Military on killings: Don't look at us

MANILA, Philippines - The military yesterday denied involvement in the recent killings of two activists in Masbate and Nueva Ecija.

Maj. Harold Cabunoc, spokesman of the Army 9th Infantry Division based in Bicol, said they would not resort to extrajudicial killings even if communist rebels have attacked and killed their troops.

“The communist rebels have killed soldiers, militiamen and even civilians,” he said. “But we were ordered not to get back at them. If we do that, the violence will not stop.”

Cabunoc said they are not discounting the possibility that teacher Mark Francisco’s murder might have been plotted by communist rebels or by his enemies.

“They may have targeted their comrades whom they think have helped soldiers,” he said in Filipino. “It is also possible that the killing was done by his enemies. Some people in Masbate have tried to take the law into their hands. The killing might have been motivated by personal reasons.”

Cabunoc said they were meeting with the police to help track down those behind Francisco’s death.

“We are concerned about these killings,” he said. “We do not want to destroy the people’s trust in us.”

In Nueva Ecija, Lt. Col. Rogelio Mesias, Army 7th Infantry Division spokesman, said soldiers were not involved in the killing of peasant leader Pascual Guevarra in Laur town last Friday.

“The 7th Infantry ‘Kaugnay’ Division denies the alleged involvement of the military in the slay of a peasant leader in Barangay San Isidro, Laur, Nueva Ecija as published in news reports,” he said.

“The 7th ID is already coordinating with the police investigators to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Police investigation shows land dispute as the possible motive behind the murder, Mesias said.

Maj. Gen. Irineo Espino, 7th ID commander, said the military has not interfered in any land dispute.

“All issues related to the military reservation are being addressed through legal means,” he said.

P-Noy not entirely to blame

President Aquino should not be blamed entirely for the spate of unexplained killings of activists and journalists, a lawmaker said yesterday.

However, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said Mr. Aquino must take bold steps within the security forces to end the killings.

“Political killings and other human rights violations do not choose a regime as no administration is sacrosanct to criminals,” he said.

Lagman said responsibility cannot be placed solely on the Aquino administration.

“The basic problem is that all administrations inherit an existing military-police establishment which has developed a culture of violence and impunity in perpetrating human rights violations and other abuses,” he said.

Lagman said the administration of President Corazon Aquino had an almost equal record of forced disappearances with the martial law regime of President Ferdinand Marcos.

“On a time frame basis, the Cory government had relatively more cases because she served for six years while Marcos ruled for 21 years,” he said.

DepEd to help police arrest killers of teachers

Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro has instructed Department of Education (DepEd) officials to coordinate with police to bring the killers of the three teachers to justice.

“We will exhaust all means to give justice to our fallen teachers and we will make sure that the benefits due them will be given to their families,” he said.

In Bataan, Josephine Estacio, 46, who handles a Grade 1 class at Tenejero Elementary School in Balanga City, was shot by unknown suspects in front of teachers and students during the flag ceremony.

In Masbate, three teachers were shot days apart while on their way home from work.

Mark Francisco, 27, of San Isidro Elementary School, was shot dead at Sitio Umawas, Barangay Malibas, Palanas, Masbate on July 9 at around 5 p.m.  

Edgar Fernandez, 44, of Roco Pahis Sr. Central School, had been receiving death threats through text before he was killed.

Dexter Legazpi, 36, also of Palanas, Masbate, survived after being shot while on his way home with his wife.

All three teachers from Masbate are members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers.

Child abuse linked to killing

Police are investigating whether allegations of child abuse against Francisco had something to do with his murder.

Masbate police director Senior Superintendent Eddie Benigay said Francisco was a respondent to a case of violation of Republic Act 7610, the anti-child abuse law.

Benigay said the offense was allegedly committed last Oct. 12, 2009 against a resident of Barangay Nipa, Palanas.

“Other considerations of victim’s personality that would lead to the establishment of the motive of the crime are being reviewed,” he said.

“We can’t say, however, that the child abuse case was the strongest angle in the murder.”

Police are still looking into other possible motives that could have triggered the attack against Francisco, Benigay said.

De Lima alarmed at killings

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima expressed alarm yesterday over the spate of unexplained killings of militants.

“The scenario now is all too familiar,” she said.

Speaking to reporters at Malacañang, De Lima said the recent killings of activists could be a continuation of cases which she had encountered when she was chair of the Commission on Human Rights.

“How do you explain these cases?” she asked. “Just look at the modus operandi.”

De Lima said she is puzzled by the real agenda of the perpetrators of recent killings.

“Why would they perpetrate these at a time when the new administration has just assumed (office)?” she asked.

“Are there some people behind these or could it just be remnants of the past cases?”

De Lima said she plans to set up a super body to allow better coordination between investigators of unexplained killings and state prosecutors.

“But the preliminary investigation should be conducted by another fiscal so that it would be independent from the findings of authorities,” she said.

