AFP, MILF units violated rights in clashes - group
10/16/2008 | 07:04 PM
MANILA, Philippines - Both the military and the members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front committed human rights violations in recent clashes in Mindanao, a group which conducted a fact-finding mission said Thursday.
The initial report is part of an ongoing fact-finding mission (FFM) which is being conducted in order to verify the of reports of human rights violations.
The mission is being spearheaded by the Mindanao Peoples Peace movement (MPPM), Task Force Civilian Protection, SALAM Inc., and the Alyansa ng mga Mamamayan para sa Karapatang Pantao (AKMP) and is participated in by 48 organizations from Mindanao and Manila. The FFM covers the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Maguindanao, Sharif Kabungsuan and North Cotabato.
An initial report of the on-going fact-finding mission showed that in some towns of Lanao del Norte, cases of abduction, destruction of houses, both private and government properties, looting, mutilation and murder were committed by the MILF combatants.
Victims told the fact-finding team that the MILF attackers were from the neighboring provinces since they spoke in Tagalog instead of their local dialect.
Also, the victims said that the attackers used local residents to act as their guide in entering and withdrawing from the villages.
The victims further said that some of the attackers even ransacked food establishments along the highway before they withdrew at around 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on August 18, 2008.
The report noted that the military and the police forces failed to protect the people as verified by the local residents who noted that the incidents happened near camps of the 32nd Infantry Battalion in the barangays of Tacub and Lapayan in Kauswagan.
According to the victims, upon arrival of the military assigned in the nearest detachment, they even pointed to the direction where the MILF forces were fleeing, but they were told by the
military “wala pang order" (we have not received any order).
Military reinforcements came in late.
In an interview with Major Benedicto Manquiquis, Civil Military Relations Officer of the 42nd Division, he said that it is the discretion of the ground commanders to respond since civilians are already being murdered.
He said that they are already conducting interviews within the community to address allegations that their forces did not respond.
However, the military said it would not initiate filing of charges without formal complaints from the victims.
Manquiquis stressed that the military immediately sent reinforcements but could not divulge the details since this was part of tactics.
He further said that the reinforcements were not allowed to use the highway for fear of being ambushed, instead the troops were told to take the mountains to conceal themselves from the MILF fighters.
Manquiquis also said that the Army tank stationed in Poblacion Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte was not used to respond to the nearby attacked villages because it was tasked to protect the Municipal Hall, which according to him is the seat of government and for fear that the tank would be destroyed by the rocket propelled grenade (RPG) of the MILF, the fact-finding group said.
On the other hand, the same group said that it was able to record cases of torture and illegal detention committed by the military in Lanao del Norte.
This was allegedly confirmed by the tortured and detained victims themselves.
According to an interviewed victim, he and nine others were forcibly taken by the military to the headquarters and forced to admit their involvement and support to the MILF as well as the identities and whereabouts of the MILF fighters.
They were illegally detained for three days, blindfolded and beaten with sticks and deprived of food.
They were also allegedly forced to drink urine and dirty water from a canal.
In the town of Piagapo, Lanao del Sur, cases of murder, destruction and burning of houses, farm equipment, Masjid, Madrasa School and looting of farm animals were confirmed to have been perpetrated by the military, the group said.
The residents also claimed that their villages were occupied and used as camps of the military and that their food stocks were either eaten, destroyed or burned.
There was even a case of a 13-year-old boy who was killed and thrown in a toilet hole (unused septic tank).
In various affected towns in Lanao del Norte and in Lanao del Sur, the group said that hundreds of residents are still displaced either in the evacuation centers or in the house of their relatives.
These residents are forced to live somewhere else because their houses have been burned during the attack or their villages are still occupied by the military.
Some of these villages have become ghost towns. In the evacuation centers, children are
dying due to diseases.
Manquiquis, the group said, dispelled the claim that there is an on-going military operations, saying that what they are conducting are law enforcement operations.
