In July that year, the military also launched an all-out war in Basilan following a false report that kidnapped victim Italian priest Fr. Giancarlo Bossi was seen in an MILF territory in the island province.
Task Force Thunder headed by Brig. Gen. Juancho Sabban entered the MILF camps in Basilan without informing the local committee on the cessation of hostilities.The MILF was therefore forced to engage the Marines in a firefight.
Kawangib said that military operations forced 15,000 civilians in three municipalities of Basilan to leave their homes.
Women and Children as Targets of War
Kawangib has documented cases of women and children targeted by the military in the US-directed war against terror.
The most publicized case was Almuyal Padiwan, a seven-year old survivor of a massacre of his family by elements of the 35th Infantry Battalion in their home in Kapuk, Punggul, Maimbong, Sulu on February 1, 2005. His case was brought to the attention of the House of Representatives and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), but the two government agencies have yet to act on his case. The military, on the other hand, in justifying the massacre, accused the young Padiwan of being an Abu Sayyaf member.
There were several cases of human rights violations in 2007.
On January 18, 2007, an 11-year old son of an MNLF member was ambushed together with his father on the main road leading to Jolo by elements of the Philippine Marines based in Patikul, Sulu. The military hit and killed on January 29 a certain Noria during an aerial bombing operation in Barangay Mudseng in Midsayap.
On February 20 of the same year, Abdulhakim Abilul, 15, was shot by an Army soldier stationed in their village in Kilometer 4, Kasambahan in Indanan, Sulu. The report said that the Army soldier mistook him as member of Abu Sayaff. The victim, together with his cousin, was on his way home after watching a late television series in a neighboring village when the incident took place. The military offered P15,000 ($369, based on an exchange rate of P40.65 per US dollar) to the family of Abilul provided that his family will not pursue the case.
On August 9, Sarah Lumandong was hit in her left leg while Task Force Thunder was conducting a test mission in Barangay Ungkaya Pukan in Tipo-Tipo, Basilan. Eight children with ages ranging from 4 to 16 years old on August 19 were psychologically tortured by members of the Joint Special Operations Force under Brig. Gen. Ruperto Pabustan in Jolo, Sulu. According to Cocoy Tulawie, a former Jolo town councilor and Vice President of Suara Bangsa Moro party-list group, the kids and their fathers were rounded up by members of the Philippine Army in Barangay Tanjung in Sulu.
Talawie said that they were brought to the main base of the Task Force Comet and the 104th Infantry Brigade in Camp Bautista for interrogation, having been suspected by the military as members of the Abu Sayaff. The army pointed knives on the neck of the children, blindfolded and asked them to locate the guns of their fathers. They were also reportedly asked to dig their own graves.
191 Moro Civilians Killed Since 2001
According to Kawangib and other human rights groups, the military has killed 191 Moro civilians as a result of its all-out war operations against the MILF and the MNLF in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, North Cotabato and Sulu since 2001.
The government was also responsible for 125 cases of illegal arrest and detention, and displacement of 442,000 civilians from their ancestral homes due to intense military operations. Properties amounting to hundreds of millions of pesos were destroyed due to red carpet bombings of Moro communities by the military.
The MILF leadership entered into a ceasefire agreement with the GRP to compel the latter to observe strict compliance of international humanitarian laws and other international protocols and agreements.
One lesson learned in the GRP-MILF ceasefire agreement is that the government and its military should not be trusted to follow any ceasefire agreement.
Critics of the current administration said that the human rights record of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration over the last six years show a stunning political reality that the government shuns peace and rejects human rights as instruments in achieving a genuine development. (Bulatlat.com)
