CHR tells AFP to pull out troops in Metro Manila; AFP “considering it very seriously

By Ronron
March 23, 2007

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is wary about the presence of military troops in Metro Manila that it asked the Philippine government, particularly the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) leadership, to pull them out immediately.

In a letter addressed to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr., Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, and Philippine National Police chief Gen. Oscar Calderon, CHR Chairman Purificacion Quisumbing said there is “no prevalent lawless violence which would necessitate the deployment of military personnel in urban residential areas in Metro Manila.”

“The deployment and presence of the military in urban areas, particularly in depressed communities within Metropolitan Manila, raise human rights serious curtailment of the free exercise of constitutionally guaranteed freedom of persons,” reads a part of Quisumbing’s three-page letter dated March 16, 2006.

“In this vein, the Commission calls upon the Government, particularly the top officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, to recall all military personnel deployed in and patrolling certain urban residential areas in Metro Manila as they are generally into police work,” it added.

Members of the Philippine Army’s Civil Military Operations (CMO) Battalion, which is under the operational control of the AFP National Capital Region Command (NCRCom), were deployed in urban poor and Moslem communities in Metro Manila since November of last year.

CMO Battalion commander Col. Ricardo Visaya said the deployment is part of the military’s help to maintain peace and order in the communities, and at the same time to train its men for peacekeeping missions.

Visaya had said that there are 26 teams, each composed of nine to 10 personnel, deployed in different barangays in Caloocan City, Taguig City, Quezon City and Manila City.

Following the admission of the AFP early this month about the troops deployment, Quisumbing said the CHR immediately dispatched quick reaction teams to said areas to verify.

And indeed, they have validated the presence of troops inn the following areas: Barangay Commonwealth in Quezon City; barangays located along the railways near España Avenue, Manila City; Pandacan, Manila City; Barangay 592, Sta. Mesa, Manila City; Barangay 176 Hall Annex Package 5, Phase 9, Bagong Silang, Caloocan City; Barangay Lupang Pangako, Payatas, Quezon City; Unit 7, Fairview, Quezon City; Ideal Subdivision, Fairview, Quezon City; and, Barangay Ususan, Taguig City.

“In summation, CHR validated reports show that the military presence in some areas in Metro Manila are not solely for community services, but likewise patrolling said areas to detect the presence of the CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army) / insurgents and prevent recruitment of residents into their organization, and also to address criminalities,” Quisumbing said.

But while the CHR appreciates the military’s community service at the barangay level, Quisumbing said it is not “within the appropriate time considering the crises / issues of human rights violations, foremost of which, the alleged extrajudicial killings in the country implicating some members of the (AFP) as perpetrators.”

“Let it be emphasized that the country, apparently, is in normal situation and the responsibility in the maintenance of peace and order in Philippine society is not the primary responsibility of the (AFP), as the law reposed such responsibility, principally, upon the law enforcement agencies of the State,” Quisumbing wrote.

She specifically identified the PNP as the “agency responsible for the maintenance of peace and order and public safety, while the AFP is “to secure the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of the national territory.”

The letter was received by the AFP, the PNP and the DILG last March 19th; by the Office of Senate President Manuel Villar and House Speaker Jose de Venecia last March 20th; and by Malacañang last March 21st.

Sought for comment on the request of troops pull out, AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said: “The Chief of Staff is considering it very seriously because this might have an effect on the areas where we also have troop deployments… like Davao, General Santos and Zamboanga cities.”

Bacarro said Esperon wishes to discuss the matter further with the CHR before coming up with a final decision.

But in a separate interview, Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino said he would want the troops to remain in the metropolis, citing the threat of penetration by communist insurgents.

“There are reports that they are trying to infiltrate… to establish their staging point… They have been saying that they want to surround the city from the countryside, haven’t they? Now, they want to enter the city already because they could no longer establish in the countryside,” Tolentino said.

To prove his point, Tolentino recalled the presence of SPARU units in Metro Manila who carried out liquidation operations against former members of the communist movement.

He also pointed out that while the PNP is doing good in its job, the organization is undermanned.

“We are contributing because the PNP is our partner,” Tolentino said./DMS