AFP admits Alston’s findings affect its image

By Ronron
November 28, 2007

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) admitted Wednesday that the findings of United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston regarding the cases of extrajudicial killings in the country is affecting its image in the international community.

This, even as it continues to deny the findings of Alston that the AFP is behind the political killings because it allegedly targets leaders of leftist movements.

“We can say that indeed, in a way, the image of the Armed Forces of the Philippines is affected (by the Alston report),” AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro told reporters yesterday in Camp Aguinaldo.

“But we would like to highlight and inform everybody that that is not our policy, we do not do such things as a deliberate strategy of systematically hunting down leaders of the leftist organizations… What we are doing is that we are hunting down the armed component,” he added.

Bacarro acknowledged that with the findings of Alston, it seems they lost to the Left-leaning organizations in the so-called “propaganda war.”

But he said he is not in a position to say what could have made Alston come up with such conclusion despite the facts submitted to him by the military and the government during his visit in the country in the early part of the year.

Asked how they could counter this, Bacarro said: “I think the best way to counter a propaganda is to tell the truth. And what we are saying is, the truth is it is not the policy of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to do such thing.”

Bacarro said they are not even tolerating their personnel who are accused of violating human rights.

He said that currently, the AFP has recorded 13 cases of alleged violation of human rights that involve 22 active members of the military, two militiamen and one military asset as suspects.

The cases start from 2001 and are mostly homicide and murder in nature, said Bacarro.

As to the disbelief of Alston on the “purge theory” of the AFP against the New People’s Army, Bacarro said no less than the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) admitted in 1992 to be doing that under its Grave Rectification activity.

“We respect the findings of Prof. Alston. It is his opinion. But it’s a different thing if this will withstand a judicial scrutiny – meaning to say, if they have evidence to really prove that it is really the Armed Forces of the Philippines who, according to its report, committed the extrajudicial killings,” Bacarro said.

Bacarro and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. are one in pointing out that Alston may have lacked time to complete its probe and appreciate the data from the government.

“We wished he had more time to stay here in the country to also look at other cases,” Bacarro said.

For his part, Razon said: “I would venture to say that I hoped Prof. Alston spent more time here looking into the facts and figures were presented him, that he would spend more time interviewing the families of victims of these atrocities so that he could properly make a proper conclusion.”

Razon was the first head of the Task Force USIG when it was created middle of last year by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to address extrajudicial killing cases./DMS