Karapatan lawyer reveals AFP neutralization driveOct. 26, 2006 - Bohol Standard
What is the motive and who are responsible of the spate of militant leaders’ killings?
THESE questions surfaced as the “extra-judicial or political killings†in the country worsen in a very alarming trend.
In military jargon, to neutralize the “enemies of the state†includes physical, (killing), intimidation, harassment and threats, said Karapatan lawyer Poch Cinco during a forum on extra-judicial killings held last week at AV Hall, Holy Name University.
This was found out from documents of the Department of National Defense (DND). Karapatan, a human rights group, revealed the military’s plan “to neutralize†militant legal organizations whom they branded as communist fronts, including party-lists personalities.
Cinco said DND, which has readily prepared “an order of battle,†a list of perceived enemies of the government, has shifted its program “to neutralize†the above-ground but legal revolutionary movement, also known as “fronts†of the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front-New People’s Army (CPP-NDF-NPA).
Cinco said that based on DND’s document, the military hatched “Oplan Bantay Laya†whose objective is to “destroy the political structure†of the insurgency movement. It made no distinction whether the said leftist movements are using armed struggle to topple the government or those legal organizations participating in the democratic struggle as in the street parliamentary and in electoral fight.
Part of the neutralization scheme is the so-called “research target†concept. If a legal but left-inclined organization start to tackle issues beyond its concern, it becomes a target for neutralization, said Cinco. A concrete example of this is the plight of the Philippine Independent Church (PIC), whose bishop was killed recently.
If one actively participates in the activities critical to the government, he or she or the organization concerned is candidate for neutralization. It’s “stupid,†he said.
Cinco also disclosed that sometime in February 2004, AFP’s intelligence agency (ISAFP) issued a memorandum requiring all departments to submit every Thursday a progress report of their respective “neutralization†report. It is also the year (2004) that extra-judicial killings escalated. Most of these killings numbering more than 700 were perpetrated against the leftists and party-list members.
In a separate interview, Akbayan party-list Congresswoman Rizza Hontiveros-Baraquel said, “At the very least, gross negligence and ginagawa ng administration,†saying that these (killings) is allegedly perpetrated by the state.
“It could be that the perpetrators are from the inside (of the military) and maybe outsiders in a “systematic pattern†targeting GMA’s critics,†she said.
She opined that because these perpetrators remained at large and had operated with impugnity, it had emboldened and encourage these groups to go on with the killing spree.(RVO)
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=83068.0