Cause-oriented group to AFP: Confront first your “own skeletons”

The militant group Karapatan believes that the alleged NPA skeletons found in a cave in upland Cebu is only a desperate effort of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to divert public attention from state-instigated political killings as the country nears the 36th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law. 

In a press release, Karapatan advised the AFP to “first confront the skeletons in its closet and torture chambers” before rummaging for skeletons in caves.

Karapatan stated that the AFP is again running loose in a wild goose chase over so-called NPA mass graves in Cebu.

Secretary-general Dennis Abarrientos said that there are over 910 victims of AFP’s Oplan Bantay Laya in just seven years of President Gloria Arroyo’s administration, not including the more than 10,800 victims during Martial Law.

Skeletons of two bodies were recently found in a deep cave in the mountain barangay of Sudlon I, Cebu City.  Authorities believe that this could have been a mass grave of former communist rebels who were allegedly executed by their own members.

Residents of Sudlon I said that about 30 former NPAs were liquidated in the said area during the eighties.

These former NPAs were believed to have been killed by their own members because they were suspected of either trying to leave the organization or giving tips to the military.   — Ghea N. Sinajon, STC MassCom intern/MEEV