Group wants EU to join in military pullout call in Abra

MANILA,  Philippines - Rights group Karapatan on Friday urged the European Union to join the call for a military pullout in Lacub town in Abra when President Benigno S. Aquino III arrives in Europe for his four-nation trip starting September 13.

 

"He should be chased for his accountability in the series of human rights violations in the Philippines, and in the recent military operations in Abra which resulted to the killing of two civilians, engineer Fidela Salvador and Lacub resident Noel Viste," Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said.

 

Reports reaching Karapatan showed that Salvador was on a monitoring visit for various socio-economic projects implemented by Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services (CorDisRDS) when he was killed.

 

Meanwhile, Viste was among the 24 civilians who were reportedly coerced and used by the 41st Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) as human shields in the conduct of their operation.

 

Palabay said ??a fact-finding mission led by the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA), with several Cordillera-based organizations and Karapatan national office, documented a number of human rights violations in Lacub, Abra because of the military operations of the 41st IBPA.

 

She cited the September 5 indiscriminate firing incident, where soldiers  from the 41st IBPA stationed at the So. Bantugo, Poblacion, Lacub fired their weapons in the direction of Talampac Proper and Pacoc, Talampac. 

 

An M203 shell landed a residential area in Bobon, which forced six families to evacuate and classes to be suspended in Bantugo Elementary and High School School and Our Lady of Guadalupe High School, she said.

 

“The military encamped in the community, near the Bantugo elementary and high schools. The presence of the military has limited the mobility of the residents, affecting the livelihood activities of the residents,”  Palabay said.

 

She said that Karapatan has also documented 204 extrajudicial killings, 18 of which are minors, 21 enforced disappearances, 99 cases of torture, 207 frustrated killings and 39,800 victims of forced evacuations during the term of President Aquino.