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In September 1992, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front (NDF) signed a joint declaration in The Hague, the Netherlands, in which both sides signified their intention to hold peace negotiations to resolve their long-standing armed conflict and work towards the attainment of a just and lasting peace. The two parties laid down four substantive agenda items for the talks: 1) human rights and international humanitarian law, 2) social and economic reforms, 3) political and constitutional reforms, and 4) end of hostilities and disposition of forces. The signing was considered by the legal Government of the Republic of the Philippines as a precursor of the start of attaining “true peace” in our land. By agreeing to sign a “joint declaration” the legal government offered its hands of reconciliation, open the door for talks to thresh out problems and loopholes in our legal system, and is willing to accept the “moral burden” of imposing and implementing the law.
There is now near-universal consensus that all individuals are entitled to certain basic rights under any circumstances. These include certain civil liberties and political rights, the most fundamental of which is the right to life and physical safety. Human rights are the articulation of the need for justice, tolerance, mutual respect, and human dignity in all of our activity. Speaking of rights allows us to express the idea that all individuals are part of the scope of morality and justice.
To protect human rights is to ensure that people receive some degree of decent, humane treatment. To violate the most basic human rights, on the other hand, is to deny individuals their fundamental moral entitlements. It is, in a sense, to treat them as if they are less than human and undeserving of respect and dignity. Examples are acts typically deemed "crimes against humanity," including genocide, torture, slavery, rape, enforced sterilization or medical experimentation, and deliberate starvation. Because these policies are sometimes implemented by governments, limiting the unrestrained power of the state is an important part of International Law. Underlying laws that prohibit the various "crimes against humanity" is the principle of nondiscrimination and the notion that certain basic rights apply.
Unfortunately, this did not happen. The declaration was one-sided, it only served the purpose of the Communist Terrorist Movement to destroy and obliterate the “political will” of the legal government so as to demonize them on the eyes of the civilian populace, thus, paving and smoothing the way for CTM to lay down the concept of National Democratic Revolution.
The true statistics of Human Rights Violations in our country had been blatantly bloated, exploited and use by the Communist Terrorist Movement’s for their own leverage and advantage; media wise and for financial gains. Political discontent and chaos are dry faggots where the CTM’s can easily take its roots and gain financial and political grounds.
YES, there are and were cases wherein military personnel are involved on what they tagged as “EJK” or human rights violations, but to say the least the leadership of the ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES and the PHILIPPINE ARMY not only exerts too much effort but also adheres on its “mandated responsibility” to “protect our country’s sovereignty and our people” by implementing rules and guideline purposely focusing on the adherence on the “RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS” of every Filipino, regardless of ethnic tribes, religion, economic status and political affiliation.
However as of October 27, 2006, based on the Primer on the Deaths of Party List Members, Journalists and Government Officials, published by CRS AFP in 2007, “1,485 cases were already filed by the AFP against the CPP-NPA with the GRP-Monitoring Committee for series and various human rights violations including liquidation, summary execution, recruitment of minors, sexual abuse of female NPA members, extortion, and destruction of public and private property through bombing and arson”.
It further stated that the CPP-NPA has already executed 1,227 individuals. As shown below are the list of individuals summarily executed by the New People’s Army from the period of May 2 to July 5, 2008.
1. May 2, 2008 - Former NPA rebel slain. A 48-year-old man suspected to be a former member of the NPA was killed after a lone gun man assaulted him at Sitio 7, Barangay San Agustin in Candaba town. The victims was identified Enrique de la Pena alias Ka Percy, 48, married, and a resident of Barangay Laquios, Arayat town.
2. May 5, 2008 – the murder of Mayor Ramon Pagdangan of Calumpit, Bulacan
3. May 5, 2008 – Supt Narciso Gregory Guarin, Chief of Police of Legaspi City, who was gunned down a few meters away from his home by men armed with M16.
