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MANILA, Philippines — The New People’s Army (NPA) purportedly committed over 4,000 human rights violations since its founding, causing over 2,300 deaths and 400 injuries, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Thursday.
AFP Center for Law on Armed Conflict Director Brig. Gen. Joel Alejandro Nacnac submitted the recorded human rights violations before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), a move which the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) call a “publicity stunt.”
“These reports would show that from 1968 to the 1st semester of 2022, at least a total of 4,329 violations were committed,” Nacnac said in a statement.
AFP said there were 2,443 human rights violations from 1968 to 2009 and 1,886 other violations reported from 2010 until the first quarter of 2022.
Of the 2,443 recorded violations from 1968 to 2009, 40 are child fighters’ employment cases; 432 incidents of destruction of civilian-owned properties; 72 uses of anti-personnel mines or improvised explosive devices; 1,606 cases of alleged willful killings, and 293 other human rights abuses, according to authorities.
Nacnac also pointed out that there are a lot of human rights and international humanitarian law violations that have not been recorded.
“These atrocities should not be left with impunity,” the official said.
On the other hand, CPP spokesperson Marco Valbuena supposed that the AFP’s made the move after the Manila Regional Trial Court rejected the government’s appeal to declare the NPA a terrorist group.
“Probably this is the reason why they filed this for publicity purposes before the CHR instead of before a trial court where they will have a hard time proving their case,” Valbuena said in a statement.
Valbuena also said that the AFP should have filed the reported violations to the Joint Monitoring Committee established under the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law signed by the Philippine republic and the CPP’s political arm National Democratic Front.