By Ronron
February 22, 2007
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Thursday chided the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial Killings and the Melo Commission for attributing to it most of the killings of political activists and newsmen even if it has submitted evidence against it.
In a news conference at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. denied Professor Philip Alston’s allegation that the Philippine military is in denial of the extrajudicial killings, saying that in fact the organization has taken action to educate its officers and men about respect and upholding human rights.
“We must say that from the very beginning, we have condemned repeatedly in the strongest terms the unexplained killings of activists and journalists. We have given directives to our commanders on the field to submit themselves to any investigations or to present their men who have been accused to such investigative groups, investigative agencies. And so, how could we be in a state of denial?” said Esperon.
On the other hand, he said maybe it is Alston who is in a state of denial since “he probably refuses to believe that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) could perpetrate such killings.”
“I have the feeling that he was not so enthusiastic when I submitted to him the 1,227 liquidations by the (NPA)… He said in his report that the 1,227 liquidations cannot be given credence because the (NPA) did not claim responsibility for them. Of course, they will not claim responsibility for them,” Esperon said.
He said Alston has no authority to question the military’s counter-insurgency strategy, which supposedly fosters more extrajudicial killings, since Alston has admitted “he has been here for the first time (only) and he has (only) stayed here for the last 10 days.”
“We have been fighting this insurgency for 39 years against the communists. And I have been fighting it for the last 33 years. I will not even claim expertise on the matter… So, I don’t know if Mr. Alston’s experience on insurgency is that extensive. Probably, if we both will take a quiz on insurgency, I will compete against him,” the military chief said.
As regards the Melo Commission Report, Esperon complained that “right at the beginning, the Commission concluded that the victims of this killings were almost entirely members of activist groups,” and that the NPA is “not into purging their own ranks.”
“My question now is what happened to our submission of a list of 1,227 liquidations perpetrated by the (NPA)? Were these victims categorized as members of activist organizations? … May we ask what happened to the document that we submitted, which mentioned OPLAN Bushfire, a document that was captures on May 22, 2006 in Tagkawayan, Quezon, which detailed the plans of the (NPA) as directed by their Central Committee to eliminate their enemies within the ranks so that these will be blamed on government, on the military?” said Esperon.
He also hit the refusal of human rights advocate group Karapatan to face the Melo Commission despite several invitations, when in fact it is the main accuser against the military.
“If indeed they were the complainant, then why did they not appear before the Melo Commission? Secondly, why did they prevent the families of alleged victims to testify before the Melo Commission?” Esperon asked.
To discredit Karapatan, which, he said, obviously was only raising the allegations for propaganda purposes, Esperon presented to the media two persons whom Karapatan listed as among those killed in the alleged 783 cases of extrajudicial killings since 2001.
They were identified as Renato Bugtong from Batangas and Edwin Mascariñas from Mindoro Occidental.
“Thank God, you are alive, unlike what Karapatan reported that you were both killed by the military. Thanks a lot that you showed up and appeared before us,” Esperon said as he welcomed the two.
He also continued to defend retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, Jr. from so many allegations of human rights violations, saying no formal complaint was filed against Palparan and no evidence was presented against him.
Esperon revealed he had subjected Palparan to informal and counter-intelligence investigations whenever an incident happens in his area of responsibility, but came out clean due to lack of evidence against him.
The AFP chief reiterated that even before the Melo Commission started its investigation in August last year and the arrival early this month of Alston in the Philippines, the military organization has already promoted the protection of human rights by its officers and men.
He said that in 1992, the entire AFP was subjected to indoctrination on human rights and the international humanitarian law. Then, last January 6th, he required field commanders to submit to him special reports on high profile killings and unexplained killings inn their areas of responsibility. He followed it up with the assignment of Rear Admiral Amable Tolentino, the chief of the AFP Civil Relations Service, as a permanent member of the Philippine National Police’ (PNP) Task Force USIG, and then with the activation of the AFP Human Rights Office last February 1st.
“Let me reiterate that the (AFP) will cooperate with all investigations… I must express confidence that we appreciate the fact that the Melo Commission will continue with its investigations… We hope that we could get to the bottom of all these things,” Esperon said.
He also thanked Alston “because his coming here has given us another inspiration to uphold human rights.”
For the first time, Esperon reminded soldiers on the field to recognize and respect the legal organizations that, to a certain degree, espouse communism. This, after showing a video clip showing CPP founding chairman Jose Maria Sison identifying sometime in 1987 Bayan (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan), Kilusang Mayo Uno, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Gabriela Women’s Alliance, League of Filipino Students, Alliance of Concerned Teachers, and KADENA, among others, as among the legal democratic fronts or organizations of the CPP.
“I would like to give a caveat, a warning, and a reminder especially to our soldiers that there are organizations, legal organizations that have been mentioned. (But) what we are going after are the underground organizations that are actually supporting or propping up these legal organizations,” Esperon said.
He was quick to clarify, however, that this does not mean that the soldiers in the field have been targeting members of the legal organizations.
Denying Alston and the Melo Commission’s statements against the AFP as damaging to the organization, Esperon said they have no recourse but to “just go steady” and fulfill their mission, particularly against the insurgency problem, which, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants wiped out in 2010 when she ends her term.
“That’s the way to go. We can’t stop from performing our mandate,” he said.
He assured that the officers and soldiers in the field will not react violently against the comments of Alston and the Melo Commission since they know the real situation.
“We are all on the same boat. We want to improve on human rights. There will be no violent reaction because it is only proper to talk about human rights,” Esperon said./DMS
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