Karapatan, NUPL hit Army chief

From the Visayan Daily Star (Jul 12): Karapatan, NUPL hit Army chief

Army chief Lt. Gen. Noel Coballes got the ire of human rights group Karapatan and the National Union of People’s Lawyers, for allegedly calling them “enemies”.

By calling Karapatan its enemy, the Armed Forces of the Philippines justified that the victims of human rights violations are also its enemies, its secretary general, Cristina Palabay, said in a statement they issued.

The NUPL, whose lawyer members are pro-bono counsels to the Morong 43, also said in a statement that the act of military tagging legal organizations as “enemies” is in open violation of the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers and even the Philippine Code of Professional Responsibility.

Karapatan and NUPL had earlier slammed the AFP leadership for designating Brig. Gen. Aurelio Baladad as commanding general of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, that is in charge of the internal security operations in Negros and Panay island.

Coballes who came to the rescue of Baladad, was quoted in media interviews as saying, “ You don’t expect any positive statement from the enemy.

As commander of the 202nd Infantry Brigade, Baladad, was linked to the illegal detention and alleged torture of 43 health workers known as the Morong 43.

Karapatan called the appointment an "exemplary display of impunity under the Aquino government."

Karapatan claimed to have documented 142 cases of extrajudicial killings and 164 of frustrated killing; 16 incidents of enforced disappearance; 76 cases of torture; 293 cases of illegal arrest and detention.

The change of 3ID command from Brig. Gen. Jonas Sumagaysay, its general-officer-in-charge, to Baladad has been reset from July 12 to July 16, with Coballes as the expected guest of honor and speaker.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2013/July/12/topstory10.htm