MANILA, Philippines (AKI / Mar. 6, 2009) – The outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines said on Friday it deplored the murder on southern Mindanao island of the daughter of a commander of its armed wing, saying her slaying was part of Manila’s dirty war.
Rebelyn Pitao, daughter of the New People’s Army commander Leoncio Pitao, was found dead on Thursday night, a day after she was abducted by armed men while on her way home in the outskirts of Davao City, the largest city on Mindanao.
“The army has no justification at all for abducting, molesting and murdering Ka Parago's (Leoncio Pitao)'s daughter Rebelyn.
"By killing Rebelyn, the army has committed a grave violation of international humanitarian law and the rules of war, which gives foremost protection to those not taking part in the armed conflict,” the CPP said in a statement on Friday.
“Rebelyn's murder and the barbarities committed against her are undoubtedly part of the dirty war being carried out by the Army under Oplan Bantay Laya 2."
Oplan Bantay Laya 2 is the operation launched in 2002 against Al-Qaeda-linked militant group Abu Sayyaf and other rebels Muslim-majority south. It began to target the CPP and the NPA in 2003.
The victim had recently passed the national teacher's examination and was set to teach at the St. Peter's School in Toril, Davao City.
Her body, clad only in underwear, bore several stab wounds. Her hands were tied and her mouth was bound with masking tape, fueling speculation she was tortured and sexually assaulted.
In June last year, Pitao's brother, Danilo, was also abducted and killed.
Major General Raymundo Ferrer, a regional military commander of the Philippines army, denied its soldiers were involved in the kidnapping and killing of Pitao's daughter.
“It is not the policy of the military to involve the family or children of the rebels into our fight,' he said, adding that the army was open to investigation of alleged crimes.
Since 2001, hundreds of members of left-wing political parties, human rights activists, journalists, and outspoken clergy have been killed in the Philippines. The number increased sharply after President Arroyo's June 2006 declaration of an "all-out war" against the NPA.
The latest peace talks between Manila and the CPP were suspended in 2004, after Manila refused to pressure the United States and the European Union to remove the NPA from their lists of foreign terrorist organizations.
The aim of the CPP and the NAP, both founded in the late 1960s, is to turn the Philippines into a Maoist State. (adnkronosinternational)
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