Who’s Who in HRV Areas
With the sheer number
of killings and abductions and the relative concentration of the
occurrences of these heinous crimes in certain areas, it would have not
been difficult for the government to know where and whom to investigate.
That is, if the Arroyo government is even half that serious in wanting to
solve these killings and abductions and to live up to its claim that the
Philippines
is a “bastion of human rights.”
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN
REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
When President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo announced Aug. 21 that she had signed Administrative
Order No. 157 creating “A Commission to Conduct an Independent Probe of
the Killings of Media Practitioners and Militant Activists,” she said that
“the Philippines is a bastion of human rights.” This, however, is not what
the figures from human rights groups of all stripes – from Karapatan
(Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) to the Task Force
Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) to Amnesty International – have been
showing.
Maj. Gen. Jovito
Palparan |
Karapatan, in particular, has counted human rights violations affecting
262,908 people from 2001 – when Arroyo was catapulted to power through a
popular uprising – to July 21, 2006.
The same human rights
group has counted 730 extra-judicial killings as having taken place from
2001 to August 2006.
Of this number, at
least 300 are confirmed to have been affiliated with cause-oriented
groups. Twenty-four of the victims are themselves human rights workers –
among them Benjaline Hernandez, a former campus journalist, and Eden
Marcellana – who were coordinators of Karapatan when they were killed.
Forty-four of the victims are children and five are unborn babies.
|
Meanwhile, there have
been 181 victims of involuntary disappearances and at least 350 victims of
frustrated killings for the same period.
There are particular
regions and provinces in the country that are reported in the news as
areas where human rights violations have occurred with more frequency than
the usual. These are Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Eastern Visayas,
Compostela Valley, Isabela, the Caraga Region, and the Autonomous Region
of Muslim Mindanao.
With the sheer number
of killings and abductions and the relative concentration of the
occurrences of these heinous crimes in certain areas, it would have not
been difficult for the government to know where and whom to investigate.
That is, if the Arroyo government is even half that serious in wanting to
solve these killings and abductions and to live up to its claim that the
Philippines is a “bastion of human rights.”
Data obtained by
Bulatlat from Karapatan and the
Philippine Army website
show the disposition of troops in these areas.
Central Luzon –
Bulacan, Pampanga, Zambales, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Aurora, and Bataan – is
under the 7th Infantry Division, headed by Maj. Gen. Jovito
Palparan, Jr. Its headquarters is at Ft. Ramon Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija.
Among its provinces,
it is in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan where the human rights situation is at
present particularly bad.
Nueva Ecija is under
the 71st Infantry Battalion. News items from the Philippine
Information Agency (PIA) for this year point to Lt. Col. Gregory Cayetano
as the commanding officer of the said unit.
Bulacan, meanwhile,
is under the 56th Infantry Battalion. Recent media coverage
shows Lt. Col. Noel Clement to be the commanding officer of the 56th
Infantry Battalion.
Southern Tagalog
encompasses the provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon,
Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Palawan, and Romblon.
The whole region is under the 2nd Infantry Division. The Army
website shows Maj. Gen. Alexander Yano to have been heading the said unit
since last January.
Eastern Visayas is
made up of the provinces of Biliran, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Samar, Eastern
Samar, and Northern Samar. The said region is under the responsibility of
the 8th Infantry Division. News reports point to Maj. Gen.
Rodrigo Maclang as the commanding officer.
The province of
Compostela
Valley, founded in 1998 and thus one of the country’s newest provinces, is
covered by the Davao Region together with Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur,
and Davao Oriental.
This region is
included in the 4th Infantry Division’s area of responsibility.
A PIA news item points to Maj. Gen. Cardozo Luna as the present commanding
officer of the said unit. Holding direct jurisdiction over Compostela
Valley is the 604th Infantry Battalion – based in Doña Andrea
Asuncion, Davao del Norte. News reports show the 604th Infantry
Battalion to be currently led by Lt. Col. Edgar Gonzales.
The province of
Isabela falls within the Cagayan Valley region together with Cagayan,
Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Apayao, and Batanes.
Cagayan Valley is
under the 5th Infantry Division, with headquarters located in
Gamu, Isabela. The said division is headed by Maj. Gen. Bonifacio Ramos.
Holding direct jurisdiction over Isabela is the 502nd Infantry
Brigade, shown by recent news reports to be under the command of Col.
Hilario Atendido.
The Caraga Region,
created in 1995, is the country’s newest region and is composed of four
provinces: Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, and
Surigao del Sur.
Caraga is covered by
the 4th Infantry Division’s area of responsibility. Holding
direct jurisdiction over the region is the 402nd Infantry
Brigade, which based on recent news reports is headed by Brig. Gen.
Ricardo David.
The ARMM is composed
of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, and Sulu and is
under the jurisdiction of the 6th Infantry Division led by Maj.
Gen. Rodolfo Obaniana, based on recent news reports.
These are the
commanding officers in areas that are hot spots for human rights
violations. If the Arroyo government and the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) are not involved in the political killings,
disappearances, and other human rights violations as they claim to be,
they could easily use the troops under their command to run after the
perpetrators. But then again, if they do, they may be running in circles
just like the dog running after its own tail. Bulatlat
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