Reacting to president Benigno Aquino III’s instructions to the military to uphold human rights in its counter-insurgency campaign, the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said that the presidents pronouncements will not amount to much if the Arroyo-era counter-insurgency policy of the government is not scrapped.
“It makes little difference if Aquino will order the AFP to respect human rights even as it maintains Arroyo’s bloody counter-insurgency program known as Oplan Bantay Laya that has targeted unarmed activists. It appears that Aquino does not recognize that the problem is the policy and the overall lack of accountability within the armed forces,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.
“By saying that many of the killings are motivated by personal reasons and not by a state policy of the past, Aquino is effectively turning a blind eye to the gross and systematic human rights abuses started by the Arroyo regime and continuing under his watch. Is Aquino now implying that the killings of hundreds of activists are unrelated and merely coincidental since there was and is no state policy?” Reyes added.
Bayan said that many respected international bodies including the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have all pointed to a state policy of targeting unarmed activists within the framework of the AFP’s counter-insurgency drive.
“It has been well established that a policy exists. This policy seems to have been carried over by the AFP from the previous government. Oplan Bantay Laya is a continuing policy hence the recent murders of members of progressive groups. If Mr. Aquino doesn’t find anything wrong with this policy, then we can expect worse days ahead for activists,” Reyes said.
Bayan welcomed Aquino’s announcement that it will go after lawbreakers in uniform but said that unless the counter-insurgency program Bantay Laya is abandoned, the human rights abuses will continue.
“We urge Mr. Aquino to read the Alston report and the recommendations of Human Rights Watch. Mr. Aquino should not rely on the reports given by the inutile Task Force Usig which has not made any significant headway in arresting the perpetrators of extrajudicial killings. Mr. Aquino should seriously rethink his notion that most of the killings are personal and not part of any state policy. He is in effect absolving the AFP and even Mrs. Arroyo of any previous wrongdoing. By saying that there is no existing policy, even one carried over from the past regime, he is tacitly emboldening the perpetrators,” Reyes said.
Bayan said that Aquino’s need to gain the support of the AFP for the stability of its administration will remain a major stumbling block to stopping the killings and holding officials accountable. The group also assailed continuing US support for the bloody counter-insurgency policy as another factor why the program continues.
“What is even alarming is that the AFP, despite its numerous human rights abuses, continues to receive huge military aid from the US government. This is another reason why the counter-insurgency policy remains unchanged. Not only does it have domestic support, it enjoys support from Washington,” Reyes added. ###
