PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

CPP condemns spate of military abuses in Mindoro, calls for setting up of joint human rights monitoring body
January 26, 2004

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today called for the immediate formation of a bilateral human rights monitoring body in the wake of fresh reports of rampant human rights violations against civilians and rights workers in a remote town in Mindoro island.

Military abuses have been reported against civilians in Paluan, Occidental Mindoro and members of a fact-finding mission from a multi-sectoral human rights team in the wake of the discovery of an alleged New People's Army camp in mid-January in the town's hinterlands. Brigade-size air, land and marine forces involving more than 2,000 AFP troops have been scouring the area since last week in search of NPA guerrillas.

CPP spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal denounced the various rights abuses perpetrated by soldiers against civilians in the course of these military operations. Rosal cited numerous cases of illegal arrests and detention, harassment and torture against civilians in the area. Sexual indignities have also been committed against womenfolk and the people's right to free movement violated, he said. Rosal said that Barangay Harrison, where the military operations have been concentrated, has been likened to a "disaster area" due to the AFP operations.

Rosal moreover decried the harassment of human rights workers investigating the reports. He said that on January 22, six heavily armed men wearing fatigues and bonnets waylaid nine members of a fact-finding team, held them at gunpoint and seized their belongings, including their documentation of human rights abuses. They also struck with rifle butts two members of the rights group.

In view of these reports, Rosal called on Malaca�ang to immediately cooperate with the National Democratic Front (NDF) to expedite the formation of the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) to oversee the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and check human rights abuses. The CARHRIHL, which was signed by former president Joseph Estrada and NDF chair Mariano Orosa in 1998, calls for the establishment of the JMC to receive and investigate reports of human rights abuses from either side.

Rosal said that if Malaca�ang were really interested in pursuing the peace talks, it should take immediate and decisive steps to set up the JMC. He added that the matter has recently gained utmost urgency, considering the extent of human rights abuses going on in Mindoro.

The CPP spokesman, at the same time, urged the affected communities in Mindoro and human rights groups to prepare their complaints and accompanying documentation and evidence for submission to the JMC.

Rosal also called on NPA units all over the country to intensify their tactical strikes against government military forces "to take advantage of the over-concentration of fascist forces in certain areas such as Mindoro as well as to make the AFP pay dearly for its wanton and intensive abuse of the people's human rights."

Reference:
Anne Buenaventura
Media Officer
Cellphone Number: +63910-240-3553



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