|
Thursday, March 04, 2004
InPeace findings rap military, LGU officials
By Stella A. Estremera
* Pushes for indemnification for victims and those "unjustly charged and detained" and their families
* Wants speedy probe by Congress, international human rights bodies
THE Mindanao Truth Commission of the Initiatives for Peace in Mindanao (InPeace Mindanao) wants the filing of civil, criminal and administrative charges against Army Major Rene Paje "and other junior or senior officers and civilians who appear to have involvement or responsibility" over bombings in Mindanao last year, as well as illegal arrests and detentions made after the bombings.
This is among the five items in the Truth Commission's initial recommendations as enumerated in their executive summary progress report, a copy of which was given to Sun.Star Davao Wednesday afternoon.
The other four initial recommendations are:
* Indemnification for moral and physical damages for victims and those unjustly charged and detained and their families, as well as their rehabilitation;
* Immediate, speedy, transparent and thorough investigation by the Philippine Congress;
* Investigation by international human rights bodies and the filing of appropriate reports, charges, or complaints before international entities;
* Filing of civil, criminal, and administrative charges against state agencies and agents found to have violated human rights and international humanitarian laws before national, bilateral, and multilateral bodies.
Inpeace pointed out that despite insistence of officials that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) had a hand in the March 4 and April 2 bombings in Davao City, "the Commission finds that the State's case against the MILF is not based on or supported by solid legal evidence."
This is underlined by the fact that cases filed by the State against the suspects "have been dismissed one after the other by the courts of competent jurisdiction".
The findings also underlined that government "heavily relied" upon extrajudicial confessions of questionable nature as well as illegal arrests and detention. The
Commission cited the cases of bomb suspects Jimmy Balulao and Tohamie Bagundang who, in their affidavits of retraction, claimed they were tortured during interrogation.
It also cited the case against Emran Gumanod that was dismissed by the court "for insufficiency of evidence".
Claims by City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte that the Davao bombings were the handiwork of the Special Urban Terrorist Action Group also remain unsubstantiated.
The group is said to be an arm of the Al Qaeda network.
In pinning down Major Rene Paje, the Commission cited the affidavits executed by army renegades Capt. Milo Maestrocampo, Lt. Kristopher Bryan Yasay, and Lt. Jose Enrico Dingle that all pointed to Major Paje as having relayed the "special order" to lob grenades at mosques as well as arrange for its implementation.
It also noted that despite the harsh accusations leveled on Paje by the junior officials, "there is a suspicious lack of interest on the part of the State to prosecute Major Paje."
"On the contrary, the State has 'promoted' Major Paje to the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines," the Commission report said.
The Commission is also not brushing off the possibility of the American national Michael Terrence Meiring have a hand or knowledge about the bombings in Mindanao.
Meiring was injured inside the Evergreen Hotel along R. Magsaysay Avenue after he accidentally opened a cabinet that he booby-trapped with an incendiary bomb and set off the explosive on May 16, 2002.
The report emphasized that Meiring was rushed out of the country right from the Davao Doctors Hospital where he was confined by men who identified themselves as agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"The quantity and powerful type of bombs that Meiring had in possession indicate that he was among the persons or groups that had in possession of bombs of such intensity that can rip concrete buildings and cause massive destruction," the report said.
Despite this, he was whisked off with "the intervention of the vice-consul of the US Embassy in Manila" despite the issuance of a warrant for his arrest.
Aside from tacitly pointing a hand at authorities as having more traces of guilt in the bombings, the Commission noted that the 33 bombings that all happened under the Arroyo Administration have victimized the Moro people most as these bombings have become an excuse for profiling, forced disappearances, illegal searches, and arrests.
Here, the Commission recalled the illegal arrest of Kamar Lupon of the Purok 20, Sanggilangan, barangays Ma-a in Davao City, the road on 50 houses at Muslim
Village in Bangkal on April 14, 2004 after the Sasa Wharf bombing, and a similar raid in Madaum, Tagum City, and the abduction of a total of nine Moro men between April 3, 2003 to April 15, 2003, four of whom remain missing.
The report specifically mentioned Duterte and Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol as having voiced out "an undeclared state policy of racial discrimination and profiling" because of their statements after the bombings.
Piñol was quoted as having called for the revival of the Ilaga-Black Shirts, a vigilante cult preying on Moro people. While Duterte's statement on why there were raids in Muslim areas right after the bombing "because all the suspects are Muslims" was likewise noted.
Dr. Robinson Montalban of the Truth Commission said in a forum at the Tower Inn yesterday that their initial findings were based on the data gathered from various oral and written testimonies and secondary sources.
Regional State Prosecution Office (RSPO) chief Enrique delos Santos meanwhile said that the case against the five detained suspects who are facing charges of multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder for the twin bombings will be resolved by the end of the month.
Early this year, RSPO, tasked to conduct the re-investigation against the suspects, has been ordered by Executive Judge Paul Arcangel of RTC 12 to resolve the case, but they had asked for an extension. With report from RCB
(March 4, 2004 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
