Army denies human-rights violations

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Army denied accusations by a human rights group on the alleged military killings in San Francisco, Quezon, Wednesday last week.

Army spokesman Major Harold Cabunoc said the three casualties from an encounter last week in Butanguiad village were proved to be members of the New People’s Army based on the recovered weapons and documents from them.

Troops from the 74th Infantry Battalion led by Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Perez confiscated two M16 rifles, one 38-caliber revolver, one hand grenade, one improvised bomb, as well as subversive documents were recovered in the encounter site, he said.

The cadavers of the killed personalities were turned over to their families for a decent burial, Cabunoc added.

Three persons were killed before noon Wednesday last week in an encounter between the military and alleged communist rebels. Human-rights group Karapatan in Quezon claimed the three were civilians and not communist rebels.