Army chief Lt. Gen. Hernando Iriberri is the new chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. USARPAC photo/Kyle J. Richardson/File
The Army yesterday defended newly installed Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Lt. Gen. Hernando Iriberri from allegations that he condoned human rights abuses and attacks against civilian communities.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato maintained that soldiers were taught to respect human rights in all their operations.
“The allegation that General Iriberri led the Army in committing human rights violations is not true. Respect for human rights is part of our training,” Detoyato said in a phone interview.
Earlier, human rights group Karapatan assailed the appointment of Iriberri as the new military chief, replacing retired AFP chief Gregorio Catapang Jr. The group described Iriberri as “the same dog, only with a different tag.”
“Lt. Gen. Hernando Iriberri led the whole Philippine Army in perpetrating human rights violations and international humanitarian law across the country, especially in the Mindanao regions,” Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay said in a statement.
Palabay claims that as far as their records show, the AFP could not boast of killing and jailing members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) because “those killed were civilians and all of the arrests were illegal.”
Karapatan said as of the second quarter of 2015, there are 262 documented victims of extrajudicial killings and 293 victims of frustrated killings.
Detoyato doubts the Karapatan data and dared its officers to come up with proof.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/07/13/1476360/new-afp-chief-respects-human-rights-says-army
KARAPATAN is the main Communist Party of the Philippines umbrella human rights front organization.
ReplyDeletePalabay's assertion that the military should not gloat over killing and capturing NPA rebels because “those killed were civilians and all of the arrests were illegal" just demonstrates how slanted KARAPTAN reporting/statistics really are.
Rebels KIA become civilian victims of extrajudicial killings while those that are arrested become illegally detained political prisoners. KARAPATAN statistics are not reliable and should be viewed with healthy skepticism.