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| Chair of CHR Lorretta Ann P. Corales |
The Commission on Human Rights extends its compliments to the
Senate Committees on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, Peace, Unification and
Reconciliation, and Finance for the report issued on the Mamasapano incident
(“Senate Report”), and commends them for their promptness in drafting such a
comprehensive and well-referenced report.
The Commission, however, must voice its concern over some of the
statements made in the Senate Report, which give the appearance that emotion,
rather than objectivity, prevailed in the articulation of its findings.
What happened in Mamasapano on 25 January 2015 was a Massacre, Not a Misencounter.
While the Commission commiserates with the families
of the victims and acknowledges that the killing of the Fallen 44 was
unjustified, categorizing the incident as a
“massacre” is excessive.
The mere use of high-powered firearms and mortars does not
automatically equate to cruelty, inasmuch as it was not clearly established
who, between the MILF and BIFF, used what. Moreover, this characterization also
overlooks the fact that the SAF were armed, albeit outgunned. In other words,
although their situation was dire, the SAF were not necessarily “helpless or
unresisting.”
Worse, the Senate Report describes the situation as akin to
walking into a trap. This equates the incident to an ambush, which is not borne
out by the records because the MILF itself, much less the BIFF, was unaware of
the arrival of the SAF.
One must not overlook the fact that, outside of the Fallen 44,
there were five (5) civilian and 17 MILF casualties, resulting in the death of
a total of 66 Filipinos, including a child of 8 years of age. In relation to
this, the Commission has consistently requested for full access to the complete
autopsy reports on members of the Fallen 44, so that a rigorous investigation
may be conducted on the circumstances surrounding the alleged shooting to the
head, at close range, of 27 members of the Fallen 44. If confirmed by the
autopsy reports, these killings would be evidence of gross violations of
international humanitarian law, warranting the filing of charges under RA 9851.
The MILF leadership does not have absolute control over their ground troops. This raises doubts as to the sincerity of the MILF as our “partner” in the peace process.
Neither can the Commission agree with this sweeping statement.
First, the inability of the MILF leadership to control a few
elements of the BIAF has nothing to do with its sincerity in entering into
peace negotiations. The actions of a few rogue members cannot and should be
interpreted as the actions of the whole. And second, in spite of the incident
of 25 January 2015, the MILF signed the protocol on implementing the decommissioning of MILF arms and forces only days later, on 29 January 2015. In effect, the Senate
Report trivializes the maturity with which the MILF has chosen to deal with the
situation, i.e. by forging on ahead with the peace process and signing the
protocol on the decommissioning of its weapons and forces. This has not gone
unnoticed at the level of the United Nations, which has, accordingly, commended
on the political maturity of the MILF and communicated the same to the
Chairperson of the Commission.
The Commission must likewise express dismay with the Senate Report
attributing to the OPAPP and the peace panel “excess of optimism
— optimism that blinded them to negotiate a fair agreement for the
government,” citing the BBL as an example.
While the BBL may have its defects, a court of law has yet to rule
on the legality of its provisions. That legal luminaries have weighed in on
both sides of the argument is a clear indication that even experts are divided
on the matter. In any case, the BBL is pending before Congress, precisely to
give Senators and Members of the House of Representatives the opportunity to
review its provisions.
Internal conflicts take time to resolve. In El Salvador, it took
12 years of fighting before the Government and the Frente Faribundo Martí de
Liberación Nacional managed to enter into the Chapultepec Agreement. In
Northern Ireland, two decades of violence preceded the signing of the Belfast
Agreement.
The complexity of the situation in Mindanao is no different. The
peace process is multi-faceted: it involves not merely the decommissioning of
arms and the determination of the political status of those involved in or
affected by the conflict, but also the establishment of non-monetary forms of
reparations, a concept which both Houses of Congress, including the Senate, are
conscious of, having passed RA 10368. While condemning what happened in
Mamasapano, the Commission must caution against broad statements which serve no
purpose other than to polarize public opinion.
Source: OPPAP-PH
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