Head of counterinsurgency task force slams CHR for ignoring alleged NPA atrocities

LUCENA CITY — The spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) has criticized the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for turning a blind eye on killings perpetrated by communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels.

“The killing of civilians by the NPA continues and we don’t see any action from CHR, other than the usual ‘we will conduct an investigation’,” said Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., also the head of the military’s Southern Luzon Command (Solcom), in a statement sent to Inquirer by Lt. Col. Dennis Cana, Solcom public information officer, on Monday (March 9).

Parlade called on CHR Commissioner Chito Gascon to take action on the spate of alleged recent NPA killings.

“We hope to hear about the result of the investigations the CHR promised,” he said.

Parlade cited the killing of former village chieftain Joseph Alicnas Calabson which he claimed was murdered in front of his wife by rebels in Tinoc, Ifugao last March 3 and the reported killing of former NPA Antonio Benzon in Casiguran, Sorsogon last Feb 22.

He also noted how Army soldiers took two wounded civilians to a hospital in Barcelona, Sorsogon on March 7 after NPA rebels fired at the soldiers involved in a community program.

“The NPAs have been hitting civilians in the hope of reversing the trend of surrenders nationwide,” Parlade said.

Edited by TSB