Fire Baladad, group demands

From The Standard (Sep 9): Fire Baladad, group demands

THE human rights group Karapatan on Tuesday demanded the relief of Eastern Mindanao Command chief Aurelio Baladad for his “command responsibility” over the spate of killings and terrorist activities by some military units and their militias in the Caraga region.

Group head Cristina Palabay said they would also be asking Congress to make Baladad and his command answer “for their crimes” against the Lumad tribe before the Department of National Defense’s  proposed budget for 2016 was approved.

“The AFP should pay for their crimes against the people. It deserves not a single cent from the people’s money,” Palabay said.

“With what is happening especially in the areas under the Eastern Mindanao Command—the massive evacuation, the killings, massacres and threat to Lumad schools, their teachers, staffs and students—it is the Armed Forces of the Philippines and its paramilitary force multipliers who owe the people.”

Palabay made her statement even as President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday tried to avoid discussing the reported killings of members of the Lumad tribe in Surigao del Sur last week. There were allegations the military was abetting the killings as part of its anti-insurgency campaign.

“I should talk to [Bayan spokesman] Teddy Casiño after this and ask him for details,” Aquino said in an interview aired over PTV-4.

“There is no campaign to kill anybody. There is a campaign to go after everybody committing crimes regardless of who they are.”

Aquino made his statement after Casiño asked what the government would do over the reported killings of members of the Lumad tribe.      
     
Armed Forces Chief Hernando Iriberri said military personnel, regardless of rank, would be punished if found violating any laws.

In the House, the committee on national defense led by Rep. Rodolfo Biazon said it will probe the alleged human rights violations being committed by the Armed Forces, including the rape of a 14-year-old girl in Davao del Norte.

Rep. Luz Ilagan also denounced the reported rape.

Justice Rep. Leila de Lima said the National Bureau of Investigation was ready to do a parallel probe of the alleged killings of members of the Lumad tribe following the House’s announcement of its investigation.

The alleged killings of members of the Lumad tribe have been largely blamed on the military and the paramilitary Magahat and Bagani forces.

Baladad has denied the allegations, but Karapatan is convinced the military is behind the the reported killings.

“Who could forget the Paquibato Massacre where three civilians were killed, in which two were Lumad leaders and one peasant?” Palabay said.

She said when Baladad was Eastmincom commander the Lumad schools became under attack because they were allegedly “NPA schools”.

 “It is also under his command that the residents of Talaingod, Davao del Norte, were evacuated to Davao City because the paramilitary group Alamara had been terrorizing its residents,” Palabay said.

“The more than 55 AFP combat battalions deployed in the non-Muslim areas in Mindanao have caused a series of human rights violations against the people of Mindanao, especially peasants and indigenous people. Yet the government, as usual, has not lifted a finger.”http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/09/09/fire-baladad-group-demands/