AFP sets up office to look into disappearances blamed on military

FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City, Philippines—Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff  Eduardo Oban Jr.  has set up human rights offices in all branches of the AFP to investigate cases of forced disappearances of political activists and other people.

Oban said the human rights offices or HROs, which have been set up in military camps, headquarters and offices, handle complaints of human rights abuses that have been blamed on government soldiers.

Oban said the HROs have been tasked to coordinate with the Commission on Human Rights and exchange information that would help the AFP respond better to accusations of human rights violations. He was here on Saturday as guest during the incorporation of 195 cadets who make up Philippine Military Academy Class of 2015.

He said no case for human rights violation has been filed against any military personnel this year.

Oban is retiring in December, but he said he was employing an 18-point reform action plan “covering mostly logistics and financial management, personnel, and training.”

“Some of that I would finish within my term in December. I call them footprints, but when I leave, I also leave behind a blueprint that will be long-term in applicability,” he said.

When asked, Oban said the HROs would review old cases, including charges made against the military during the term of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The United Church of Christ in the Philippines recently filed a civil case against Arroyo, now a member of the House of Representatives, for abuses committed during her term.

On Friday, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman said the charges against Arroyo were  fitting.

“The UCCP has basis and… evidence, they have the right to seek justice for those whose rights were violated,” she said.

Soliman was in Baguio to donate school supplies to students of the Quirino Elementary School in Barangay Irisan. She was one of the Cabinet members who resigned from the Arroyo administration in 2005.

Beverly Longid, chair of the party-list group Katribu, said she has been consulting the family of missing activist James Balao about filing their own civil case against Arroyo.

Balao, a founding member of Cordillera Peoples Alliance, was abducted by armed men, suspected to be soldiers and policemen, on September 17, 2008, in La Trinidad, Benguet.

Oban said he was aware of Balao’s case and has directed the HRO covering Benguet to include his case for review. –Vincent Cabreza and Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon