Exactly three months to the day that PROCOR hosted peace talks to de-escalate tensions affecting five (5) barangays of Besao, Mountain Province, the main suspect in the gruesome murder of three (3) Agawa, Besao tribesmen was finally arrested by officers of the Tubo Municipal Police Station.
Marlon Batuli, a native of Sitio Baclingayan, Tabacda, Tubo, Abra is the No. 1 most wanted person, in CAR on the 4th quarter of this year. He was arrested at about 6:00 o’clock on the evening of October 17, 2019 at Barangay Kili, Tubo, Abra by virtue of warrants of arrest issued by Judge Elizabeth G Bringas of RTC Branch 58, Bucay, Abra for murder in Criminal Cases No. 1385-B-2019, 1386-B-2019, and 1387-B-2019. Batuli had gone into hiding after confessing to the Tubo mayor that he was responsible for the killing of Jansen “Ayban” Gabaen, Ronnie Macayba, and Pedro Sauyen, all from Agawa, Besao, Mountain Province.
The three men had gone to fish in a river near the village of Baclingayan, Tubo, Abra but failed to return home after a week. A search party from Agawa sought the help of barangay officials of nearby Kili, Tubo, Abra and were able to find the shot, stabbed, and mutilated bodies on May 27, 2019 near the river thus creating an uproar in Agawa and nearby Besao barangays of Gueday, Lacmaan, Ambagiw, and Tamboan. This alarmed the Baclingayan tribesmen who anticipated revenge attacks, and thus recalled home their children studying in other municipalities of Abra and Mountain Province.
The NPA also begun to intrude into the conflict. Acting with urgency, PBGen Israel Ephraim T Dickson, PROCOR regional director, immediately brought together the Provincial Peace and Order Council Chairmen of Abra and Mountain Province, the Municipal Peace and Order Councils of Tubo and Besao, and the leadership of the Barangay Peace and Order Councils and Councils of Elders of the affected barangays for a peace forum on July 16, 2019 at Camp Bado Dangwa.
The forum brought out the issues of the contending barangays, and resulted in commitments to work as one in ensuring that no further violence would occur. A pledge to work for the resolution of the cases in order to have justice for the families and relatives of the slain men was also elicited from all the participants. Invoking the “Whole-of-Nation” approach by tapping all the political local government structures and the indigenous public management systems appear to have paid off with this recent development. This proven formula shall henceforth be a standard of PROCOR in addressing conflicts that may arise in the Cordillera.** PROCOR-PIO
