NDF justifies command-detonated mines in cops' ambush, as govt protests

From InterAksyon (May28): NDF justifies command-detonated mines in cops' ambush, as govt protests



NDF peace negotiating panel chairman Luis Jalandoni

The National Democratic Front brushed off government accusations the use by the New People’s Army of a command-detonated landmine in the Monday ambush that killed eight policemen and wounded six others in Allacapan, Cagayan violated international law. The PNP will file charges for such violation, besides murder.

At the same time, Luis Jalandoni, chairman of the NDF peace-negotiating panel, said the Special Action Force unit hit in the attack “was a legitimate military in accordance with international humanitarian law” as “part of the armed forces of the Government of the Philippines.”

The NDF represents communist rebels in peace talks with the government.

The Cagayan attack was the latest incident in a spike in attacks by communist rebels and the second substantial loss suffered by government troops in three days, following the deaths of seven Marines in a clash with Abu Sayyaf fighters in Patikul, Sulu on Saturday.

Cagayan’s top police official disputed the NDF defense of the use of command-detonated landmines, and said that besides murder charges, they will also file a case against the rebels involved in the ambush for using land mines in violation of international law.

“We will gather more evidence and then file multiple murder charges before the court against the rebels and a separate case for using land mine which is prohibited by international law such as the Geneva Convention as well as the Ottawa Protocol banning the use of landmines, and also for violation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law(CARHRIHL),” said Senior Supt. Gregorio Lim.

The Philippines also has Republic Act 9851 or the Philippine Act on Crimes against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and Other Crimes against Humanity.

Negotiating panel, OPAPP protest

The government’s negotiating panel and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said earlier the use by the NPA of the command-detonated explosive against the SAF violated the Ottawa Treaty, formally known as the “Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction.”

“We maintain that the use of landmines by the NPA is a gross violation of Republic Act 9851 or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity as well as the Ottawa Protocol banning the use of landmines,” the government panel, headed by Alex Padilla, said in a statement.

"By its insistence on using landmines and its insistence on continuing a regime of violence instead of talking peace, the NPA turns a blind eye to the clamor of our people for a peaceful resolution of the armed conflict," the panel added.

The treaty, which became binding international law on 1 March 1999, has been signed and ratified by 161 state-parties, including the Philippines, although among the non-signatories are China, the United States and Russia.

The pact bans anti-personnel mines, which it defines as “designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person and that will incapacitate, injure or kill one or more persons,” in other words, contact-detonated.

“Mines designed to be detonated by the presence, proximity or contact of a vehicle as opposed to a person, that are equipped with anti-handling devices, are not considered anti-personnel mines as a result of being so equipped,” the treaty adds.

Jalandoni's defense

“The use of command-detonated land mines by the NPA is not a violation of the Ottawa Treaty,” Jalandoni said in a statement. “It is a legitimate weapon of the NPA against the armed forces of the Aquino government in the revolutionary movement's just war of national and social liberation” and “deters enemy combatants from encroaching the territory of the people's democratic government and harming the people with impunity.”

“Therefore, the accusation of the regime's negotiating panel and the OPAPP that the NPA is violating the Ottawa Treaty is without any basis,” he added.

The NDF officer also said the government’s claim that the rebels violated Republic Act 9851, enacted under former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on December 11, 2009, “is not relevant. It does not bind the revolutionary movement and cannot supersede any provision of the Ottawa Treaty, which allows the use of command-detonated land mines.”

The law defines and penalizes “crimes against international humanitarian law, genocide and other crimes against humanity.”

Jalandoni said the government’s declarations that peace talks with the rebels have been terminated left “the revolutionary forces and people … no choice but to defend themselves. The military, police and paramilitary forces cannot attack the people without serious consequences.”  

In its statement, the government panel vowed "to continue seeking avenues for talking peace that will result in the decrease or prevention of NPA atrocities. We call on CSOs (civil society organizations), the churches and other peace stakeholders to say 'No' to the (rebels') violent acts.”

Security lapses

Meanwhile, Cagayan provincial police director Lim saw security lapses on the part of the personnel of the Special Action Force (SAF) ambushed Monday by NPA rebels in Barangay Cataratan, Allacapan, Cagayan.

"The problem there is they just went straight into the area,” which was a reputed ambush site that is 4 kms away from the nearest village, without conducting “road security or advance security,” provincial police director Lim said.

The incident killed 8 policemen---7 of whom died on the spot--- and injured 7 others, all members of the 2nd Special Action Company of the4 2nd Special Action Battalion based in said barangay, about 7 kilometers away from the town’s police station. The fatalities were aged 20 to 30.

Lt. Col. Felix Benitez, commanding officer of the Army’s 21st Infantry Battalion, said two platoons of soldiers are in hot pursuit of the rebels.

"Our soldiers are hunting down in the mountains rebels involved in the ambush. I’ve deployed also other platoons to seal off possible exit points to prevent the rebels from leaving that area. We’ve to contain them in that area and hopefully in the next few hours our strike group will made contact against them,” Benitez said.

The policemen were on their way to the town proper to undergo medical examination (ECG) when their vehicle was hit by a landmine and then followed by a volley of fire from the rebels.

The police said the perpetrators were members of the NPA’s Danilo Ben Command.

The Philippines has also law called Republic Act 9851 or the Philippine Act on Crimes against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and Other Crimes against Humanity.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/62736/ndf-justifies-command-detonated-mines-in-cops-ambush-as-govt-protests