From the Gulf Today (Mar 20): Maoists pay $225 each to 4 civilians wounded in raid
A church-based group confirmed that the communist New People’s Army (NPA) has paid $225 each to four civilians including a Red Cross worker who were wounded in a recent landmine attack in Davao del Sur province in restive Mindanao.
The Exodus for Justice and Peace (EJP) admitted it has been chosen as the “conduit” to pay $225 each as compensation to the four victims wounded during simultaneous raids staged by the NPA on the police headquarters in the town of Bansalan, Davao del Sur on March 2.
Bishop Modesto Villasanta of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, the EJP head, said the four were volunteer workers aboard a government ambulance rushing to fetch the wounded soldiers and policemen when the landmine set off by the NPA rebels exploded.
At least seven soldiers led by a junior officer and policemen were killed in the attack for which the NPA had apologized especially in the wounding of the four rescue workers. But Senior Superintendent Michael John Dubria, the Davao del Sur provincial police chief, pointed out the NPA apology and admission have strengthened the criminal charges filed by the government in court against the rebels as he stressed:
“There could never be any justification for the incident. The victims were civilians and were in an ambulance but still, they were targeted.” Lieutenant Colonel Norman Zuniega, the regional military spokesman, also condemned the attack which he described as “barbaric and brutal because it violated human rights and international humanitarian laws.”
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/61c35e29-879f-4943-82df-602ef8d2f272.aspx
The Exodus for Justice and Peace (EJP) appears to be comprised of clergy that are, at the very least, sympathetic to the CPP/NPA. EJP has repeatedly criticized the military over human rights issues but rarely has taken the NPA to task for its HR excesses, especially insurgent assassination operations. The group has also repeatedly called for the release of captured NPA rebels and has taken the government to task for not agreeing to CPP/NDF demands for a resumption of peace talks. Some observers, especially the military, have characterized the group as a defacto front group of the CPP/NPA.
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