Bayan pushes probe of alleged AFP torture video

A militant group on Saturday called for an investigation into a video showing what is claimed to be the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) training recruits to withstand harsh torture. The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) said that the eight-and-a-half minute long video —which was uploaded to YouTube on March 17 and is also circulating on Facebook— "raises serious questions on the professionalism of the AFP," the group said on its website. "The following video footage (was) handed over by some soldiers of the 9th Infantry Division Philippine Army based in Kuta Elias Angeles, Pili, Camarines Sur. The AFP's 9th IDPA directs all military activities in the whole of the Bicol region. This footage covers a significant part of the army recruits' months-long training," said the video's original uploaders, who have hidden their identities under the pseudonym "Isnayp". "Dismayed soldiers of the 9th IDPA submitted this video to the National Democratic Front-Bicol to protest the maltreatment and abuse carried out by the Training Unit of the 9th IDPA," Isnayp added. "Are these training methods actually sanctioned by the AFP? Is this how recruits are prepared by the institution, through inhumane and degrading treatment? Would not these methods also encourage soldiers to commit torture which is a serious human rights violation?" asked Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. "We ask patriotic members of the AFP who are aware of these atrocities to come forward and expose these practices," he continued, adding that the AFP personnel in the video should be identified and made to explain their actions. “The commanding general of the 9th ID as well as the head of the 9th ID’s training unit should also be investigated. The AFP should be teaching human rights and not torture methods," Reyes concluded. — TJD, GMA News