Community volunteer school teachers Chad Booc and Gelejurain Ngujo II, community health worker Elegyn Balonga and their accompanying drivers Tirso Añar and Robert Aragon were killed by Armed Forces of the Philippines troopers in New Bataan town, Davao de Oro province on 24 February 2022. Families, colleagues and human rights groups condemn the massacre of the ‘New Bataan 5’ and called on the Commission on Human Rights and other groups to conduct further investigation.

According to witnesses, the group was driving from New Bataan to Davao City when they were flagged down by elements of the AFP 10th Infantry Division. Security officials claim that the five were killed in “military encounters”. Residents of New Bataan, however, reveal that there were no such encounters in their community.

The Save Our Schools network asserted that Chad and his companions were all unarmed civilians. They were in the area conducting “initial assessment and environmental scanning” in preparation for the possible reopening of indigenous Lumad community schools. The Duterte government had earlier ordered the closure of 178 community schools. Officials of his National Task Force for the Elimination of Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) have been relentless in accusing the schools as “communist breeding grounds”.

Prior to their killing, Chad, Gelejurain and Elegyn had been targets of red-tagging, intimidation, death threats and surveillance by Duterte security officials due to their volunteer work with the indigenous Lumad communities.

In response to calls of the victims’ families and colleagues, forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun conducted an autopsy of Chad, Gelejurain and Balanga on 7 March. Dr. Fortun classified the deaths of the three as homicide.

In her preliminary report, she declared that Chad had wounds to the trunk and lacerations in the lungs, diaphragm, liver, spleen, stomach, intestines, right kidney and right adrenal gland. There were fractures in his ribs and vertebrae and a gunshot wound to the right elbow. She further revealed that Chad’s spinal cord was cut.

Gelejurain’s body, according to Dr. Fortun, sustained several gunshot wounds, and parts of the skin on his stomach and right thigh had been peeled off. She said that Elegyn’s left leg had been cut off a few inches below the knee while her right foot was cut off near the ankle. The dismembered limbs were then wrapped and re-attached using packaging tape. Blood clots also formed on Elegyn’s fingertips. Dr. Fortun disclosed that Elegyn also suffered gunshot wounds to her right knee and below the right elbow. Her jaw was also visibly torn off and her nose bridge was bruised.