4. May 5, 2008 - NPAs raid Davao del Norte village; kill sitio leader, cart away firearms (belated report). On 060900H May, a group of NPAs swooped down on Sitio Paradise, Bgy Kapatagan, Digos City, Davao del Norte, cut off its water supply and killed the sitio leader. Rebels also raided CVOs’ houses and carted away a total of nine shotguns and one garand rifle. (Source: PNP)
5. May 8, 2008 - NPAs admit killing militia leader in Davao del Sur. The communist New People's Army rebels on 08 May admitted killing a village leader whom they accused of leading anti-insurgency campaign and committing human rights violations in southern Philippines. Paterno Intes was killed after rebels raided his house in the village of Kapatagan in the outskirts of Digos City in Davao del Sur.
6. May 8, 2008 - Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, NPA guerrillas shot dead a known anti-communist crusader on Thursday afternoon, police said. Senior Inspector Rodrigo Tungal, Sta. Cruz police chief, identified the victim as Deonito Carmona, 56, former village chief of Coronon.
7. May 11, 2008 - Manero's brother abducted by NPA in Davao City. On 111030H May, former military sergeant Jose Manero, brother of Norberto Manero, the convicted priest killer known as Commander Bucay, was abducted by suspected NPAs in Sitio Lorenzo, Bgy Pangyan, Calinan District. Manero was taken by an undetermined number of NPA rebels following the guerillas' raid on a farm owned by Raffy Lorenzo at around 10:30 a.m. Both Lorenzo and Manero were taken by the Rebels.
8. May 21, 2008 - Ex-LTO man killed by suspected NPAs in North Cotabato. On 211015H May, Sherwin Marida, a former LTO employee, was shot dead by suspected NPAs in Bgy Malasila, Makilala, North Cotabato. (Source: AFP)
9. June 3, 2008 - NPAs kill military volunteer in Negros Oriental. Suspected New People’s Army rebels shot and killed a military volunteer near his home in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental. The victim was identified as Santos Pasaporte, a Civilian Volunteer Officer of the military in Barangay Mani-ak.
10. June 16, 2008 - NPA rebels kill farm caretaker. About 30 suspected NPA members shot dead a 40-year-old farm caretaker in Manapla, Negros Occidental, on 16 June. Police identified the victim as Hermies Ostan. His bloodied body was found by policemen 25 meters from the warehouse of Hacienda Mirian in Barangay San Pablo.
11. June 27, 2008 - NPAs kill alleged military informant in Sorsogon. On 271900H June, a certain Antonio Estrada y Ramos, allegedly an informant of the military, was shot dead by four suspected NPAs in Bgy Carriedo, Irosin, Sorsogon. Rebels took two cellphones and P8,500 cash from the victim. (Source: PNP)
12. June 30, 2008 – one civilian was killed in during an Encounter between undetermined number of NPA and Scout Rangers in Brgy Baglic, Mabinay, Negros Oriental.
13. July 3, 2008 - Three people died while 11 others were injured in what police said was a grenade attack by suspected members of the NPA before dawn Thursday in Nabunturan town Compostela Valley province.
14. July 3, 2008 - Ex-CAFGU man killed in Sorsogon. On 031030H Jul, ex-CAFGU man Jose Garicas y Gile was shot to death by 3 suspected NPAs at his eatery in Brgy Sapingan, Bulusan, Sorsogon. (JOC, AFP)
15. July 4, 2008 - Pastor kidnapped by NPA in Compostela found dead (Sketchy Report). Earlier in the week, the military discovered the shallow grave of Josefino Estaniel, a pastor of the Seventh Day Adventist Church who was kidnapped by the NPA in May in Compostela Valley. (Source: Inquirer.net)
16. July 4, 2008 - NPAs kill 'revolutionary tax' collector in ComVal (Sketchy Report). A "habal-habal" driver named Dearest Dinsay was also killed by suspected rebels in front of his house in Barangay Magsaysay, Nabunturan, Compostela Valley.
