A lawmaker has
asked the Commission on Human Rights to conduct a fact-finding investigation
into the possible human rights violations committed during an encounter between
government troops and alleged members of the New People’s Army in Cawayan, Masbate last August.
In House
Resolution 2276, Masbate Rep. Scott Davies Lanete said information gathered by
his office revealed that “overkill occurred and human rights violations were
committed during the encounter between the two groups.”
“It is the
mandate of the Commission on Human Rights to investigate all form of human
rights violations, including the aforementioned incident,” Lanete said as he
pushed for the probe.
“Incidents of
this nature,” Lanete, member for the majority bloc, added, “should not be left
in the dark and hurled towards the realm of the forgotten but strictly
condemned and looked into to avoid further human rights violations.”
It has been
reported that a gunfight ensued between government troops and NPA members in
Cawayan, Masbate at 4:30 p.m. on Aug.
3, 2015.
The alleged
gunfight resulted in the death of a soldier and four suspected NPA members and
injury to three soldiers.
But the initial
findings by a human rights probe team revealed that the four alleged NPA
members were actually habal-habal or tricycle drivers sent by Del Carmen
Barangay Captain Silpicio Abilida Mahinay to help soldiers wounded during the
rebel-staged ambush in Barangay Del Carmen.
Rogelio Mahinay,
27, single; Adam Fajardo, 34, widower with five children; Robert Badillo, 23,
single; and Gary Vistar, 37, married, went to the site to respond but Army
soldiers allegedly intercepted them, shot them on the sport and identified them
as “rebels.”
Lanete asked the
CHR to “initiate criminal proceedings against persons found liable to propose
legislative measure that will provide stringent regulations in the curtailment
of human rights violations of this nature.”
http://manilastandardtoday.com/news/-provinces/193646/lawmaker-to-chr-probe-august-clash-in-masbate.html
Rep. Lanete's actions appear to be influenced by "the initial findings (of) a human rights probe team." The probe team is not identified in the article but best guess is that it was a "fact-finding mission" undertaken by members of the main Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) human rights front organization, KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights). As mentioned in previous comments, the veracity of the statistics and findings published by KARAPATAN are highly suspect.
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