Commission on Human Rights INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Friday said it had started an independent investigation of the alleged killing of a farmer and a carpenter by the New People’s Army (NPA) in Negros Island.
It condemned the killing of farmer Danilo Bedaja, 63, and carpenter Armando Babor, 33, as it stressed that “no ideology or circumstance can justify violations of human rights, more so arbitrary deprivation of a person’s life.”
The CHR said its office in Western and Central Visayas are already probing into the cases.
The body then urged local authorities to hunt down the perpetrators of the killings.
“In the same vein, the Commission urges the strengthening of multi-sectoral initiatives that address the root causes of conflict and insurgency in the region,” it added.
The CHR noted that members of the Leonardo Panaligan Command (LPC) of the NPA Central Negros Guerilla Front had owned up to the murder of Bedaja and Babor.
Citing claims of LPC-NPA, the CHR said that Bedaja — shot dead in Barangay Macagahay, Moises Padilla, on April 9 — was allegedly involved in theft and land-grabbing activities. He also allegedly owned an illegal firearm, which he used to intimidate other residents.
As for Babor, the LPC-NPA accused the carpenter of being an intelligence asset of the military “to guide military troops during operations in upland villages of the city.” Babor was killed in Barangay Mani-ak, Guihulngan City on April 11 .
But the CHR argued that due process must still be afforded to anyone who allegedly commits a crime or offense.
“So a crime committed by a person or any group, even guised in pursuit of a good, must be similarly pursued in the interest of justice and universal respect for human rights,” it stressed. —Maria Liezl Projella, trainee
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