DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 22 Feb) – The Arroyo administration suffered a major blow following an initial report by the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur Philip Alston that the Philippine Army is “in a state of almost total denial” about the wave of political killings.
Alston said many of the killings have been attributed to soldiers."Mrs. Gloria Arroyo, Malacañang's Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security led by Eduardo Ermita and Norberto Gonzales, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) suffer a great blow with the United Nations' initial findings and recommendations regarding the distressing political killings in the country," Editha Duterte, spokesperson of the militant Anakpawis party-list group, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
She said Alston was convinced that the AFP is culpable to the widespread killings of members of progressive party lists and organizations, including innocent civilians, which is directly in contradiction to the government's claim that the said killings are the result of a purge within the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army.
"Witnesses, families of the victims and survivors have pointed to the military, its agents and the paramilitary groups as the perpetrators. Yet, the Arroyo government made no genuine move to solve the killings, as this is part of its all-out war policy against its critics and opponents under the so-called Oplan Bantay Laya I and Oplan Bantay Laya II."
"The United Nations' findings are points against the current administration which has given an outright license to its armed forces to kill or harass individuals by tagging progressive party-lists and organizations as communist fronts," Duterte said.
Philippine officials said Alston was brainwashed by leftist organizations, but Duterte disagreed.
"The record of human rights violations under the Arroyo administration and the account of witnesses and the victims' families do not lie. One has to be a dimwit if not outright cold-blooded to deny these facts," she said.
Duterte also noted Alston's recommendation of "respecting the law on party-list system" and his special mention of the Anti-Subversion Act."
"Such laws were clearly violated by the Arroyo government as Anakpawis, Bayan Muna, Gabriela Women and their representatives in Congress were maliciously vilified by Malacañang and the AFP," she said.
Duterte added that Malacañang has made trumped up charges of rebellion against party-list Representatives Satur Ocampo, Teddy Casiño, Joel Virador, Crispin Beltran, Rafael Mariano and Liza Maza. Beltran is currently detained on charges of plotting to oust Arroyo.
Philippine military chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon on Thursday said he has ordered an investigation into the alleged killings attributed to soldiers. But he also accused the NPA of murdering more than 1,200 soldiers and innocent civilians. (Mindanao Examiner)
No comments:
Post a Comment