Bangsa Moro Parliament files case before international human rights body

(From Samira Gutoc)

The Bangsa Moro Parliament rejects the finding of the military Judge Advocate General’s Office (JAGO) clearing the soldiers in the cold blood murder of innocent Muslims in Jolo Island in the Southern Philippines.

“The finding is expected. It is one of so many that we cannot really trust this military for its insensitivity to civilian justice and for its gross irresponsible partnership in preserving its chain of command, no matter the crime,”Dr. Firdausi Abbas, Secretary General of the Parliament said.

The Bangsa Moro Parliament fears that the military is now projecting its popularly perceived anti-Muslim program in its pursuit of known terrorists in the Southern Philippines, as manifested by its refusal to define who the Abu Sayyaf are while conducting its military operations in Muslim areas.

Seven civilians, all defenseless Muslims, including two children and a pregnant woman plus a government soldier were killed in the operation last February 4, 2008 in remote village in Maimbung, Sulu.

“The irony of it all,” the Parliament said, “the victim soldier who was gunned down was an MNLF integree, part of the implementation of the GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement of 1996 when the government signed with the Moro National Liberation Front the agreement to stop the war in Mindanao. The soldier was on a vacation. And to alert the assaulting military men, he shouted “papa alpha”, meaning that he was also an army man but just the same he was ignored and mercilessly pummeled down to death.”

The Bangsa Moro Parliament Committee on Justice conducted an inquiry of its own into the incident and found the military men involved in the murderous killing incident. It refuted the military that the victims were caught in a crossfire, saying that there was no such encounter between the government and the Abu Sayyaf but a plain cold bloodbath.

“The military’s hatred against the Muslims is now reaping its worst madness. It is the invisible bullet that overshadows peace in the Southern Philippines and this is the callous intangible that haunts President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her propaganda against extrajudicial killings,” the Parliament said.

To give justice to our people, especially the families of the victims, the Bangsa Moro Parliament’s Committee on Justice will file a complaint with the International Commission on Human Rights against the AFP and the government.