FILE PHOTO. A checkpoint manned by the Philippine Army and Philippine National Police implements strict security measures at the entrance of Marawi City on June 22.
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The military has conducted an unprecedented count of 17,494 checkpoints in Eastern Mindanao 38 days since President Rodrigo Duterte placed the island under Martial Law.
During the Mindanao Hour press briefing on Friday, June 30, Martial Law spokesperson Brig. Gen. Gilbert Gapay also said they implemented curfews in 129 cities and municipalities with a total of 9,742 security and visibility patrols monitoring public places and infrastructures.
The human rights group Karapatan was quick to condemn Martial Law as it gave state forces “full blanket authority to commit rights abuses.”
Cristina Palabay, Karapatan Alliance for Human Rights secretary general said at least 14 activists in Mindanao have been tagged as “enemies of the State and “illegally” detained.
She cited the case of four civilians who were arrested on June 26 evening.
“Farmers Gimmy Adlin, Romar Ruales, Kagawad Junrex Mission and Mendoy Tonlay were searching for rice field frogs in a nearby river in Barangay LS Sarmiento, Laak, Compostela Valley when they heard a series of gunfire which lasted for hours. This prompted them to rush home. The next day, on June 27, they were illegally arrested by composite elements of the 60th IBPA and paramilitaries,” Palabay said.
The four were brought to the Laak municipal police station where they faced what Palabay described as “trumped-up cases.”
“Aldin, Ruales, Mission, and Tonlay are active members of a local peasant organization who filed a petition against proposed plans to install a military detachment in their community,” she said.
Most recently, on June 28, 2017, four activists from KARAPATAN and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) were held by elements of Task Force Davao in Lasang, Bunawan District, Davao City.
Lito Lao, Pedro Arnado and Jerry Alborme of KMP-SMR, and Hanimay Suazo, secretary-general of Karapatan-SMR, were accosted while on their way home from a meeting with farmers.
The four were held, on the basis that they were “suspicious-looking” and were eventually released before midnight.
Effective?
Martial Law spokesperson Gapay said the Army has been “effective” in preventing the spillover of the Marawi crisis in their area of responsibility.
“We have also intensified intelligence coverage of the various threat groups, and enhanced intelligence fusion among all government agencies,” he said, adding that this has “shielded Eastern Mindanao from terrorist attack, and deterred any diversionary, retaliatory or sympathetic attacks by the local terrorist groups.”
“We have also denied terrorists from making our area a safe haven, as their safe havens, sanctuaries and even as transit points,” Gapay said.
Gapay added that the region remains “peaceful, safe, and secure.”
More elsewhere
For her part, Karapatan’s Palabay said “(I)t is unfortunate how the promises that became the basis for optimism at the start of Duterte’s term have now been replaced by excuses and lies by the police and military to justify blatant violations of people’s rights. If this continues, what kind of change can we expect?”
Palabay cited the abduction of seven activists who are members of the Alliance of Farmers Association (ALFAS) by soldiers in Dupax del Sur, Nueva Vizcaya on June 25, 2017. The activists were brought to the 3rd Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army camp in Barangay Bagumbayan, Dupax del Sur.
She said the following day, June 26, Marcito Quizano, a peasant leader of SAMANA (Sangguir Dagiti Mannalon Nga Agkaykaysa), a peasant farmer organization in Nueva Vizcaya, reported the harassment done to him by soldiers who “surrounded his house to intimidate him and discourage him from his work.”(davaotoday.com)
