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‘Truth
Commission’ Formed to Investigate Atrocities in South
Vice-President Guingona backs group’s
initiative
Losing
confidence in government’s capability and lack of political will to solve
peace and order problems in Mindanao, at least 300 religious leaders and peace
advocates last week formed a probe commission. Vice President Teofisto Guingona,
who supports the investigation of human rights violations, asked the organizers
to likewise help clear the way for earnest peace talks between government and
guerrilla groups in the South.
By
Rolando Pinsoy
Bulatlat.com Mindanao Bureau
DAVAO
CITY -- Religious leaders and peace advocates in Mindanao are losing confidence
in the capability of law-enforcement agencies to solve the peace-and-order
problems on the island. In a conference here last week, they decided to take
action.
“The
reported involvement of law-enforcement agencies in corruption and their
purported links with terrorist groups like the Abu Sayyaf cast doubt on their
capability to provide ‘truthful answers and leads’ to the situation of
un-peace now besetting Mindanao,” said Dr. Robinson Montalba, a prominent
Minadanaoan peace advocate.
He
also said that after the recent spate of bombings that rocked major cities in
Mindanao, which prompted the government to stall the peace negotiations with the
National Democratic Front (NDF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF),
several civilians were victimized by the government in its efforts to
investigate these incidents. Many of these civilians were either arrested
illegally or disappeared altogether.
Responding
to these developments, the new peace advocacy group, Initiatives for Peace in
Mindanao (INPEACE Mindanao), has formed its own investigation team to look into
the alleged “mystery bombings” and its effects on human rights and civil
liberties.
The
team will focus its probe into the series of bombing that hit Davao City, Tagum
City, General Santos City, Marbel and other urban centers in Mindanao.
It
would also look into the plight of evacuees in Pikit, North Cotabato, who were
heavily affected by the Arroyo governments’ offensive against the MILF.
The
group will also investigate the militarization in New Bataan, Compostela Valley
province, where government troops have begun to concentrate in and around the
gold-rich area of Diwalwal. There have been reports of serious violations by the
military of human rights and the international humanitarian laws in this area.
Military
atrocities
An
initial study by INPEACE Mindanao indicated that military units are committing
“dastardly acts and other human-rights violations in war-torn areas in
Mindanao.”
After
the first INPEACE forum in Cagayan de Oro city last May, the organizers of
INPEACE approved a Framework for the Mindanao Independent Inquiry Commission.
This was formally launched in Davao City on July 17 during the Mindanao Peace
forum attended by nearly 300 religious leaders and peace advocates coming from
various parts of Mindanao.
This
will be composed of Mindanao leaders with “impeccable integrity and
credibility” to head the probe team that will serve as a “sort of truth
commission,” Montalba said.
Vice-President
Teofisto Guingona, who was a speaker in the said forum, welcomed the group’s
initiatives. In a press conference later, he said that “the inter-faith committee should come in as advisers
but they should also intervene to build up sincerity and confidence on both
sides.”
The
vice-president added that the efforts of the religious leaders “who have no
personal agenda, will go a long way.”
In
its framework, the mission expects to interview a broad range of “key
information sources” including Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte, military
officials, local government officials, leaders of the MILF and NPA in Mindanao.
They would also conduct a public hearing on various issues sometime on September
and copies of its findings and recommendations would be sent to President
Macapagal-Arroyo, Vice-President Guingona, the bishops from the Catholic and
Protestant churches, the Bishop-Ulama Forum and various concerned international
bodies. Bulatlat.com
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