(UN Human Rights Council File photo)
MANILA – The Philippines on Monday appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) “to stop the practice of making sweeping prejudgments on incidents in the Philippines and elsewhere without first verifying facts on the ground” citing that these have dangerous consequences.
Speaking at the 46th UNHRC Session in Geneva, Switzerland, the Philippine delegation said the baseless calls for alarm over the law enforcement operations in Calabarzon on March 7 “emboldened non-state actors” to carry out actions that disrupt public order and undermine lawful police actions.
“This practice violates the principles of objectivity and non-discrimination that we uphold in the Council. It disregards methodologies of due diligence that are observed in all professional settings, including in the UN system,” the Philippine Mission to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva said in its reply.
It said the baseless calls and biased statements that called legitimate police operations “arbitrary killings” prompted the attack on public websites, launch death threats to judges who issued 41 search warrants, and harassment of officials and private persons, including families and providers of social and funeral services.
“They fueled vitriol that only served the interests of violators of the law, not their victims,” it added.
The simultaneous police operations in Calabarzon against 42 persons named in the search warrants resulted in the arrest of six, death of nine, and seizure of 37 firearms, 288 various ammunitions, and 15 units of explosives.
Cover-ups
Contrary to initial claims by the OHCHR and non-government organizations (NGOs) that the nine persons killed in the police operations were activists, the firearms and explosives found in their possession, and other paraphernalia proved their identities as New People’s Army (NPA) terrorists.
Among them were Edward Damas Esto alias Emil, of NPA’s Sentro de Gabidad (SDG), Platun 4A4, Ariel Evangelista alias Padua, of the Southern Tagalog Party Committee, and his wife Ana Mariz Lemita alias Prince/Abril. They are seen in photos carrying rifles in NPA training camp.
Two pistols, two grenades, and rounds of ammunition were seized from Evangelista when he resisted police serving search warrants in Nasugbu, Batangas.
The Philippine delegation recalled how NGOs insisted that the 43 members of the group dubbed “Morong 43” arrested for possession of firearms and explosives in Morong, Rizal in 2010 were health workers and volunteers, not NPA members. Ten years later, Lorelyn Saligumba, an NPA political instructor, was killed in a firefight with government soldiers in Oriental Mindoro -- the 21st of the Morong 43 killed or captured in armed clashes.
Saligumba was wanted for seven counts of murder, frustrated murder, robbery with violation and intimidation against a person.
“Truth and reason should not be put aside, even as we uphold the independence of the
OHCHR and the Special Procedures, and the foundations of freedom buttressing the
role of civil society actors in promoting human rights,” it said, lamenting that the UNHRC did not fully appreciate the alarm in 2010 as cover-ups that enabled criminal elements to perpetuate their activities to extort money from ordinary Filipinos, recruit child soldiers and exploit indigenous peoples.
Lawful basis
While vouching that the simultaneous anti-crime and law enforcement operations in the areas of Calabarzon were legitimate and followed protocols, the government said the incident will be subject to automatic investigation like all other police operations that result in deaths.
Claims that operations were political attacks on persons pursuing peaceful activism will also be investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) through Administrative Order 35 Task Force – the government's inter-agency committee on extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and other grave violations on the right to life liberty and security of persons.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra earlier said they are working to engage the Commission on Human Rights as a prime stakeholder in the investigation of cases involving civil and political rights.
Support for peaceful initiatives
As the Philippines assured that it is determined to end the more than five-decade armed war waged by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) – NPA, and its political wing – National Democratic Front, it sought the UNHRC’s support for the government’s peaceful objectives, and seriously review practices that inadvertently support violence and terrorism agenda.
The CPP-NPA, which has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines, has carried out more than 500 attacks on public and private projects across the country from 2010 to 2020 alone.
“The current whole-of-government campaign has led to the voluntary surrender and reintegration of thousands of rebels, the reunification of hundreds of minors with their families, and the weakening of NPA presence in the lands of our indigenous peoples,” it said.
More or less 14,000 members of the communist terrorist group have availed of the government’s Enhanced Comprehensive Integration Program after returning to the government fold since July 2016. (PNA)
