NPA under fire for killings, attacks on civilians

MANILA, Philippines – Communist rebels in the Philippines should stop unlawful killings, abductions, and attacks that target civilians, a New York-based human rights group said Wednesday.

The Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) armed wing, the New People’s Army, has admitted killing civilians and detaining people in recent months, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

“For 4 decades the New People’s Army has offered excuses for cold-blooded killings of civilians,” Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Elaine Pearson said in a press statement. “Recent attacks show that there has been no real departure from this illegal practice.”

Pearson said the NPA’s Mount Alip Front Operations Command in Mindanao claimed responsibility for killing Ramelito Gonzaga in September 2 for “crimes against the people.”

The rebel group also acknowledged a pregnant woman, Ana Marie Campo, was also injured in the incident.

The NPA has also owned up to the the August 19 killing of Raymundo Agaze in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.

NPA leaders often seek to justify killings through death penalty ruling made by its so-called “people’s courts,” HRW said, adding that punishments are imposed for alleged criminal acts and for activities deemed anti-NPA, such as spying for the armed forces.

Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions from 2004 to 2010, reported that the NPA’s court system “is either deeply flawed or simply a sham,” according to HRW.

“Any claim that people who are tried by the NPA’s ‘people’s courts’ are receiving a fair hearing is ludicrous,” Pearson said. “The NPA’s ‘revolutionary justice’ is not just – it is simply old-fashioned murder.”

Violation of international law

HRW said the NPA’s detention of civilians violates international law.

The rebels are holding at least 13 people in Mindanao, such as Mayor Henry Dano of Lingig, Surigao del Sur province, and his 2 military escorts Cpl. Alrey Villasis Desamparado and Pfc. Allan Pelino.

“The NPA captured them on July 13 and claims they are intelligence operatives of the 75th Infantry Battalion-Intelligence Section and will face charges before the ‘people’s court,'” HRW said.

The CPP on October 1 ordered Dano’s release.

The NPA also detained 4 Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) guards on July 21 – Murphy B. Todyog, Eric D. Llamasares, Rogelio E. Begontes, and Rolando D. Bajuyo Jr. – and claims to have granted them “prisoner of war” status, the human rights group said.

Six other civilians, who are traders from Misamis Occidental, are also accused by the group of being government spies.

A representative of the families told Human Rights Watch that the six were going house-to-house on August 19 on the border of Davao City and Bukidnon selling “kutson” or beds, when the NPA captured them, accusing them of trespassing.

Ka Ariel Inda Magbanwag, spokesperson for the NPA in Bukidnon-North Central Mindanao, has told journalists that the 6 are to be tried in the “people’s court.”

Gov’t action needed

HRW urged the government to investigate the killings and unlawful detentions and to prosecute those responsible.

It added that the NPA should abide by international humanitarian law, including Common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and its Second Additional Protocol.

“International humanitarian law prohibits killing civilians, mistreating anyone in custody, and convicting anyone in proceedings that do not meet international fair trial standards,” the group said.

The human rights group also said the NPA has long admitted to killing government officials; soldiers, police, and pro-government militia; civilians who are deemed to engage in acts “against the people;” and allegedly traitorous NPA or Communist Party members.

Since 1969, the NPA has been engaged in an armed rebellion with the goal of establishing a Maoist state in the Philippines.

The military estimates that the NPA has around 4,700 guerrillas, who are active in about 69 of the country’s 81 provinces. –abs-cbnNEWS.com