Inside the 'killing zone' in Atimonan

Text and photos by ROUCHELLE R. DINGLASAN, GMA News

Published January 14, 2013 4:59pm

The spot where the two-vehicle convoy stopped before being riddled with bullets. Two men were found in the canal near the main road.

ATIMONAN, Quezon -- It was the perfect spot for a killing. The site where 13 men were riddled with bullets on January 6 forms the middle part of an S-shaped stretch of Maharlika Highway in Atimonan town, Quezon. Because of the curve in the road, the checkpoint where the shooting occurred was in a blind spot, unseen from the vantage point of the other police-military checkpoints at each end of the S-curve. It's a short walk to the boundary between Atimonan and Plaridel towns. An abandoned beach resort sits a few meters from the road, its wall bearing bullet holes that have been encircled by white chalk marks. Next to the resort is a shrimp hatchery with large gates. Apart from the caretaker of the resort and the hatchery, civilians live far from where the incident took place, or at least far enough to prevent innocent bystanders from witnessing the bloodbath. The authorities have yet to complete their probe of what occurred here. Was it a checkpoint confrontation that just ended badly, or the result of a conspiracy that aimed to leave none of the men in the convoy alive? If the intent was to kill without being seen by local residents, the planners of this deed could not have chosen a better place. Gunshots sounded like firecrackers Just a week later, the road is dead silent, except for the occasional rumble of a passing bus, car or public utility vehicle. What’s left are a couple of white gloves that had been used by investigators to examine evidence of the incident, during which about 40 law enforcers from the army and the local police as well as intelligence operatives fired at the two-vehicle convoy, killing all 13 people inside. The dead included a respected environmentalist, a businessman and two police officers.

Gloves left behind by police probers after gathering evidence at the killing zone in Atimonan, Quezon on Jan. 6.

The boundary between Brgy. Lumutan in Atimonan and Brgy. Tanauan in Plaridel town is a generally peaceful place, the residents say; though having a police checkpoint there is not uncommon in the area, the usual source of commotion are vehicular accidents.

This was why when the residents heard the gunshots, they at first thought someone had set off firecrackers left over from New Year's Eve. According to one of the residents, the shots lasted for five to 10 minutes. It was a Quezon province police officer who said the place was the perfect "killing zone." Conflicting reports The two Mitsubishi Montero Sport vehicles carrying the victims were found on the left side of the road. The first vehicle bears a PNP Academy commemorative plate on the front and a special plate ("VIC 27") on the back. According to the NBI Forensics Team, the first vehicle was riddled with 214 bullet entry points and 96 exit points. Almost all of the bullets entered from the right. The PNP's Scene of the Crime Operation Operatives, on the other hand, recorded 184 entry points and 91 exit points for the first vehicle. For the second vehicle, which has a For Registration plate, the NBI notes 59 bullet entry points and 33 exit points, while the PNP's SOCO recorded 45 entry points and 29 exit points. The first car’s windshield appears close to shattering, with 28 bullet entry points, while that of the second vehicle had five. The first car’s tires were all blown flat. The second vehicle's right front wheel was the only one undamaged. According to the National Bureau of Investigation Forensics Team’s initial findings, the windows had probably been rolled up as the glass in all of them were either completely or partially shattered. A source, who was able to take pictures after the incident, said that two of the bodies were found in a canal near the vehicles, indicating that they were able to get out of the car. This is contrary to earlier reports that none of the men was able to leave the car during the incident. A Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory sketch confirmed the source’s statement. The sketch also showed that one of the doors of one of the SUVs had been open. The Quezon provincial police earlier said the passengers fired at lawmen manning the checkpoint. Following conflicting reports from the police and the relatives of the fatalities, the President appointed the NBI to be the sole agency to investigate the incident. The NBI's initial investigation shows that most of the shots were fired by the law enforcers manning the checkpoint. Ties to Atimonan police chief Intelligence Officer Supt. Hansel Marantan, who led the joint police-military checkpoint contingent and who was injured during the incident, has ties to the town’s police chief. In an interview, Atimonan police chief inspector Jonar Yupio disclosed that Marantan and former Atimonan Police Chief Grant Gollod worked together at the Quezon Police Public Safety Management Company. Gollod was a deputy under Marantan. Yupio noted that having three checkpoints in the area was not "normal." The place usually has only one manned checkpoint, he said.

One of the two police checkpoints that sandwiched the convoy was located at the end of the curved road on the way to Atimonan town.

Also unusual was the number of intelligence officers included in the order. "Kasama po ang intelligence ng probinsiya… Hindi ko po alam kung bakit ganun kadami," he said. However, he added that before the checkpoints were put in place a command conference with the intelligence team was held at the Atimonan police station. "Lagi po kami may schedule ng checkpoint. Random po iyon. Nagbibigay po ng schedule ‘yung higher head po sa headquarters sa Lucena," a sweating Yupio said. GMA News Online tried to obtain a copy of the checkpoint schedule for January, but Yupio said that the schedule was no longer at the station as it was passed together with the incident report. Military warned residents There are some houses along the highway, though down the slope of the road from where the incident took place. The residents first suspected fireworks when they first heard the shots, but were soon disabused of that notion. Kuya Ambo (not his real name), recalled how a military officer shouted, "'Wag na kayong lalabas" in their direction when the shooting began. Many of the residents obeyed, holing up in their homes, though other residents left their houses in a panic and ran to the Lamon Bay shore. Kuya Ambo said he and his family stayed inside until morning. When Kuya Ambo went out to the road the next morning, there was nothing to see, he said—not even blood as the rain from the night before must have washed it away.

The second police checkpoint was located at the end of the curved road on the way to Plaridel town.

It started with two gunshots Another resident, Ate Anday (not her real name), first heard two gunshots. "May narinig kami na dalawang putok tapos may sumisigaw na dun. Parang medyo nagkakagulo na sila. Akala nga naming ay paputok lang galing sa Bagong Taon," she said. And then the barrage began. "Maya-maya ay may kasunod na ratratan na," Ate Anday recalled. "Kami po ay dapaan na rine. ‘Yun lang po ang aming alam." Ate Nenita (not her real name) said that her children were traumatized by the sound. "Ay ano ba mama, ano ang nangyayari?" she recalled them asking her. "Ngayon lang nangyari sa aming buhay ‘yun," she told GMA News Online. "Ang layo pa naman ng pinangyarihan. Ang layo sa amin. Rinig po talaga [ang putukan]. Baka ako tamaan ng ligaw na bala, ay kami ho ay nagtakbuhan." — BM/HS, GMA News

Tags: atimonan, atimonanshootout, atimonanmassacre