This is a true story of a massacre that transpired in a small community in the southern Philippine province of Sulu where Filipino troops, aided by U.S. military intelligence, stormed the village of Ipil in the coastal town of Maimbung on the night of February 4, 2008 following reports of sightings of armed Abu Sayyaf rebels in the area.
Without warning, masked soldiers barged in thatched houses – one by one – rousing civilians from their sleep, searching for gunmen with links to al-Qaeda terror network. Villagers, scared that rebels have attacked, fled the area, carrying with them clothes and their children, as they rushed to wooden boats to seek safe refuge in nearby sandbars and islets, but troops opened fire on them.
An off-duty infantryman, roused from his sleep by the sound of explosions and gunfire, was also nabbed by soldiers despite pleadings from his wife, who told the raiders that her husband is an army soldier who was just vacationing. He, too, was eventually shot dead. In the end, eight people were killed in the raid.
Title: Hustisya (2013)
Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 25m
Director: Al Jacinto (PMPDA)
Production House: Mindanao Examiner Productions
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