Samar soldiers renew rights vow

Often accused as human rights violators, officers and men of the Philippine Army in Samar were required to recite the soldiers’ human rights oath to highlight the week-long celebration of the National Rights Consciousness Week.

The observance of the National Human Rights Consciousness Week, which ends tomorrow, is pursuant to Republic Act 9201 as part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Maj. Gen. Rodrigo Maclang, commander of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division, urged his men to take the Panata sa Karapatang Pantao by heart as he led them in reciting it during a ceremony at the 8th ID headquarters at Camp Lukban in Catbalogan, Samar.

"The primary objective of this activity is to instill and to remind the individual soldier, as well as the civilians, not to take human rights for granted," Maclang said.

He, however, lamented that soldiers have become the favorite whipping boys of human rights groups when communist guerrillas have committed most human rights abuses in recent years.

He said human rights should not only be the concern of military personnel but also by the insurgents.

Maclang cited, for instance, the recent liquidation run staged by the hit squad of the New People’s Army which left one of his men dead.

The soldier, according to Maclang, was on his way home from his farm when three young-looking rebels gunned him down.