Aquino warns military as 3rd activist killed
“Our policy is that we will not differentiate between those who implement the law but break it, and those who are outside of the law,” Aquino said in Filipino, reminding members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to respect human rights.
Aquino spoke at a press conference in Camp Aguinaldo after presiding over his first military command conference since taking office on June 30.
Mark Francisco, a 27-year-old teacher at San Isidro Elementary School in Palanas, Masbate, was on his way home with four companions aboard motorcycles when they were fired on by two men wearing ski masks and in camouflage uniform, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Bicol (Bayan-Bicol) said in a statement Monday.
Francisco, a member of the militant Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), died instantly, Bayan said.
On July 5, Francisco Baldomero, a coordinator of the Bayan Muna party-list group in Aklan province, was shot dead by a lone assailant while he was about to bring his son to school.
Four days later, Pascual Guevarra, 78, head of the local Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association, was gunned down also by a lone assassin in Nueva Ecija province.
Rising body count
“In only a matter of 10 days of the Aquino administration, three activists have been killed. Mr. Aquino should immediately make concrete steps to stop the seemingly rising body count of activists,” said Anakbayan party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano.
The attacks have also targeted a member of the media. On July 9, Miguel Belen, a reporter of radio dwEb-FM in Nabua, Camarines Sur, was shot and wounded by motorcycle-riding men.
At Monday’s press briefing, Aquino said he had ordered Philippine National Police Director General Jesus Verzosa to give him an update on Task Force Usig, a group formed under the Arroyo administration to solve cases of extrajudicial killings.
Aquino made it clear he would never allow state forces to carry out such activities, saying “that is not the policy of our administration.”
Motive unclear
Senior Supt. Eddie Benigay, Masbate police director, confirmed the killing of Francisco but said the police had not established the motive.
Inspector Reynaldo Gaita, Palanas police chief, said Francisco suffered bullet wounds on his feet and back.
Gaita said Francisco was on his motorcycle when two unidentified men shot him. He said Francisco was apparently shot after alighting from the motorcycle while crossing a creek.
“It’s possible that the armed men prepositioned themselves near the creek and waited there to ambush the victim,” Gaita said in a phone interview.
Col. Lope Dagoy, commanding officer of the 85th Infantry Battalion in Masbate, said claims by militants that the military had the motive for killing Francisco were baseless.
“Why is it that if the [suspects] are in uniform, we are always pointed to as the perpetrators,” he said. “All killings are automatically attributed to us by these groups. It is purely propaganda.”
Aquino instructions
At the two-hour Camp Aguinaldo meeting, Aquino repeatedly stressed that respect for human rights must be observed even as soldiers pursue their fight against the insurgency, AFP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr. told reporters.
“His instruction was [for us] to defeat the enemies of the state but in going about that, human rights and international humanitarian laws must be adhered to,” Mabanta said.
In line with this, Mabanta said the military planned to duplicate the human rights office in Camp Aguinaldo by setting up similar offices at the lowest levels of command to be able reach soldiers in war zones.
“We are giving additional resources and equipage so that it (the human rights office) will be able to deal and talk directly to our combatants as well as with other human rights advocates in and out of government, domestic and international,” Mabanta said.
He added: “The important thing is that policies are being translated and implemented at the lower level. In the past they’re not,” Mabanta told the Inquirer.
Alston report
The special office was established in 2006 by then AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. amid allegations of military involvement in political killings. Human rights advocates dismissed its establishment as a mere public relations gesture.
“Hopefully, by giving more teeth [to the office] and emphasis on human rights, it will be able to translate human rights policies to the lowest level,” Mabanta said.
This will enable the AFP to help soldiers carry out combat missions while observing human rights, he added.
In 2007, a representative of the United Nations Human Rights Council blamed many of the killings on the military.
“In some parts of the country, the Armed Forces have followed a deliberate strategy of systematically hunting down the leaders of leftist organizations,” said Philip Alston, the UN rapporteur.
Motive may be politics
Police in Camarines Sur were looking into politics as the probable motive in the shooting and wounding of radio reporter Belen after two witnesses surfaced Monday.
SPO3 Adonis Lomatao of the Nabua town police said it was becoming clear there was a political angle in the attack.
Lomatao said the two witnesses were already helping the police produce artist sketches of the suspects, who remain at large.
Doctors at Doña Josefa Hospital in Iriga City said Belen was recovering and in a stable condition. Belen sustained at least seven gunshot wounds after he was shot by motorcycle-riding men while on his way home.
Belen was also a barangay captain in Iriga City and had been a supporter of Camarines Sur Rep. Salvio Fortuno. The lawmaker said Belen had been receiving death threats from his (Fortuno’s) political opponent.
Land quarrel
In Nueva Ecija, the Army has started a separate investigation of the murder of Guevarra, a leader of a farmers’ group in a community that was once part of a military reservation.
But Col. Felicito Trinidad, commander of the 702nd Infantry Brigade, said initial information showed that Guevarra, who was among the peasant leaders fighting the military’s claim over lands around Fort Magsaysay, was “helping other people with land problems outside the military reservation.”
Anakpawis Rep. Mariano believed that Guevarra’s murder was connected with the conflict between farmers and the military over 3,100 hectares of land inside Fort Magsaysay.
Guevarra’s group, Almana 3100, was formed to stop the efforts of the Army to recall from the farmers the 3,100 ha covering several villages.
The lands were originally intended for the victims of Mt. Pinatubo’s eruptions in 1991.
Part of Monday’s conference at Camp Aguinaldo also tackled the modernization of the military.
Aquino also asked AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Ricardo David to furnish him with a full copy of the Mayuga Report into the alleged involvement of generals in purported cheating during the 2004 presidential election.
“The Mayuga Report was supposed to address that, but I will be very honest with you. The copy that I got was a very thin document. I want the Mayuga Report and all of the attendant annexes,” Aquino said. With reports from Marlon Ramos and Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. in Manila; Mar Arguelles and Jonas Cabiles Soltes, Inquirer Southern Luzon; and Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon
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