In the communities, residents leave their villages because the military are patrolling the areas with a civilian, wearing bonnet and large sunglasses, who is supposed to identify the “MILF" members in the areas, the group said.- PR/GMANews.TV
The initial report is part of an ongoing fact-finding mission (FFM) which is being conducted in order to verify the of reports of human rights violations.
The mission is being spearheaded by the Mindanao Peoples Peace movement (MPPM), Task Force Civilian Protection, SALAM Inc., and the Alyansa ng mga Mamamayan para sa Karapatang Pantao (AKMP) and is participated in by 48 organizations from Mindanao and Manila. The FFM covers the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Maguindanao, Sharif Kabungsuan and North Cotabato.
An initial report of the on-going fact-finding mission showed that in some towns of Lanao del Norte, cases of abduction, destruction of houses, both private and government properties, looting, mutilation and murder were committed by the MILF combatants.
Victims told the fact-finding team that the MILF attackers were from the neighboring provinces since they spoke in Tagalog instead of their local dialect.
Also, the victims said that the attackers used local residents to act as their guide in entering and withdrawing from the villages.
The victims further said that some of the attackers even ransacked food establishments along the highway before they withdrew at around 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on August 18, 2008.
The report noted that the military and the police forces failed to protect the people as verified by the local residents who noted that the incidents happened near camps of the 32nd Infantry Battalion in the barangays of Tacub and Lapayan in Kauswagan.
According to the victims, upon arrival of the military assigned in the nearest detachment, they even pointed to the direction where the MILF forces were fleeing, but they were told by the
military “wala pang order" (we have not received any order).
Military reinforcements came in late.
In an interview with Major Benedicto Manquiquis, Civil Military Relations Officer of the 42nd Division, he said that it is the discretion of the ground commanders to respond since civilians are already being murdered.
He said that they are already conducting interviews within the community to address allegations that their forces did not respond.
However, the military said it would not initiate filing of charges without formal complaints from the victims.
Manquiquis stressed that the military immediately sent reinforcements but could not divulge the details since this was part of tactics.
He further said that the reinforcements were not allowed to use the highway for fear of being ambushed, instead the troops were told to take the mountains to conceal themselves from the MILF fighters.
Manquiquis also said that the Army tank stationed in Poblacion Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte was not used to respond to the nearby attacked villages because it was tasked to protect the Municipal Hall, which according to him is the seat of government and for fear that the tank would be destroyed by the rocket propelled grenade (RPG) of the MILF, the fact-finding group said.
On the other hand, the same group said that it was able to record cases of torture and illegal detention committed by the military in Lanao del Norte.
This was allegedly confirmed by the tortured and detained victims themselves.
According to an interviewed victim, he and nine others were forcibly taken by the military to the headquarters and forced to admit their involvement and support to the MILF as well as the identities and whereabouts of the MILF fighters.
They were illegally detained for three days, blindfolded and beaten with sticks and deprived of food.
They were also allegedly forced to drink urine and dirty water from a canal.
In the town of Piagapo, Lanao del Sur, cases of murder, destruction and burning of houses, farm equipment, Masjid, Madrasa School and looting of farm animals were confirmed to have been perpetrated by the military, the group said.
The residents also claimed that their villages were occupied and used as camps of the military and that their food stocks were either eaten, destroyed or burned.
There was even a case of a 13-year-old boy who was killed and thrown in a toilet hole (unused septic tank).
In various affected towns in Lanao del Norte and in Lanao del Sur, the group said that hundreds of residents are still displaced either in the evacuation centers or in the house of their relatives.
These residents are forced to live somewhere else because their houses have been burned during the attack or their villages are still occupied by the military.
Some of these villages have become ghost towns. In the evacuation centers, children are
dying due to diseases.
Manquiquis, the group said, dispelled the claim that there is an on-going military operations, saying that what they are conducting are law enforcement operations.
In the communities, residents leave their villages because the military are patrolling the areas with a civilian, wearing bonnet and large sunglasses, who is supposed to identify the “MILF" members in the areas, the group said.- PR/GMANews.TV
