AFP lists 69 victims of extrajudicial killings in WV
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) through the 32nd Civil Relations Group (CRG) based in Iloilo City has disclosed the list of victims of extrajudicial killings in Western Visayas allegedly perpetrated by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing New People's Army (NPA) which they will submit to the proposed summit that will look into killings and abductions in the country.
The list obtained by The News Today (TNT) showed that there are 69 victims of extrajudicial killings in Western Visayas from January 2000 to July 16 of this year.
Based on the list, 42 victims are ordinary individuals (masses), six are members of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army (RPA), seven are members of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu), eight are members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines/Philippine National Police, three are activists, two local officials, and one religious leader.
The three activists included in the list are Nilo Arado, Ma. Luisa Dominado and Jose Ely Garachico. The three were attacked by armed men in Brgy. Cabanbanan, Oton, Iloilo last April 12, 2007. Garachico survived the attack but Arado and Dominado remain missing up to now.
The report tagged the National Democratic Front and the CPP-NPA as responsible for the attack on the three activists.
The families of the missing activists, on the other hand, have pointed to the military as the culprits behind the abduction of Arado and Dominado.
In fact, they have filed a petition for habeas corpus against several officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Third Infantry Division Philippine Army.
Earlier Captain Lowen Gil Marquez, Commanding Officer of the AFP's 32nd Civil Relations Group conveyed the AFP's "desire to cooperate" in the proposed summit to be led by Supreme Court Justice Reynante Puno.
Captain Marquez even extended the same enthusiasm with left-leaning and militant groups to join the summit "rather than accusing the legal authorities and dissuade witnesses from cooperating."
What these organizations should do, he adds as unsolicited advice, is "focus on real solutions of fair and justice not on the propaganda environment of hatred against the government."