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Monday, December 10, 2007
Military downplays Unicef report
MANILA -- A military spokesman on Sunday brushed aside a report released by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) that said more than 200,000 children and women in the countryside have been affected by military operations.
"Unicef should have been more discerning in its report," Army spokesman Ernesto Torres said of the results of the study.
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Torres said the study was based on data provided by Ibon Foundation.
"Their report was based on the information provided by Ibon, an organization widely believed to be allied to the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines)," he said.
He said the Unicef study appeared to have ignored data from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), and Department of the Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the agency tasked to take care of displaced people.
"Records of the AFP, PNP, and DSWD were not given due consideration. We have documents and living witnesses to prove the CPP-New People's Army (NPA) exploitation of women and children," Torres said.
Ensure safety
Torres said the military takes the necessary steps to ensure civilians, specifically children and women, are not involved in any operation.
"In our (counter-insurgency) campaign to defeat the communist insurgency, we give primacy in taking appropriate action to insulate women and children from the effects of the conflict," he said.
The Unicef study detailed at least 800 cases of human rights violations on children in areas where the military pursues operations. The cases, it said, were documented by the Children's Rehabilitation Center.
The study showed at least 215,000 children and women were victimized by military operations, 58 of them were killed, another 58 survived attempts on their lives, 10 disappeared, and 40 maimed, among others.
The result of the study had been welcomed by CPP spokesman Gregorio Rosal, who said that in "the AFP's vicious and heartless war against the people, especially in peasant communities, there is hardly any discrimination between armed guerrillas and unarmed civilians." (VR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (December 10, 2007 issue)
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