17. July 5, 2008 - Compostela Valley village exec killed by NPA. Suspected communist rebels shot dead a village official in the southern Compostela Valley province in the latest in a series of attacks on civilians, an army spokesman said Saturday. Noli Llanos, 47, a councilman in Nabunturan town was shot in that area on the southern island of Mindanao on Friday by motorcycle-riding men believed to be members of the communist New People's Army (NPA)
The list clearly and loudly shows the true colors of the CPP-NPA-NDF. The leftist front organizations have been drumbeating the alleged human rights violations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The list of militant student, labor, farmers and women’s group leaders according to the front organization KARAPATAN reached to high levels unprecedented by previous administrations. But record shows that the killings were and are perpetrated by the New People’s Army whom Karapatan is part and parcel of.
The lists above are only the ones recorded, how about those killings and executions which were not documented? Are former rebels like me, who realized that we are fighting a “fake revolution” and who wished and desire to live a normal life don’t have the “right to life”? Just because we don’t’ want to continue being a part of the senseless killings, deceptions and manipulations of the people, whom we vowed to protect, give our former comrades the right to annihilate us? This only shows that they are saying one thing, and doing another thing. The CPP-NPA-NDF’s beliefs and principles are full of contradictions and baloney.
The number of deaths related to combat and the collateral damage caused by warfare are only a small part of the tremendous amount of suffering and devastation caused by conflicts. Over the course of protracted conflict waged by the CPP-NPA-NDF, assaults on political rights and the fundamental right to life are typically widespread. Some of the gravest violations of the right to life are massacres, the starvation of entire populations, and genocide. Genocide is commonly understood as the intentional extermination of a single ethnic, racial, or religious group, this happened in Digos, Davao del Sur. when members of the United Methodist Church including children were killed by members of the Roque Magtanggol Command of the NPA led by Kumander Bensar in June 25, 1989. Killing group members, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing measures to prevent birth, or forcibly transferring children are all ways to bring about the destruction of a group. Genocide is often regarded as the most offensive crime against humanity.
Women and girls are often raped by members of the NPA or are forced into prostitution. For a long time, the international community has failed to address the problem of sexual violence during armed conflict. However, sexual assaults, which often involve sexual mutilation, sexual humiliation, and forced pregnancy, are quite common. Such crimes are motivated in part by the long-held view that women are the "spoils" of war to which male NPA’s are entitled.
On the issue of “recruitment of minors”, in any conflict or war, it is indeed true, that the children are the most harrowing victims. The sad part of this is that some of the children got involved directly or indirectly in armed conflicts and not just plainly getting caught in the crossfire between the soldiers and the armed communist rebel group, the NPA. The issue on hand here is how did these children got involved in the armed conflict? The front organizations of the CPP/NPA are dwelling on the semantic issue for the reading masses to overlook the whole point that they are the ones exploiting and using the children for their own vested and greedy interests. Whatever the label of the children are, is not the issue, the question here and the most pressing concern is, why on earth that the children get involved and are part of the NPA’s bloody war in the first place?
The Optional Protocol on children in armed conflicts enjoins all armed groups to ensure that those “under the age of 18 do not take a direct part in hostilities.” Furthermore, the Convention on the Rights of Child, in which the Philippine Government is also a signatory, recognizes and respects the right of the child to education, to enjoy his or her own culture … religion or … language.”, protection from economic exploitation ... from hazardous work and all other forms of exploitation.”, to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child.” Furthermore it states that childhood itself is a right, worthy of protection in every nation.
Unfortunately, these are also the very same rights that the CPP/NPA/NDF blatantly violates. It is a given fact that the child’s decision making is very immature, which puts a child in a situation where he or she can easily be swayed and influenced by family and peer pressure and the likes. The moment that the CPP/NPA/NDF front organization deceives and recruits the child they are already violating his/her rights. Children are being recruited unlawfully by these front organizations to eventually join the NPA to participate in their bloody revolution as soldiers, messengers, spies, porters, cooks, and the most saddening as sex slaves. Those pressed into combat are often forced to the front lines or sent into minefields ahead of older troops.
