Tuesday, April 17, 2007 NGO mission to sue military for girl's death By Grace L.Plata
A MISSION, composed of non-government organizations, intends to hold the 10th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army accountable for the death of a Grade 2 pupil.
This is if the girl's parents agree. The group believes the military is lying when it insisted that the 12-year-old girl was actually a child-soldier of the New People's Army.
Thus, the National Interfaith Psychological First-Aid Mission sent to investigate the circumstances of the death of Grecil Buya, the child reported to be an NPA child-warrior, recommends the immediate autopsy of the body to determine whether the shot that hit the child's head, causing her death, was intentional.
"Kung makita sa autopsy na close range ang shot, it means gituyo 'to (If the autopsy shows the shot was from a close range then it was intentional). It was really a summary execution and Grecil was not just caught in the crossfire as the military claims," said Honey Mae Suazo, executive secretary of the Kabiba Alliance for Children's Concerns, one of the organizations that spearhead the mission, in a press conference Sunday.
The mission held April 14, 2007, provided pysho-social therapy for the traumatized children in the community aside from investigating and procuring the documents to prove that Grecil was really a civilian.
Among the documents gathered were Grecil's birth certificate, barangay certification, report card showing she was a Grade 2 student, and her death certificate stating that a gunshot wound in the head caused her death.
According to the team, they found heavy traces of indiscriminate firing towards the Buya house during an ocular inspection indicating that the house was the primary target by the soldiers.
Harassment and intimidation of New Bataan residents also fan belief that Grecil's death was actually the result of getting the wrong target.
The autopsy of Grecil's body is being arranged by the team to back the filing of a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights and other international bodies such as the United Nations Children Fund (Unicef).
