Communications Secretary Martin Andanar has challenged communist front organization Karapatan to investigate the execution of three missing persons in Kitaotao, Bukidnon after their bodies were exhumed Thursday.
Andanar said that Karapatan, the supposed watchdog of International Humanitarian Law in the Philippines, should prove to the public that it is not affiliated with terrorist group New People’s Army who abducted the three victims in 2017.
“Clearly, this proves that the NPA is carrying out extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. As the Cabinet officer for Region X, I condemn this terrorist act and all their other atrocities against civilians, especially Indigenous Peoples,” he said.
“If Karapatan is really a human rights watchdog of the Philippines and a defender of International Humanitarian Law, they should investigate this case and convince us that they are not connected with the NPA as they claim,” he added.
According to Brig. Gen. Edgardo de Leon, commander of the Army 403rd Infantry Brigade, the bodies, which were exhumed on Thursday, were missing since August 2017 after they were taken by NPA members while passing a road blockade in Sitio Nabunturan, Barangay Digonga, Kitaotao, Bukidnon.
“The execution that they carried out is a clear violation of IHL. They killed non-combatants. If they would claim that those cadavers were captives, then the more that they are liable for IHL violation, punishable under RA 9851,” he said.
“Captives are supposed to be taken care of. If they are sick and wounded, they should be sent to health services provider,” he added.
“We don’t know how they executed them, an autopsy would show later how. But you can imagine how ISIS terrorists execute people, there is a certain similarity. So the NPAs are really terrorists, worthy of public condemnation,” he continued. (Argyll Geducos)
