The Army donned on Tuesday new ranks to 641 enlisted personnel who took part in the liberation of Marawi City from the clutches of international and local Islamic fighters even as human rights group Karapatan submitted its report into the alleged violations of the military in its implementation of the Martial Law in Mindanao.
The promotion of the 641 soldiers and the submission of Karapatan’s report on the alleged rights violations by the Armed Forces of the Philippines to local officials and independent experts from the United Nations, both highlighted the one year anniversary of the Marawi siege and the implementation of martial rule in Mindanao.
The Marawi rebellion is observed on May 23, the exact date wherein the five-month battle that devastated the city began last year following a failed operation by the military to get Southeast Asia’s Islamic State (IS) leader Isnilon Hapilon who had holed out in Marawi City in preparation for his group’s occupation of the city that was made in tandem with the Maute Group.
Out of the 641 promoted enlisted personnel, 36 are ranked master sergeants, 98 are technical sergeants, 103 are staff sergeants, 193 are sergeants and 211 are corporals.
“To our Marawi troops, I know the countless challenges that you have grappled with day in, day out while you were in Marawi, including the uncertainty of returning home safe from deployment to be in the arms of your families again,” said Defense Undersecretary Cardozo Luna, who represented Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
“I admire your courage for having fought with such challenges while you also endure and fought the physical war. The valor and resilience that you have displayed present the finest values of the military and the Filipino people,” Luna added.
Army chief Lt. Gen. Rolando Bautista, who led the pinning of ranks to the enlisted personnel, said that while the hardcore and top leaders of the IS and Maute Group have been neutralized, including Hapilon, some groups that have been influenced by the IS are still recruiting for members.
“We have the Abu Sayyaf Group, we have the BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters), we have the Khilafa Islamiyah, which is short of saying that they also have the influence of the ISIS,” Bautista said.
As the Army paid homage to the valor of its Marawi heroes, Karapatan submitted to seven UN independent experts and special procedures its reports on the alleged human rights violations by the military on the one year implementation of Martial Law.
The report was also submitted to Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Jose Luis Martin Gascon and to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III in his capacity as head of the government’s negotiating panel with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
“The report outlines how the Duterte administration, through his own brand of war-on-terror with the imposition and extension of martial law in Mindanao and the continuing implementation of government’s counterinsurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan, has promoted State terrorism and violence in the Southern Philippines,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay.
Karapatan claimed that it has documented at least 49 victims of extrajudicial killings in Mindanao, with an average of one victim killed every week since martial rule was imposed on May 23, 2017
“Most of the victims are indigenous peoples and members of local peasant organizations targeted for their local campaigns for genuine agrarian reform and against militarization,” Karapatan said.
Karapatan also said that it has documented 22 cases of torture, 116 victims of frustrated extrajudicial killings, 89 victims of illegal arrest and detention and 336,124 victims of indiscriminate gunfire and aerial bombings.
“At least 404, 654 individuals have been displaced, largely because of these bombings,” the group said.
“Many more reported cases reveal a much graver magnitude of the effects of martial law. The dangers of ensuring security in traveling across the area prevent news gatherers and documenters from looking into field conditions so as to fully report on the human rights situation,” said Palabay.
Last week, indigenous groups from Mindanao also submitted to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples alleged human rights cases that were committed by the military, including massacre, attacks on schools, forced confessions, and other atrocities.
Among others, the Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamayan ng Pilipinas and the Philippine Task Force for Indigenous Peoples Rights claimed that these cases included the massacre of eight Lumads, illegal arrest and detention and the attacks, closure and destruction of Lumad schools.
The claims were however denied by the military through its spokesman Col. Edgard Arevalo.
Arevalo said such incidents never happened, adding if groups have evidence, then they should file appropriate cases.