Sun.Star: CHR wants raps filed vs soldiers in 'Maimbung massacre'

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against all the soldiers involved in the February 4 incident in the village of Ipil, Maimbung, Sulu. After a weeklong investigation, the CHR came up with five recommendations and the filing of charges against the involved soldiers topped its list. Eight people - seven civilians and a soldier on leave -- were killed in the said incident, which the military claimed to be a legitimate clash with Abu Sayyaf bandits. CHR Regional Director Jose Manuel Mamauag sent a four-man probe team on February 5, a day after the incident, to conduct a thorough investigation on the Sulu clash. "From all indications, the February 4, 2008 Barangay Ipil incident is a clear breach of human rights of the victims," the four-man probe team said in its six-page investigation report to Mamauag. "We recommend prosecution against all those involved directly or indirectly in the attack," said Mamauag after receiving the investigation report. The Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) said in a statement earlier that the clash ensued around 2:55 a.m. of February 4 while the troops were approaching the area (Ipil) where an armed group met them. The troops were deployed to the place following the reported presence of Abu Sayyaf bandits led by Abu Pula bringing with them Jolo rice trader Maria Rosalie Lao who was abducted by the bandits last January 28. The Westmincom reported that two soldiers were killed while five others were wounded. The troops also said they recovered the bodies of three slain rebels among them is a certain Abu Muktadil. An M-16 rifle was also recovered. "The commanders on the ground maintain that the encounter in Ipil, Maimbung, Sulu was a legitimate encounter with the Abu Sayyaf terror group, the fact that the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) troops suffered casualties," the Westmincom said. But the CHR probe team said such information is not true citing the identified dead Abu Sayyaf turned out to be Ipil Barangay Kagawad Ardisin Lahim based on the testimonies of the residents there. The CHR probe team's finding showed that there was neither the presence nor involvement of the dreaded Abu Sayyaf bandits and there was no proof that prior information of the bandits were sighted or culled in the area, before, during or after the attack. Also, there was no presence of the previous kidnap victim in another kidnapping case, in the area, before, during or after the attack, the CHR report said. "The issue of legitimate encounter, coupled with the consequent death of government soldiers cannot hold water, in view of the witnesses' separate accounts that the civilians were directly fired at and pursued without let-up,"the probe team said. "More so, while at it (firing directly at the fleeing civilians), all were shouting at the top of their lungs 'Tama na! Mga civilian lang kami!'('Stop firing! We are civilians!')," the probe team said. They also said the issue of family feud, as earlier claimed by the Joint Task Force Comet that caused the death of unarmed civilians, is baseless, considering that the involved feuding families were also victims of the incident. Mamauag said the filing of the cases would be done through the office of Sulu Provincial Prosecutor's Office to the National Prosecutor's Service and with the office of the military ombudsman. Aside from the filing of criminal and administrative charges, the CHR also recommended the following: * Concerned National Government agencies and local government units to extend all possible assistance, compensation, material or otherwise, rehabilitation, psychological and traumatic therapy, stress-debriefing, counseling, or any assistance to recoup and repatriate the lives of the survivors; * Right to repatriation, as the duty of government to protect its own citizens were not observed but violated. It is not the victim's own doing that triggered the incident; * Re-orient the agents of the government, especially the AFP, on its paramount responsibilities on the rights of citizens and state obligations and cultural sensibility and non-discrimination; * For the CHR-to immediately extend financial assistance to the victims as may be provided for by law through Survivors Benefits, Medical Assistance and Community Assistance, respectively. Mamauag said copies of the investigation report were furnished to the CHR central office, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), and to Westmincom chief Lieutenant General Nelson Allaga. A television report disclosed that Allaga refused to comment over the CHR's finding citing he has to wait the result of the investigation being conducted by the Westmincom's Inspectorate General. Allaga has sent the Westmincom's Inspectorate General to conduct a thorough investigation after the reported deaths of the seven civilians and a soldier on leave. National Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, who visited Sulu and talked to the victims' relatives, has placed all of the soldiers involved in the incident under suspension. The House of Representatives is also set to conduct its own probe over the incident after Anak Mindanao Party-list Representative Mujib Hataman filed a resolution on the matter. The resolution is for the House Committee on Human Rights to conduct an inquiry into the Sulu massacre incident allegedly committed by the elite forces of the AFP. - Sun.Star