Army denies harassing group probing human rights violations in Quezon

The military yesterday denied having harassed a group of Filipino and Canadian human rights volunteers who were supposed to conduct a fact finding mission in San Narciso, Quezon, as they were blocked by soldiers from entering an area where there are ongoing combat operations against Communist rebels.

Brig. Gen. Andy Mesa, commander of the 2nd infantry division told The STAR in a phone interview that the group composed of members from the local human rights group Karapatan and the Canadian human rights fact finding team wanted to venture into an area where there is danger that they might get caught in the crossfire.

"Gusto nilang pumasok sa lugar na may mga ongoing operations tayo.  We are concerned about their safety. We don’t want them to get caught in the crossfire," Mesa said, adding that they could allow the rights activists to do their work when it is already safe to do so.

Mesa said that they have expressed their openness in conducting dialogues with the said group, for them to be able to present their side on the real situation in Southern Tagalog. 

"How can they present a balanced report if they will not coordinate with us?  We are not hiding anything from them. It only shows that they don’t have the intention of coming out with a fair report," Mesa said.

According to Karapatan, the team was allegedly detained and questioned by elements of the 74th Infantry Battalion (IB) in San Narciso, Quezon last Sunday.

Karapatan said Fil-Canadian lawyer Luningning Imperial, a member of the foreign delegation was able to contact the Canadian Embassy in Manila for assistance. 

Embassy officials reportedly said they would extend protection to the Canadians, but also told them that they did not have the right to be with human rights workers from the Philippines and that they should have gotten permission from the military before entering the area.

The Army official said that the Canadian Embassy called them up to verify reports that his men harassed their nationals who are conducting a fact finding mission in Quezon. 

"I explained to the Canadian Embassy that their nationals were with a group that is known to be a front organization of the Communist New People’s Army," he said, referring to Karapatan.

Mesa said that when his men asked for the documents of the Canadians, they refused and only showed photo copies of their travel papers.

But he said that when the group was stopped at a checkpoint by the police, they showed their original passports.

"We were very much disappointed because they did not coordinate with us as government authorities.  When Filipinos go to other countries, we try our best to comply with their regulations," Mesa said.