Aquino asked to end killings

An international human rights watchdog urged yesterday President Aquino to fulfill his campaign promise to end suspected state-sponsored killings.

Human Rights Watch said four journalists, two leftist activists and a witness to an election-related massacre last year have been gunned down since Mr. Aquino was proclaimed winner in June.

Security forces and gunmen hired by political warlords have been blamed for most of the killings.

Out of hundreds of unexplained killings and disappearances in the past decade, only six cases have been successfully prosecuted and 11 people convicted, none of them soldiers, the New York-based group said in an open letter to Mr. Aquino.

Mr. Aquino “needs to turn his promises into action by taking immediate steps to end widespread killings and hold the killers and those who deploy them accountable,” said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“In numerous provinces, ruling families use militia forces and local police as their private armies,” Pearson said.

The group said the new government should strengthen witness protection programs, abolish private armies and government-armed militias, institute tougher controls on local government procurement of weapons and dismantle death squads and investigate government involvement.

Pearson said Mr. Aquino has personally suffered as a result of a government-instigated killing and “more than most would recognize that ending such killings would be an important and lasting legacy of his administration.”

Mr. Aquino promised in his inauguration speech “there can be no reconciliation without justice” and ordered Secretary De Lima to speed up investigations.

In his first meeting with senior military commanders Monday, Mr. Aquino said he will not differentiate “between those who implement the law but break it, and those who are outside the law.”

Human rights organizations and the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Philip Alston, have blamed security forces under the Arroyo administration for as many as 1,000 deaths since 2001, most of them farmers and activists accused by the military of collaborating with communist rebels.

Most of the killings were carried out by suspected gunmen-for-hire who escaped on motorcycles.

Renato Reyes, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary-general, called on Mr. Aquino to dismantle the military’s counter-insurgency program, which he claimed was responsible for the civilian deaths.

“Nothing will really happen if President Aquino will order the AFP to respect human rights even as it maintains the counter-insurgency program known as Oplan Bantay Laya that has targeted unarmed activists,” he said.

“It appears that Aquino does not recognize that the problem is the policy and the overall lack of accountability within the Armed Forces.

“By saying that many of the killings are motivated by personal reasons and not by a state policy of the past, Aquino is effectively turning a blind eye to the gross and systematic human rights abuses started by the previous Arroyo regime and continuing under his watch.

“Is Aquino now implying that the killings of hundreds of activists are unrelated and merely coincidental since there was and still is no state policy?”

Bayan said many respected international bodies including the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have all pointed to a state policy of targeting unarmed activists within the framework of the AFP’s counter-insurgency drive.

“It has been well established that a policy exists. This policy seems to have been carried over by the AFP from the previous government. Oplan Bantay Laya is a continuing policy, hence the recent murders of members of progressive groups,” read the Bayan statement.

“If Mr. Aquino doesn’t find anything wrong with this policy, then we can expect worse days ahead for activists.”

Bayan welcomed Mr. Aquino’s announcement that he will go after lawbreakers in uniform but said that unless the counter-insurgency program Bantay Laya is abandoned, the human rights abuses will continue.

“We urge Mr. Aquino to read the Alston report and the recommendations of Human Rights Watch,” read the Bayan statement.

“Mr. Aquino should not rely on the reports given by the inutile Task Force Usig which has not made any headway in arresting the perpetrators of extrajudicial killings.

“Mr. Aquino should seriously rethink his notion that most of the killings are personal and not part of any state policy. He is in effect absolving the AFP and even Mrs. Arroyo of any previous wrongdoing.

“By saying that there is no existing policy, even one carried over from the past regime, he is tacitly emboldening the perpetrators.”

Bayan said Mr. Aquino’s need to gain the military’s support for the stability of his administration will remain a major stumbling block to stopping the killings and holding military officials accountable.

“What is even alarming is that the AFP, despite its numerous human rights abuses, continues to receive huge military aid from the US government,” read the Bayan statement.

“This is another reason why the counter-insurgency policy remains unchanged. Not only does it have domestic support, it enjoys support from Washington.”

2 witnesses to identify attackers of radio man

Two witnesses are set to identify the attacker of dwEB radio reporter Francia Miguel Belen, police said yesterday.

Bicol police commander Chief Superintendent Cecilio Calleja said the two witnesses could provide a description of Belen’s assailants.

He has sent a police artist to Iriga City to draw a composite sketch of the suspect, he added.

Calleja said police investigators will also present to Belen photographs from the police rogues gallery.

“We are just waiting for the victim to recover from sedation,” he said.

Superintendent Jonathan Ablay, Camarines Sur police director, hopes that probers can get a statement from Belen.

“Security for Belen remains tight inside the Doña Maria Josefa Foundation Hospital,” he said.

Police are also investigating the killing of Francisco, a member of the party-list group ACT Teachers, Calleja said. - With Paolo Romero, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Edu Punay, Rainier Allan Ronda, Rhodina Villanueva, Celso Amo, Pia Lee-Brago