“Every child has the inherent right to life” . . . the very basic rights that the NPA flagrantly steals not only from every child, but every woman, mother and father that they recruited and forced to join the armed struggle. We did have a life, that’s true, this is not debatable. . . unfortunately the life that we had in the mountains as members of a fighting unit of the NPA was bone-jarring, risky, hazardous and dangerous. Bone-jarring because of the endless days and nights that we had to walked, encumbered with a heavy load on our backs, not to mention the perilous terrain that we traversed. Risky . . . because of the uncertainty of what lies ahead of us . . . the question if we are going to crossed path with soldiers who are on a regular combat security patrol? Hazardous . . . because of the natural elements in the mountains, the deadly animals, the ravines, the cliffs, the gorges that abounds the boondocks of Albay and Sorsogon. “Every child has the right to a name and nationality from birth” . . . the name. . . was robbed from the students who took the oath as candidate members of the student sector’s underground movement. From the day that we took the oath, we were no longer who we are, from Agnes I was given the name of Ka Tina, Ka Yolly and Ka George. I had to conditioned my mind that I was no longer the obedient and God-fearing Agnes but I was the thick-skinned freedom fighter Ka Tina, Yolly and George.
“The right of the child to be protected from physical or mental harm and neglect, including sexual abuse or exploitation” . . . as an NPA “child soldier” we were always on harm’s way. The never ending back breaking trek during tactical offensives, the nerve racking fear of another chance encounter with the soldiers made us all CIAC a nervous wreck.
These are only some of our rights which were brazenly violated by the front organizations we joined, in my case the LFS or League of Filipino Students. Rights which should and must be protected at all cost but sad to say exploited and abused by the New people’s Army and its front organizations.
On the other hand, the AFP had been and still willing to rescue children involved in armed conflict recruited by the CPP/NPA/NDF. At present CIAC who had been rescued by the AFP from the clutches of the repressive and abusive NPAs are now undergoing treatment on their psycho-social trauma. The likes of the Gumanoy sisters, Maricel Sotto, Salve, Rolly, and many other CIACs are enjoying a life of freedom and the very essence of being a child which the NPA robbed from them when they were recruited and brought to the mountains and exposed to danger and possible death.
The atrocities enumerated above, all of them are clear messages of VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS . . . as “discerning people” are we to continue to be hoodwinked by the lies and twisted truths of the front organizations of the CPP-NPA-NDF? Are we going to swallow “hook line and sinker” their lies, deceit, fabrications and deceptions. The CTM’s front organization’s goal is not to protect the rights of a person, but solely to generate funds and for publicity mileage. SOBRIETY IS OUR WEAPON . . . discern the true pictures and then decide.
The Joint Declaration of the NDF Peace Panel and the GRP Panel which was signed in September 1992. The signing was held in The Hague, The Netherlands.
Philip Alston, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions”, Human Rights Council, Eleventh Session, Agenda Item 3, 29 April 2009 (accessed 12 Oct 2009)
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (art. 1), adopted by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948. (accessed 02 Nov 2009)
Primer on the Death of Party List Members, Journalists and Government Officials, Civil Relations Service AFP, Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, 2007
Center for Strategic Studies, “NPA Atrocities”, Ateneo de Manila University, http://www.css.org.ph/, (accessed 12 Oct 2009)
Implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed conflict (OP-CRC-AC), Arts 1, 2, and 3, (accessed 02 Nov 2009)
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (Part 1, Para 21) adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 25 June 1993,(A/CONF, 157/24 (Part 1) , Chap 111).
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (Part 1, Para 21) adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 25 June 1993,(A/CONF, 157/24 (Part 1) , Chap 111). Fact Sheet No. 10, The Rights of the Child, Art 6, (accessed 02 Nov 2009)
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (Part 1, Para 21) adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 25 June 1993,(A/CONF, 157/24 (Part 1) , Chap 111).
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (Part 1, Para 21) adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 25 June 1993,(A/CONF, 157/24 (Part 1) , Chap 111). |
