President Arroyo may have praised Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan for not backing down on his efforts “to liberate” Central Luzon communities from a “night of terror”, but the military’s counterinsurgency campaign have also spawned a growing number of internal refugees—civilians who were forced to leave their homes out of fear of military attack.
BY ABNER BOLOS
LUZON NEWS SERVICE
Bulatlat.com
President Arroyo may have praised Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan for not backing down on his efforts “to liberate” Central Luzon communities from a “night of terror”, but the counterinsurgency campaign have also spawned a growing number of internal refugees – civilians who were forced to leave their homes out of fear of military attack.
Palparan’s counterinsurgency campaign in Central Luzon started when he was appointed commanding general of the 7th Infantry Division in September 2005.
Igmedio Facunla Jr, 49, a farmer from Barangay Manggang Marikit, Guimba town, Nueva Ecija province (153 km. from Manila) and secretary general of Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson-Nueva Ecija chapter (AMGL-NE or Alliance of Peasants in Central Luzon) and Anak Pawis-Nueva Ecija (Toiling Masses) chairperson left his home in January 2005 because of threats on his life.
He is still able to discharge his functions as a peasant leader but he stays in churches, friends’ homes or where he thinks he could not be reached by the military, temporarily.
While he does not have exact figures, he estimates that hundreds of families in scores of villages under intense military operations in his province have fled their communities.
“Nagkawatak-watak ang napakaraming pamilya. Wala silang magagawa kundi umiwas sa pambubugbog, pagdukot at pagpatay. Maraming tulad ko ang naging abnormal ang buhay mula ng dumating ang mga militar sa aming lugar,” (So many families were separated and scattered. They have no choice but to escape the beatings, abductions and killings. Many people are like me whose life has become abnormal since the military arrived in our place) Facunla told GLNS.
Ricardo Diaz, 52, Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (Alliance of Peasants in Bulacan) spokesperson also suffered the same fate. He stays at the Domus Dei, a sanctuary for victims and displaced families in a church in Bulacan since killings erupted in his province late last year.
“Kaming mga leader ang unang hinahanap at marami na ang pinatay sa kanilang mismong baryo o sa loob ng kanilang mga bahay” (Leaders like me are the first ones they look for and many have been killed in their villages or even inside their homes) Dias explained.
159 victims
Karapatan-Central Luzon records show that 102 persons have been killed in extra-judicial executions and 57 were abducted and remained missing in the region from February 2001 to August 7 this year, or a total of 159 victims in the region alone.
Sixty five persons were killed and 45 people still missing from the time Palparan was transferred to Central Luzon in September last year.
Bulacan province has the most number of abduction cases, with 27 victims, and all of whom were abducted this year.
Human rights workers bewail the fact that they can hardly cope with the growing number of cases and have to update their lists almost on a daily basis as the killings and abductions occur.
International Peasant Solidarity Mission
The International Peasant Solidarity Mission (IPSM), an international fact-finding team organized to investigate the continued killings in the country, has concluded that the Philippine military is responsible for the wave of killings of peasant activists in Central Luzon and the Southern Tagalog region.
“The human rights violations were committed by uniformed soldiers or by men in civilian clothes who identified themselves as soldiers. Other violations occurred before the eyes of soldiers who were protecting the perpetrators and keeping the witnesses at a distance,” the final IPSM report said after the fact-finding investigations were conducted from August 6-8, 2006.
The mission attended by 16 delegates from the United States, Belgium, France, Canada, Netherlands, Japan and Nepal also noted that the “military have become more brazen” under the command of Palparan, and that cases of human rights violations increased dramatically in the regions where he is stationed.
Data from Karapatan showed that of the 717 documented cases of extra-judicial executions since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took office, 22 percent were in Southern Tagalog region, while 18 percent were in Central Luzon. Fifty-four percent of the victims were farmers.
The mission report also said that the “violations are part and parcel of the Oplan Bantay Laya, a counter-insurgency plan implemented by the military and sanctioned by the Philippine government.”
Suspected NPAs
All of the 53 victims and witnesses interviewed by mission members said that the military’s suspicion that they are either members or supporters of the New People’s Army (NPA) led to the killing or abduction of their kin and friends.
Marlyn Abellera, 28, whose mother Tessie Abellera, 54, and brother Rodel, 25, were abducted by armed men in military uniform in their home in Barangay Parista, Lupao, Nueva Ecija on July 13 and remain missing condemned the military in his testimony to mission members.
“Everyone in our village knows that my mother and brother were not NPAs. My mother is a Bayan Muna (People First party-list group) coordinator during the past elections while my brother is an active supporter. On that night, three armed men wearing bonnets forcibly entered our home. A fourth man stood by the window and pointed to my mother and said ‘She’s an NPA,” Abellera said.
She said the armed men kicked and hit her mother with a rifle butt in the stomach and tied her hand behind her back before she was taken away. His brother who was in an adjacent house was also beaten before the armed men took him to a waiting vehicle.
“I am sure they were soldiers. Only soldiers are after the NPAs. They are inhuman. They abducted my mother and brother on mere suspicion when it is clear that their suspicions are not true. Who gave them the right to do such a thing?” Abellera told GLNS.
Social cost
Wim de Ceukelaire, a Belgian national and IPSM spokesperson affirmed that communities under military operations have to contend not only with the actual damages in terms of lives and property but of the social costs of the government’s counterinsurgency campaign.
“This repression and human rights violations of the military are only aggravating the dismal situation of peasants and hampering the resolution of their problems,” Ceukelaire said.
He said military operations usually target either leaders or members of the progressive organizations that are advocating genuine land reform, democracy and social justice.
“The military is trying to cover up their crimes by linking the peasant leaders and organizations to the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New people’s Army,” he said.
The mission held the Arroyo government responsible for the human rights violations and demanded the “dishonourable discharge” of Palparan and for his prosecution “for all the crimes he committed” in Central Luzon and during his stint in Eastern Visayas and Southern Tagalog.
The report will be submitted to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) and other international agencies. Gitnang Luson News Service/Posted by Bulatlat
