Child welfare group chides AFP on ‘Sulu massacre’ probe

A non-government group serving children and families who are victims of state violence yesterday chided the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for absolving soldiers in the so-called “Maimbung massacre.”

Eight people were killed, including two children, two teenagers, and a pregnant woman, during an alleged encounter between the military and the Abu Sayyaf in a coastal village in Maimbung, Sulu last Feb. 4.

The Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC) specifically criticized the Judge Advocate General’s Office (JAGO) for exonerating the soldiers, as it lamented that operations against the Abu Sayyaf have apparently become a convenient excuse whenever human rights violations are committed against civilians in Mindanao, particularly in Muslim areas. 

“The AFP has done it again. It has used its usual excuse of ‘legitimate encounter’ to escape accountability over the loss of civilian lives during military operations,” said Ma. Esmeralda Macaspac, executive director of the CRC.

“They disregard the damage to lives, limbs and property. They even disregard the findings of investigations by human rights groups and even the Commission on Human Rights (CHR),” she said.

Macaspac expressed suspicion that the acquittal was a move to prevent further antagonizing the soldiers in the wake of rumors of military unrest amid the raging controversy on the NBN-ZTE scandal. 

“The last thing that the Arroyo government need right now, especially with a fragmented military, is to further rock the boat,” Macaspac said. 

“This further shows that at whatever cost, they will trudge any path just to appease the military men and keep themselves in power. And this they do at the expense of the human rights of the people,” she added.

Investigators from the AFP-Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) have reportedly cleared the soldiers involved in the Maimbung incident.

The Westmincom reportedly absolved men of the Army’s Light Reaction Company (LRC) and Navy’s Special Warfare Group (SWAG), and maintained that the incident in Barangay Ipil was a legitimate military operation that targeted the Abu Sayyaf.

The military said the Feb. 4 raid on the coastal village occurred following reports that the Abu Sayyaf was holding hostage a rice trader from Jolo.

But Maj. Eugene Batara Jr., spokesman of Westmincom, clarified that the Inspector General’s investigation did not mean that those involved in the incident have been absolved.

Batara said the investigation was conducted to verify the allegations against the soldiers involved in the operation where two elite members of the LRC and SWAG were also killed and five others, including a junior officer, were wounded.

“The results of the IG investigation did not mean that the soldiers involved were absolved because it will be the victims who will file the case for the court to determine,” he said.

The CHR has recommended the filing of cases against the soldiers involved, either directly or indirectly, in the attack. It said that none of the victims were Abu Sayyaf members.