Army’s Agila division files 19 charges vs Reds

By ALEX D. LOPEZ
Davao Today

DAVAO City — The 10th Infantry (Agila) Division of the Army submitted to the Joint Monitoring Committee, 19 formal complaints against the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).

Captain Rhyan Batchar, chief information officer of 10th ID said in a statement that the 19 complaints were filed for gross violations of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Law (Carhrihl) that was signed between the government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front (NDF).

Batchar said the NDF represents the CPP-NPA in the on-going peace talks.

“Fifteen of these violations were perpetrated against civilians, in violation of Article 4.4 of Part IV of Carhrihl which states that civilians together with their property shall not be the object of attack. These include the burning of nine civilian vehicles, attack and burning of four civilian companies’ equipment and facilities, the murder of a civilian and the harassment of another civilian,” Batchar pointed out.

He added that four more violations were perpetrated against soldiers and members of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu).

Of the four, three of the remains of dead soldiers were mutilated by the NPAs in violation of Article 3.4 of Part 4 of the agreement.

Three of the four soldiers and a Cafgu member were also killed by the NPAs while unarmed, in civilian clothes and were off-duty that constitute violations of the provisions of Carhrihl, particularly Article 4.1, Batchar added.

“These violations were committed from February 2016 to January 2017,” Batchar said.

(davaotoday.com)