

READ: NDF-Negros: Military murdered peace consultant-poet Ericson Acosta

Quoting the Jimenez family, Obrero said Acosta and Jimenez “have indications that they were stabbed and hacked.”

In a separate statement, human rights group Karapatan said initial reports by its local chapter in Negros indicate that Acosta and Jimenez were captured alive as of 2 a.m. of November 30, 2022 in Sitio Makilo, Barangay Camansi but were tagged hours later by the Armed Forces of the Philippines as casualties in a “fake encounter.”

“Residents also said that the bodies of the two bore stab wounds. Acosta was also said to be recuperating from illness in the said community,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said.

NDF-Negros said the deaths of Acosta and Jimenez “raised the number of fake encounters in Negros under the [Ferdinand] Marcos Jr regime to 14.”

The group added that Jimenez was the 7th farmer killed in the island by state forces since July 2022.

“All peasant killings were notably declared by state forces as ‘encounters’,” Obrero said.

The house where the two victims were taken belongs to a Ronald Francisco, who was also taken by the soldiers to the 47th IB headquarters, along with his wife and three children, NDF-Negros said.

Francisco’s family could not contact them while the local police station dismissed their requests for a blotter report, it added.

In its announcement last Wednesday, the 94th IB claimed Acosta and Jimenez were part of a 10-man New People’s Army (NPA) team that engaged government soldiers in two separate fire fights in two sites that are 100 meters apart.

The military added that the “encounters” happened within 15 minutes of each other.

‘Impartial investigation’

Church and civil society leaders however called for an impartial and independent investigation of the incident in light of reports that the victims were captured alive before declared dead by the military hours later.

“In light of this information, as well as the numerous cases in the past of such fabricated stories to cover up acts of summary execution, Pilgrims for Peace calls for the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) signed by both the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) and NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippines), so that an impartial investigation may be conducted,” they said.

“We also call on the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to undertake the same. If found that the reports of the extrajudicial killing of Acosta and his companion by the military are true, the AFP must be taken to task for this abomination, which is part and parcel of a militaristic, ‘take-no-prisoners’ approach to the long running armed conflict with the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines)-NPA,” the group added.

The group’s statement was signed by Iglesia Filipina Independiente Obispo Maximo Rhee Timbang, San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza and representatives of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, the Episcopal Church of the Philippines, the Promotion of Church Peoples’ Response, Kapatirang Simbahan Para sa Bayan and the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines.

They were joined by the groups ACT for Peace, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Karapatan, Gabriela, and the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers.

Farmers’ group Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) also condemned the deaths of Acosta and Jimenez as well as the abduction of the Francisco family, saying the military may have violated the International Humanitarian Law.

“Maituturing na krimeng pandigma o ‘war crime’ ang pananakit sa mga sibilyan at pagsalakay sa kanilang tahanan, at maski mga armadong rebelde ay maling maltratuhin bilang ‘prisoners of war’ sakaling madakip,” UMA said.

(Hurting civilians and attacking their home is considered a war crime, even maltreating armed rebels when they have already been captured.)

In its separate statement, Karapatan also called on the government to surface the Francisco family. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

NDF-Negros: Military murdered peace consultant-poet Ericson Acosta

Award winning poet and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Ericson Acosta was murdered by the military Wednesday morning in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, a rebel spokesperson announced.

NDF-Negros spokesperson Bayani Obrero said in a statement that Acosta and a companion were captured alive at around two o’clock in the morning of November 30 but were announced as casualties in a “fake encounter” a few hours later.

Obrero belied the announcement made by the 94th Infantry Battalion (IB) of the Philippine Army (PA) that the bodies of two New People’s Army (NPA) members were “found” at the site of a second firefight between government troopers and the revolutionary group in Sitio Makilo, Barangay Camansi in the said city.

In an earlier announcement, the government unit said that they, along with the 47th IB-PA, fought against 10 NPA fighters twice in a span of 15 minutes that resulted in the discovery of two dead rebels, presumably Acosta and his unnamed companion.

The government troopers said the insurgents were earlier involved in a series of gunfights in Carabalan, Himamaylan City in October.

The NDF in Negros however said Acosta and companion were summarily executed as part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ “despicable policy of taking no prisoners in their counter-insurgency campaign.”

“Twisting truths cannot cover the fact that butchers 94th Infantry Battalion and 47th Infantry Battalion captured NDF Consultant Ericson Acosta and his companion, a peasant organizer, alive around 2:00 this morning,“ Obrero said.

Obrero said Acosta was in southern Negros to consult on the situation of farm workers as one of the NDFP peace consultants working on social and economic reforms.

Acosta attended the formal peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines in 2017 in Italy and The Netherlands.

Acosta, first arrested in February 2011 in Samar Island, regained freedom two years later.

A highly-regarded writer, singer and actor, he later won a National Book Award for his first poetry collection “Mula Tarima Hanggang at iba pang mga Tula at Awit” published by the University of the Philippines Press in 2015.

He was a former culture editor of The Philippine Collegian.

He is survived by a son with fellow poet, actor and campus journalist Lorena Kerima Tariman who was similarly killed in what the military described as an “encounter” in Silay City, Negros Occidental in October 2021. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Lupa – Ericson Acosta and Renato Reyes, Jr.

Solidarity Night: Hacienda Luisita masaker, 10 taong walang hustisya
(2004-2014) November 15, 2014

Ang lahat ng larawan sa video ay kuha mula sa pagkilos ng mga mamamayan noong bisperas ng ika-10 taong anibersaryo ng pamamaril at masaker sa mga magbubukid at manggagawa ng Hacienda Luisita. Pampanga at Tarlac, November 15, 2014.

Ang “Lupa” ay orihinal na awit mula sa grupong The Jerks.