For the past weeks, Filipinos from all parts of the globe condemned the atrocity that snuffed out the lives of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos on January 25, while on a mission to capture two known terrorists – Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan” who was killed and Basit Usman who escaped.
Posted by Online on Mar 26th, 2015 // 0 Comments
For the past weeks, Filipinos from all parts of the globe condemned the atrocity that snuffed out the lives of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos on January 25, while on a mission to capture two known terrorists – Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan” who was killed and Basit Usman who escaped.
Naturally, the rebels responsible for their deaths – the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) – earned the ire of the public.
The MILF was branded as traitors for attacking the police despite peace talks and agreements with the government, and support for the approval of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) they seek dwindled harshly.
Thus, not a few were offended when the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) came out with a statement over the weekend that emotions rather than objectivity prevailed in the findings of the Senate committee report on the Mamasapano incident.
CHR Chairperson Loreta Ann Rosales noted that senators jumped to conclusions, saying it was a “massacre” and not a mere “misencounter” since the SAF commandos were also armed and could not be considered helpless.
Rosales might have overlooked that a number of SAF victims who were wounded and ran out of bullets were shot in the head at close range, based on the Philippine National Police (PNP) report. Could this not be considered a massacre in the eyes of our CHR chair?
Despite Rosales’s statement, the senators stood by their findings which were based on the testimonies of resource persons given under oath, as well as documents and reports submitted to them, that showed excessive force was inflicted to finish off the wounded SAF troopers.
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Part of the CHR’s functions are to “provide legal measures for the protection of human rights of all persons within the Philippines, as well as Filipinos residing abroad, and provide for preventive measures and legal aid services to the under-privileged whose human rights have been violated or need protection.”
Many times over, we hear the CHR speak of human rights violations allegedly done by the PNP and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), of excessive force that may have been used, on the persons they arrested or captured on suspicions of criminality or rebellion.
Sadly, there have also been comments that when members of the police or military end up being killed or butchered in the performance of their sworn duty, not a whimper is heard from the CHR.
We do hope the CHR will consider that our men in the PNP and AFP have human rights that need not be neglected and should be defended like any other Filipino. Being men in uniform does not exclude them from this basic right enjoyed by us all.
Rosales should turn her attention on the liability of the rebels responsible for the brutal killing of the SAF 44, some of whom were supposedly giving up and raising their hands when shot, and likewise look into the video footage of the incident that went viral on the internet.
Bear in mind that these 44 SAF commandos were merely following orders from their superiors when they met their untimely deaths. The least that the government can do is help their families and loved ones seek justice and punish those responsible for this tragedy.
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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, [email protected] or tweet @Side_View. Read current and past issues of this column at http://www.tempo.com.ph/category/opinion/firing-line/