In abducting the six Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) inspectors Friday, the New People's Army (NPA) have again shown disregard for Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHIHL), which it signed together with the Government of the Philippines.
This was stressed by Capt. Alberto Caber, Eastern Mindanao Command spokesperson, in an interview Monday.
"It's a violation of the CARHIHL as they (rebels) deliberately targeted civilians. This is another blatant human right abuse committed by the NPAs and we are requesting peace and human rights advocate to closely monitor this incident to ensure that the victims will be release immediately," he said in Filipino.
CARHIHL stipulates that civilians shall be distinguished from combatants, shall not be the object of attacks.
Caber said that the NPA decision to abduct the DENR inspectors was triggered by the information that the victims were allegedly using a drone in their validation work in the ongoing National Greening Program in Barangay New Leyte, Maco town, Compostela Valley when snatched by the suspects 2:00 p.m. Friday.
He added that the rebels thought that the six were illegal loggers and using the drone to identify trees to cut up.
Caber said that the search is focused on the Maco town environs as of this posting.
The survey inspectors were identified as Kendrik Wong; Nico Lasaca; Chris Favila, Matthew Cua, Jonas Loredo and Tim Sabina.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=649396
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