HUMAN RIGHTS
WATCH
Palparan’s
Counterinsurgency Campaign
Spawns Internal Refugees in Central Luzon
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
Posted by Bulatlat
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
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