Senate recommends filing of charges vs vigilante groups in Negros killings

MANILA, Philippines — A Senate report has recommended the identification of perpetrators in the spate of killings in Negros Island and the filing of appropriate criminal charges against them.

The recommendation was a part of Committee Report No. 33, submitted jointly on January 21 by the Committees on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, and Justice and Human Rights.

Among the recommendations of the report, which was signed by 11 senators, was the identification of the “perpetrators of the killings of individuals named in the alleged KAGUBAK List and the alleged list of names in Vigilante Negros/Anti-Corn, and file appropriate criminal charges against them.”

Further, the report also recommended the Senate to “sustain and bolster on-going investigations in order to identify the people behind the killings.

Kagubak, or the Kawsa Guihunganon Batok Komunista, is an alleged anti-communist group which reportedly has a “hit list” that targets “alleged NPA sympathizers. The said list reportedly contained 15 names, of which five persons named therein have already been killed.

The alleged presence of the group and the list was brought up during the Senate hearings in August.

The recommendation was made following a hearing in response to the call of Senators Risa Hontiveros and Leila de Lima who filed Senate Resolution Numbers 47 and 65, respectively, urging the higher chamber to conduct a probe on the spate of killings in Negros Island.

“To say that the period between October 2018 and July 2019 was bloody is a gross understatement. In that eight-month period, a series of killings and attempted killings took place in both provinces. No one was spared – men, women and children suffered at the hands of lawless armed men,” the report stated.

Other recommendations include the deployment of additional forces of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to secure the provinces of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental, and neighboring provinces, if possible.

The report also recommended the following:

• Deploy more Commission on Human Rights Investigating Officers in Negros Islands for the continuing investigation of complaints or allegations of violations of human rights and abuses committed against the local residents, the police or military; and if the facts and evidence warrant, file the appropriate cases against those liable, and be held accountable for human rights abuses;
• Provide the necessary budget for the Commission on Human Rights to hire more Investigating Officers to be assigned in all the regions in the country in order to efficiently and expeditiously conduct investigations into reported cases of human rights violations;
• Enhance and strengthen the cooperation between the Commission on Human Rights and the Philippine National Police, not only in the conduct of investigations regarding the series of killings in Negros Island, but all cases of human rights violations all over the country;
• For PNP-Internal Affairs Services to investigate complaints and gather evidence for possible filing of administrative and criminal liabilities against police personnel and units involved in Opian Sauron who may have committed abuses or violations of laws and /or the Revised Police Operational Procedures;
• For the Armed Forces of the Philippines to conduct internal investigations of implicated military personnel involved in Opian Sauron for possible human rights abuses and/or violations of law, if any;
• Intensify anti-insurgency operations in identified rebel infested areas in Negros Islands, but with due regard to the protection of human rights, and observance of the established principles of due process of law;
• Provide adequate socio-economic and psycho-social assistance to the families of individuals who were killed;
• For the PNP and AFP to review, evaluate and report to the President the effectiveness of Opian Sauron in the objective to suppress and end lawless violence in the Negros Island;
• Give administrative and budgetary support to the full implementation of Executive Order 70 providing for a whole-of-Nation approach in defeating the Local Communist Terrorist Groups. Towards this end, support must likewise be extended to the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC); and,
• Pursue amendments to Republic Act 9372, otherwise known as The Human Security Act, by considering the series of killings or violence as acts of terrorism, with the end goal of creating public emergency, and/or that which undermines public safety.

Edited by EDV