DND on hot seat over alleged AFP rights violations

From ABS-CBN (Sep 8): DND on hot seat over alleged AFP rights violations

The Department of National Defense (DND) is in the thick of defending its 2016 budget, but in the last three hours of Tuesday's hearing at the House of Representatives, most of the questions thrown at the DND were not about the budget but the alleged human rights violations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Speaking for his department, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin proposed a budget of P158.86 billion for 2016. This is P16.56 billion more than its 2015 budget.

Majority of the proposed budget, or P93 million, goes to force level command and control, support and training, inclusive of pension for veterans and retirees. The second largest chunk of the budget, or P63.5 million, goes to territorial defense.

In the last three hours of the hearing, most of the questions thrown at the defense department were not about the budget itself, but about the alleged human rights violations done by the AFP, particularly in the indigenous peoples communities in Davao del Norte and Surigao del Sur.

Seven-hundred Lumads are currently in an evacuation center in Davao City while some 2,000 Lumads are in an evacuation center in Tandag City. Their organizers claim that they fled their homes because of military presence in their community.

Last September 1, two Lumads and a teacher were killed by what villagers call a paramilitary group sanctioned by the Philippine Army.

The AFP denied any participation in these murders.

Brig. Gen. Angelito de Leon showed a presentation that sought to prove that the military was in the areas like Talaingod and Han-ayan because there was a strong presence of the New People's Army (NPA) there.

He also showed a video of a Lumad boy who was a student of an indigenous school singing a different version of the national anthem. It carried the same tune as the Lupang Hinirang, but spoke about the hardships of the people and how government was failing them.

He also presented interviews of Lumad evacuees in Haran saying they want to go home but their organizers will not allow them.

(READ: Stabbed, tortured, shot: Kin describe killing of Lumad leaders)

Relatives and neighbors of the two murdered Manobo and their teacher have taken the cause to the gates of the House of Representatives, blaming the military for the killings.


ABS-CBN News @ABSCBNNews

Relatives of 3 murdered Lumads have taken the cause to the gates of Congress. | @chiarazambrano #StopKillingLumads

10:41 PM - 7 Sep 2015

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During the hearing, the Makabayan bloc cried out against Oplan Bayanihan, the government scheme that seeks to eliminate internal security threats like the NPA by end of 2016.

Makabayan bloc lawmakers grilled the DND on what they call a spate of "attacks vs Lumads" in Mindanao.

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares was clearly incensed by the AFP presentation, saying it was a popular nationalist song and does not automatically mean the boy or the community is part of the NPA.

Colmenares accused the AFP of being intolerant of dissent.

"Kinanta lang, NPA agad? Ito ang mahirap sa AFP! Yang ganyang psychology maraming namamatay dyan!" he said.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/09/08/15/dnd-hot-seat-over-alleged-rights-violations