Int’l group links military to killings By Norman Bordadora Inquirer Last updated 04:47am (Mla time) 08/09/2006 Published on Page A1 of the August 9, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer AN INTERNATIONAL fact-finding mission has concluded that the military, including the controversial Major General Jovito Palparan, was involved in most of the political killings that have swept the country. The executive summary of the findings of the International Peasant Solidarity Mission (IPSM) said: “There are clear indications of the military’s involvement in most cases as reported to the investigating team. Under the command of Palparan, the military have become more brazen as cited during interviews in Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog.” “Some of the human rights violations were committed by uniformed soldiers or by men in civilian clothes who introduced themselves as soldiers,” it said. The IPSM, which came to the country on the invitation of the militant farmers’ alliance Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, conducted interviews last week with the families of the peasants killed. The group is composed of 68 delegates, 16 of whom are with foreign non-government and people’s organizations in such countries as the United States, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan and Nepal. IPSM spokesperson Wim de Ceukelaire, a Belgian national, said there had been reports submitted by past fact-finding missions to the United Nations. “Ours will be just to add to these previous reports,” De Ceukelaire said. He said there might be difficulty in pinning down Palparan in court, but added that the principle of command responsibility should make the general liable. Palparan, who has been tagged the “butcher” of leftist activists, is commander of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division. De Ceukelaire said that in Europe, he and his colleagues had noticed that “compared to a year ago, the image of the Philippines has changed because of the campaign of killings and repression.” Jobs at stake “Considering that in just one year the image has changed, it would take just a little time before there is enough international pressure [against the political killings],” he said. In another move aimed at countering criticism that the Philippine National Police was not doing enough, PNP Director General Oscar Calderon said field commanders would lose their jobs if they failed to, among others, solve the political killings in their areas. Calderon said he would summon PNP regional directors to brief him on the progress of the investigations. Asked what kind of pressure would be brought to bear on the field officers, he said: “Their positions will be at stake. I will judge them on their performance. If they cannot deliver what I’m asking them to deliver, if they cannot perform a simple task I will ask of them, they have no business being there.” “There are a lot of junior officers volunteering for positions,” he said. But Calderon quickly clarified that he would not judge his men solely on their ability to solve the killings. He said their performance on the issue would form part of the evaluation. More than 200 activists have been murdered since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed office in 2001, according to independent research by the Inquirer. The human rights group Karapatan put the number at more than 700, and the PNP, at more than 100. Police claimed to have solved two cases days after Ms Arroyo set a 10-week deadline for the PNP to arrest the suspects in at least 10 cases. Carrot and stick It may be necessary to employ the carrot-and-stick approach on certain officers, Calderon said. He said he had set quotas for the regional directors to achieve in the campaign against criminality, insurgency and terrorism. “You cannot just tell them, ‘Please do this.’ We need to pound on our men, to give them a quota. The carrot-and-stick [policy] is OK,” he said. Critics have noted that among the typical government responses to the issue was to immediately clear its personnel and throw the burden of producing witnesses to the public. Police have repeatedly said the cases had bogged down because neither the witnesses nor the victims’ kin were cooperating. But Calderon said he was warning senior officers in the countryside that many other officers could readily fill up posts declared vacant. On the other hand, he said, he did not want to see “fall guys, false reports and drama.” He said accusations that police were engaged in a cover-up of or complicity in the murders might have an effect on cops in the field. CPP/NPA But according to a military digest provided by the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP) headed by National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, were responsible for most of the killings. The special report sent to Gonzales’ office showed that the CPP/NPA conducted 1,130 operations that resulted in the killing of 1,227 people from 2000 to May 2006, and “the majority of their victims were civilians.” It showed that the victims included 384 soldiers, policemen and intelligence operatives and 843 civilians. “Only 320 of the killings could be considered in furtherance of Party objectives, the targets being suspected government informants or rebel returnees,” the PDSP said in explaining the document. It added: “The liquidations are part of the special tactical operations of the [CPP] against people it considered a hindrance to the movement. “The operations were carried out by the Special Armed Partisan Unit, an NPA group usually based in the countryside but which is sometimes deployed in urban areas.” The PDSP said the document showed that most of the killings occurred in CPP/NPA-infested regions such as Bicol, Central Luzon, Southern Mindanao, Eastern Visayas, Southern Tagalog and Caraga, in that order. “The government’s belief that some of the victims of the recent series of slayings were victims of a CPP purge was bolstered after the military found out that the CPP leadership ordered purging operations against suspected infiltrators,” the PDSP said. It said the order was issued on April 7. A spokesperson for the PDSP, Peping Lugay, told the Inquirer that Gonzales was abroad and unavailable for an interview regarding the contents of the military document. With a report from Luige A. del Puerto Copyright 2006 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.