Saturday, March 24, 2007 Military mulls pullout of soldiers from metro barangays
* Move comes after 'pressure' from human rights office
THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said it will "seriously" look into the "demand" of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to pull out the soldiers deployed in some urban poor barangays in Metro Manila.
AFP public information officer Bartolome Bacarro said Armed Forces Chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr. received a letter from the CHR on the matter.
At least 260 soldiers are deployed in depressed barangays in Metro Manila -- including Payatas and Tondo in Quezon City and Manila -- since November last year as part of their "community development training."
Officials said the deployment is in preparation for the soldiers' deployment to peacekeeping work abroad. The training calls for the conduct of medical and dental missions and pursuit of "limited engineering works."
Bacarro said Esperon would be meeting with CHR officials to discuss the matter even as he said that pulling out the soldiers may have an effect on troop deployment in other urban areas like Davao, General Santos, and Zamboanga cities, among others.
"This (pullout) might have an effect on the areas where we have troop deployments. These are urban areas where we have deployments. So this is being studied carefully by the chief of staff and the chief of staff would like to further discuss this matter and issue with the CHR," he said.
CHR media director Edgard Diansuy said the CHR has sent letters to Esperon, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, and Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Oscar Calderon demanding the pullout of the soldiers.
The letter, signed by CHR chairperson Purificacion Quisumbing, said the soldiers, the government and the AFP should pull out the soldiers in the metropolis because they are "generally duplicating what is supposed to be a police work."
Diansuy also quoted the letter as saying that the "militarization of the civilian communities therefore would be tantamount to violation of certain civil and political right of the residents in the communities."
He said the commission has not received any complaint against the soldiers. However, he said: "Either we admit it or not, the people will always equate the military presence to war or martial law and we don't want to take any chance."
"We are seriously studying it and of course the final say later on (is from higher authorities). As mentioned in the press statement that they have also sent a letter to the President. So while we are studying this, we are also awaiting instructions coming from the higher leadership," said Bacarro.
Bacarro also took exception to the CHR's conclusion that there is an ongoing militarization in the metropolis. "Let us define militarization. If we say militarization, the day to day activities of the people in a certain area are in a way controlled by the military and we can see this happening in these (Metro Manila) areas," he said.
"This (militarization) is not happening. The barangay officials are able to perform their functions, the people in the area can go anywhere they want to, they can do their day to day chores, their day to day activities without any restrictions coming from the AFP or from the military personnel down in the areas," he said.
Bacarro said what the deployed soldiers are able to restrict are the movements of criminals from pursuing their illegal activities. He said the effort is being conducted in collaboration with the PNP.
He said pulling out the soldiers will affect the ongoing humanitarian and civic mission of the soldiers in urban poor communities. "We would like to deliver completely what we have committed (to deliver) to them," Bacarro said. (VR/Sunnex)
