INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has deployed a team to probe the alleged abduction of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant Ariel Badiang in Bukidnon.
In a statement on Monday, CHR said its office in the Zamboanga Peninsula dispatched a quick response operation team to look into the claim of human rights group Karapatan that Badiang, 64, was taken by soldiers in the town of Manolo Fortich on February 6.
The CHR noted, however, that the military has since denied these allegations.
“As we conduct a parallel independent probe, CHR calls for urgent action from the local police and other concerned agencies to uncover the full truth of this latest report of the alleged abduction of another NDFP consultant,” the CHR said.
The commission pointed out that “enforced disappearance is a grave violation of human rights” that calls for a state-led investigation in accordance with the 2012 Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act.
“Regardless of an individual’s socio-political affiliations and ideological beliefs, the right to liberty and life must be protected and defended at all times as set forth in the 1987 Philippine Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” the CHR said. (Meralyn Melitante, Inquirer.net trainee)