AFP official vows to probe human rights violations

MANILA, Philippines - The new chief of the military’s human rights office yesterday vowed to be more aggressive in probing the allegations of malpractices involving soldiers.

Col. Rhoderick Parayno, chief of the Human Rights Office of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said he would not condone any form of human rights violation by military personnel.

“What I will do is to be aggressive in the conduct of investigations, determine who are really behind the (human rights violations). If anyone from the AFP commits wrongdoing, we will not deny it. We will let justice take its course,” he added.

Parayno lamented that soldiers are often the suspects whenever human rights violations are committed.

He said some groups are using allegations of human rights abuses to discredit the military.

“There should be no violation so there would be no propaganda,” Parayno said.

He claimed that some complaints, like the failure of a soldier to support his family, are not related to the military’s duties.

Parayno also plans to engage with civil society groups and continue educating soldiers about international humanitarian law.

Commission on Human Rights records showed that there have been 66 complaints involving enforced disappearance, 208 complaints involving unexplained killings and 141 complaints of torture since 2010.

Meanwhile, AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan Jr. denied that their efforts to promote respect for human rights are just for publicity.

“I don’t know what others say but as I’ve said, it (human rights drive) is not a PR initiative. I should know. I was the one designated on the matter so it’s something that we did seriously,” Tutaan said.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), however, believes that Tutaan’s appointment as military spokesman was meant to cover up the human rights violations of soldiers.

“Tutaan served only to window-dress the AFP with his rhetoric and publicity gimmicks without any substantial change in the AFP’s conduct of its war against the people,” the CPP said in a statement.

“Tutaan served as the psy war expert leading the AFP’s publicity gimmicks, portraying the military as providing social services, thus supplanting local civilian agencies in an effort to cover up the AFP’s brutalities,” it added.

Tutaan, who was appointed recently as chief of the Armed Forces Office of the Internal Auditor, assured the public that there would be no pabaon or send-off money for retiring top military officials through the illegal conversion of funds during his watch.

Tutaan said he would make sure that the military’s resources are used properly.

“We have to look into it so that we can determine if they are on the right track or if they’re performing well in line with the security sector reform,” said Tutaan.

He said that the objective is to ensure the “judicious and prudent use of resources.”

Tutaan said his office would conduct surprise audits when necessary.

He said there would be no sacred cows in his drive to look into the transactions of military offices.

The AFP image has been tainted with corruption after former military budget officer George Rabusa had claimed in 2011 that some generals got huge sums upon retirement.

Rabusa said the giving of send-off money to top officials is part of a tradition.

Military funds intended for other purposes were reportedly converted to give cash gifts for ranking officials

The AFP has repeatedly claimed that reforms have been undertaken to insulate its financial and procurement systems from irregularities.