“I am here for justice. The families of those killed cannot all be here, but we all want the same thing. State security forces should know that they cannot readily commit crimes without punishment. We live in a poor community in Basilan, and just because we are poor should not mean that those with resources can easily deprive us of the justice that we deserve,” said Nurhidaya Hasan, wife of Moro leader Hadji Billamin Hassan, who filed a complaint against the government at the GRP-NDFP Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) with regard to the killing of her husband, as well as two others on March 8.
On the morning of March 8, elements of the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) indiscriminately fired at three houses in what they claimed was a military operation against elements of the Abu Sayaff Group in Tabuan Lasa, Basilan.
Westmincom later released a statement that they neutralized four bandits belonging to the ASG. The casualties, however, involved 59-year-old Hadji Billamin Hassan, 33-year-old Nuruddin Muhlis and a 1-year-old baby girl. The incident also left an 11-year-old wounded and in critical condition.
Nurhidaya Hasan, assisted by Karapatan, filed the complaint on May 3. Families of the victims also lodged a complaint at the Commission on Human Rights on March 14.
“We have to undertake all forms of exacting accountability from State security forces. The Westmincom later issued an apology, but perpetrators are still left unpunished. Nor has there been any investigation on the incident. This has been the reality for many victims of political killings in the country,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay.
As of April 30, Karapatan has documented 55 victims of political killings, mostly from peasant and indigenous communities. Palabay added that “such incidents are framed by the military in a familiar narrative of red-tagging or manufactured accounts of ‘encounters.’ The AFP, experts at peddling lies, have ready-made stories to justify their crimes against the people in the course of the implementation of US-driven counter-insurgency programs.”
“Given this situation, it is incumbent upon us to expose their lies and hold them accountable. Filing of complaints in concerned government agencies, as well as in the GPH-NDFP JMC, should be further encouraged to ensure the State’s compliance in laws that safeguard people’s civil and political rights, as well as in signed agreements such as the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law,” Palabay said. (karapatan)
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