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NEWS ANALYSIS

Humanize the civil war

BAGUIO CITY (Aug. 30) — Joe Licawen, a native of the Bodong (peace pact) practicing village of Sadanga, Mountain Province, saw his brother’s mutilated body in a funeral parlor, here. He could not describe his feelings: anger, grief, or helplessness over the situation. But he tried to calm himself – to know the extent of the mutilation that the Philippine National Police (PNP) did to his brother, Antonio “Ka Leyap” Licawen, a member of the New People’s Army (NPA), in an “alleged” encounter on August 17 in Buguias, Benguet.

There were several injuries in the different parts of Ka Leyap’s body. Joe noticed stab wounds on Ka Leyap’s chest. Two of the three injuries penetrated through the back of the victim. According to a NORDIS source, “the perpetrators used the ewek, a pointed piece of wood used to kill a pig during rituals in the area, on the three injuries.” The wounds were still open.

Aside from the ewek-caused injuries, Licawen noticed at least seven gun shot wounds on his brother’s body. One gunshot wound was on the head. He noticed that Ka Leyap’s armpit “muscles” were removed. His brother’s right arm was also detached forcibly but was held by the skin from being separated.

The Benguet PNP claimed that Ka Leyap died in an encounter between the former and NPA guerillas in Buguias. But his brother’s mutilated body raised a question in Licawen’s mind. If it were a legitimate encounter, why was his brother inflicted with many unnatural injuries? Are the rules of war being followed by the government’s PNP in encounters or in the capture of guerillas?

August 17 “encounter”

Two days after the August 15 encounter between the 1604th Benguet Provincial Police Mobile (PMG) led by Police Chief Inspector Brent Milan Madjaco and the NPA Benguet Command in Baculungan Sur, Bugias, the said PNP team conducted clearing operations in the same area.

According to NORDIS sources, the PNP team arrived at Baculungan between 2:00 and 3:00 P.M. and went directly to a kalapaw (hut) near the Baney River where Ka Leyap and his companion Ka Tub-on took refuge after the August 15 encounter. The two unarmed guerillas were overpowered and forcibly handcuffed by the PNP team. Inside the kalapaw, however, the PNP members were able to inflict several injuries on the two guerillas.

Furthermore, Ka Leyap, allegedly suffering from an ankle injury and unable to walk, and Ka Tub-on were dragged from the kalapaw to a road in Loy-odan where they were shot by the PNP team.

The PNP team allegedly covered the bodies of the dead guerillas with canvass and transported the corpses using a car provided by the PNP regional office in Camp Bado Dangwa. They passed by Buguias on or about 5:00 P.M. that day and headed towards Baguio City. The dead guerillas were brought to Funeraria La Paz in Baguio City between 10:00 and 10:30 in the evening.

According to sources, they (PNP) urgently left the area so that civilians will not notice the mutilated bodies of the slain NPA guerillas.

Coincidentally that morning of August 17, the Madjaco-led PNP team was promoted in a press conference at Camp Bado Dangwa by Police Director General Arturo Lomibao for their capture of five and killing of two NPAs on August 15.

The Benguet NPA command claimed in an emailed statement that their two comrades were awaiting transportation to take Ka Leyap, who had ankle injury, to a hospital. They also claimed that their two comrades were unarmed during that time and should have been treated as non-combatants entitled to appropriate treatment.

The PNP team allegedly submitted an executive report stating that an encounter occurred on August 17 resulting to the death of two NPA guerillas namely Ka Debbie and Ka Jabli to Bugias Mayor Thomas R. Palileng Sr, added the NORDIS sources. The two were latter identified as Ka Leyap and Ka Tub-on.
Rules of war

The August 17 alleged encounter in Bugias manifests the PNP’s failure to observe the rules on war. The incident was highlighted as it happened five days after August 12, the declaration day of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Licawen claimed that his brother’s and his comrade’s murder was unnecessary as they were unarmed and posed no threat against the well-armed and the numerically superior PNP team, adding that, rules (on war) must be observed under this kind of conflict.

There are several international humanitarian laws that govern internal conflict, such as the on-going war between the New People’s Army-National Democratic Front-Communist Party of the Philippines (NPA/NDF/CPP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP). Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and the additional Protocol 2 provide rules on the conduct of war and its strict observance. These instruments include in its coverage not only civilians but also combatants, who have no capacity to fight back due to injuries or are unarmed.

As a signatory and member of the United Nations and since these international laws were incorporated into our constitution, the Philippines is obliged to uphold these laws at all times, human rights advocates claim, yet the Buguias incident proved otherwise.

Due to the more than three decades of internal conflict between the CPP/NPA/NDF and the GRP, both sides have adopted the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAHRIHL). This instrument also provides for the observance of the conduct of war between the two contending forces. A Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) was also created where violations committed by both sides are to be filed.

Licawen claims that these laws exist yet they are not strictly observed by the government troops. “It’s a long way to go, but I urge the government, particularly the PNP hierarchy, to investigate the inhuman acts committed by their men against my brother,” he ended. # Arthur L. Allad-iw for NORDIS

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