Military tagged no. 1 human rights violator

Members of the military are the number one violators of human rights in the country, followed by members of the Philippine National Police, and by civilians who are acting on behalf of the local government units or politicians, according to the 2004 Human Rights Situations Report.

Human Rights Commissioner Wilhelm Soriano, who was here the other day as guest speaker in a dialogue on human rights, said that most of the human rights cases they are investigating point to the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines as perpetrators.

He cited the recent "massacre" in Palo, Leyte where seven farmers were killed and several others wounded.

He said that their initial investigation revealed that the Palo massacre was an "encounter" between the members of the 19th Infantry Battalion and the farmers suspected to be members of the New People's Army.

But, he said that they are still trying to establish if the incident was indeed an encounter between the soldiers and rebels, as members of cause-oriented groups claimed the victims were innocent farmers.

Soriano also cited the killing of some of the workers at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac and the series of alleged harassment perpetrated by members of the military in Mindoro.

However, he wasn't able to show figures on cases of human rights violations the police had reportedly perpetrated, saying that he was not able to bring the copy of the report.

Soriano said that human rights violations are becoming common, but he was quick to defend the present government.

Militant groups have been tagging President Arroyo and the military as the number one terrorists because of the high incidence of human rights violations that happened under the current administration.

Soriano said he could not infer if the highest number of human rights violations happened under the Arroyo government because the commission doesn't have a comparative report of human rights violations under each administration.

"But incidents during the martial law is still incomparable," he pointed out.

Karapatan-Central Visayas had earlier said that the military had launched attacks against the rebels, killing and endangering lives of civilians, especially members of progressive organizations.

As of this year, Karapatan chairman Dennis Abarrintos said that there are already 142 members of different cause-oriented groups who were killed. Worse, he added, that most of these killings point to the military as the perpetrators.

"The killings that happen now are worse than the killings during the martial law years. State terrorism is also getting worse. Human rights workers, non-government organization members and even ordinary citizens are made as targets," he said.

Abarrintos expressed fear that the killings and human rights abuses would escalate especially on the celebration of International Human Rights Day slated December 10 because according to him "for sure, many human rights advocates and victims would come out." - Wenna A. Berondo