Philippine Army Kills 19, Including 2 US Citizens

The killing of 19 people and displacement of 168 families by the Philippine Armed Forces has been met with outrage by human rights organizations across Southeast Asia and the United States. Among the 19 killed in the army operation, which lasted nearly 12 hours, in Toboso, Negros Occidental, were two US citizens, as well as Filipino student leaders, journalists, and human rights activists.

The massacre on April 19 has been justified by a familiar narrative: the Armed Forces claimed they were carrying out a counter-insurgency operation and that those killed were armed and members of the New People’s Army (NPA), a banned armed group affiliated with the Communist Party of Philippines (CPP).

Rights groups and institutions, such as the universities where the victims studied, have questioned the Armed Forces’ narrative, claiming several of the people killed were innocent civilians who had nothing to do with the NPA.

ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), in a statement on Wednesday, claimed that at least nine of those killed have been identified as civilians working as journalists, students, community researchers or were local residents and even minors. Some of those killed had been doing community work and research to help local people improve their lives, right groups have claimed.

APHR called their killings a “grave violation of human rights” and demanded accountability.

The two US citizens killed were Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem who had been accompanying local community groups. Other victims include journalist RJ Ledesma and student activists Alyssa Alano, Maureen Santuyo, and Errol Wendel.

Students at the University of the Philippines gathered to protest the killing of student activist Alyssa Alano. Photo: College Editors Guild of the Philippines.

According to the Inquirer, the NPA also issued a statement dismissing the army’s version, claiming some of the people killed were not fighters but journalists, common civilians and advocates “documenting peasant activities”.

Crackdown on dissent

Rights groups have demanded an independent inquiry into the matter, with some claiming the killings are part of a pattern followed by the governments in the country to silence dissent.

Cristina Palabay, secretary general of KARAPATAN, a Filipino human rights organization, claimed that the armed forces in the country have repeatedly used the “armed encounter” as a justification for killing people critical to the government. She underlined that the Philippines is a party to the Geneva Convention on International Humanitarian Law and as such the government must prioritize the protection of civilians in any sort of military operation.

KARAPATAN has also held demonstrations in various parts of the country demanding an end to the armed forces’ violence against civilians and their immediate withdrawal from civilian areas.

APHR also described the killings in Toboso as another display of the Philippine government’s attempts to eliminate all kinds of dissent by labeling them “communist sympathizers”.

“An operation that cannot distinguish between armed combatants and community workers is an indiscriminate attack that violates international humanitarian law,” Mercy Christie, head of the APHR, said in the statement, demanding accountability for those responsible for the killing of innocent civilians.

Several other rights groups have also demanded a fair investigation into the killing, along with a halt on all so-called counterinsurgency operations, claiming they endanger civilians and human rights defenders.

Meanwhile, the Philippines Commission on Human Rights (CHR) claimed it has launched an independent investigation into the matter.

Malaya Movement, Bayan, and other US-based groups have organized community vigils to mourn the activists and demand accountability for the killings in Negros. They have also demanded an end to US funding, support, and cooperation with the Philippine Armed Forces.

Amid protests against the Philippine military’s human rights abuses, the US armed forces were jointly organizing Balikatan (April 20-May 8), the largest ever joint military exercise between the two countries.

Courtesy: Peoples Dispatch