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PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines
Independent forensic experts should investigate “mass graves” – Ka Roger
April 3, 2002
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today challenged the AFP “to refer to independent forensic experts and human rights organizations for a thorough investigation of the so-called mass graves in Quezon”.
“Through independent forensic experts’ investigations of the skeletal remains dug up in Candelaria and Mauban, the public will be afforded a more scientific and truthful analysis of the matter, instead of being fed with pure allegations and concoctions by the AFP,” said Greogio “Ka Roger” Rosal, national spokesman of the CPP.
He immediately termed as “fantastic and incredulous” the circumstances surrounding the “discovery” of another “mass grave” in Mauban, following one found in Candelaria a month earlier. Military officials claim they were led to the “mass grave” by an “anonymous woman” with “paranormal behaviour” who heard a “strange female voice (asking) for help”, “went under the spell of a quack doctor” before approaching the military.
Rosal said, “The AFP’s Task Force Makiling was ever ready to state that the skeletons found there were victims of the NPA’s ‘witch hunting’ yet was unable to adequately answers questions posed by journalists about the military’s planting the skeletons themselves”.
Rosal enumerated a set of questions which should be tackled by forensic experts and human rights organizations. This included the period and cause of death, clues to the identity of the remains, date of death and interment and, also very important, circumstances around their discovery. “It is not unlikely that those remains are in fact victims of military salvaging”, Rosal added.
Rosal cited reports from human rights organization indicating a significant rise in the incidence of salvaging and forced disappearances under the Macapagal-Arroyo regime. He said, “military abuses have been significantly on the rise since 2001. Military terror prevails in many places in the countryside”.
Reference:
Anne Buenaventura
Media Officer
Cellphone Number: +63910-240-3553
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