Army officer slams CHR’s alleged bias against military

An Army commander said yesterday the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is biased against the military and the police after it accused him of committing human rights violations during operations against the Abu Sayyaf last year in Basilan.

Col. Jovenal Narcise told reporters that he was surprised that he was among those charged and said his troops "never committed any violation of human rights in all combat and clearing operations" during his 226-day stint in Basilan.

Narcise now commands the 702nd Infantry Brigade based in Bongabon, Nueva Ecija.

"I proudly and strictly implemented military operations that led to the confiscation of loose and undocumented firearms in Basilan. My brigade accounted for the confiscation of at least 30 assorted high and low-powered arms then. The confiscation of loose firearms deterred and preempt armed groups there from further kidnapping, extortion and other nefarious activities," he said.

Narcise’s former unit, the 103rd Infantry Battalion, was involved in operations against an Abu Sayyaf band that took over a church-hospital compound in Lamitan on June 2 last year.

Despite a military cordon, the bandits managed to escape with several hostages, including nurse Edibora Yap, who was killed along with American hostage Martin Burnham during a military rescue operation a year later.

Narcise and a few other officers were accused of letting the Abu Sayyaf bandits escape in exchange for bribes. He was relieved by then Col. Hermogenes Esperon, now a brigadier general and commander of the elite Presidential Security Group. Narcise was transferred to Nueva Ecija.

The human rights charges against Narcise stemmed from a CHR charge sheet based on complaints filed by a local group in Basilan of alleged violations committed by his troops.

Complaining against the CHR, Narcise said communist and Muslim rebels and the Abu Sayyaf committed far worse atrocities and yet the commission has yet to file charges against them.

He said "officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police are mostly the respondents of the CHR’s human rights violations charges."

Narcise said he is proposing that each major service of the military – the Army, Air Force and Navy – each form an "office of human rights affairs" that would be under the commanding general.

"The office would spearhead legal offensive activities by filing charges of human rights violations against the enemies of the state while protecting the human rights of each soldier in the field," he said.

"It could also reach out to civilian victims of human rights violations and file appropriate charges on their behalf against criminal or terrorist groups."– With Christina Mendez