Undersecretary Severo Catura, National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict spokesperson on human rights, peace process and international engagement (File photo)
MANILA – The United Nations’ latest report on human rights which mentioned abuses by the New People’s Army (NPA) boosts the Philippine government’s ongoing efforts through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to aggressively address this threat group.
In a virtual forum with members of Filipino communities in Europe, Undersecretary Severo Catura, NTF-ELCAC spokesperson on human rights, peace process, and international engagement, said these abuses informed the Oral Report of UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet which was delivered on October 7 at the plenary of the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.
Failure of the government to act on these abuses would be a blatant disregard of its human rights obligations; in fact, a clear human rights violation, Catura said.
Bachelet said her office “received reports of abuses by the NPA of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), including the killing of civilians, recruitment of children, and extortion.”
Catura’s revelation came following the 166 new cases of NPA violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) that were submitted on Oct. 19, 2021, by the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Center for Law of Armed Conflict (AFP-CLOAC) to the Commission on Human Rights for validation.
The 166 new cases include incidents of recruitment and use of child combatants, destruction of privately-owned properties, use of anti-personnel mines (APM), and willful killings.
A total of 1,672 incidents of NPA abuses from 2010 to this year have been unearthed and reported by the AFP-CLOAC. This number includes 544 cases of abduction of children who were forced into becoming child warriors.
However, Bachelet’s report on NPA abuses is not new, Catura said.
In June 2020, in her report on the Situation of Human Rights in the Philippines, Bachelet not only reported the same abuses as brought to her attention by individuals, communities, and human rights defenders, she also recalled that the “United Nations lists NPA among parties that commit grave violations affecting children in situations of armed conflict” based on findings by the UN Secretary-General on children and armed conflict that “verified the recruitment and use of children by NPA in combat or support roles.”
Bachelet’s 2020 report also mentioned that “80 incidents allegedly perpetrated by NPA are being examined under Administrative Order No. 35.” The said presidential issuance signed in 2012 creates an inter-agency committee to look into cases of alleged extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and other grave violations to the right to life, liberty, and security of persons.
The UN’s 2021 reiteration of these NPA abuses cannot be set aside because of its massive impact on the lives and security of the Filipino people, Catura said. More importantly, it affirms the work of the NTF-ELCAC in putting an end to these abuses.
“I am sure that the UN High Commissioner must have been completely appalled on learning of these atrocities reported to her by human rights defenders and private individuals,” Catura said. “And the sad part,” he added, “these atrocities continue.”
On June 3 this year, a passenger bus was torched by the NPA in North Cotabato. Three passengers were trapped and burned to death, while six sustained major burns.
Three days later, in Masbate province, a control-detonated APM planted by the NPA took the lives of 21-year-old soccer star of the national team Kieth Absalon and his cousin Nolven Absalon who were on a leisurely bike ride. Nolven's son who was with them, 16-year-old Chrisbin Daniel, suffered injuries.
Early this month, ironically coinciding with the global observance of Indigenous Peoples’ Month, a member of the Manobo tribe in Surigao del Sur, Datu Boy Maca Astudillo, was killed by the NPA in front of his 11-year-old son. As reported by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), Astudillo’s murder increases to 22 the number of Indigenous Peoples and elders who were killed by the NPA since last year for not supporting their cause.
The NPA, including the CPP, has been designated by the US State Department, in its Executive Order No. 13224, as a terrorist organization since August 12, 2002. The US’ designation specifically names CPP founder Jose Maria Sison as a terrorist under the Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons List (SDN List) of the US Office of Foreign Assets Control. This same designation was updated on Oct. 8, 2021.
In the meantime, the European Union, under EU Council Implementing Regulation No. 138, dated Feb. 5, 2021, has renewed its yearly designation of the NPA and CPP as terrorist organizations. (PR)
