Lawyers group slams promotion of ‘Morong 43’ army general

FACING CHARGES Then Colonel, now Brigadier General Aurelio Baladad (L), and Lieutenant Colonel Jaime Abaway (R) get a mouthful from former Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Leila de Lima after they failed to produce the 43 health workers detained on suspicion of being members of the NPA during a public hearing of the CHR. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Human rights violations committed by the military seem to be of no great concern for the government with the appointment of an army general facing cases of rights abuses to a key command post in the Visayas, a lawyers group said Thursday.

Atty. Edre Olalia, secretary general of the National Union of People’s Lawyers, expressed alarm over the promotion of  Brigadier General Aurelio Balabad, who is charged with torture and illegal arrest of health workers known as the “Morong 43.”

“In this country, you get promoted and assigned to a top post even if you face a hitherto unresolved string of credible charges of human rights violations and that sends a crystal clear message: it does not matter,” said Olalia, adding: “Not at all and does anyone still wonder why there is impunity.”

Balabad will soon assume leadership of the Army’s 3^rd Infantry Division in Capiz and will hold jurisdiction of Western Visayas.

General in ‘Morong 43′ arrest up for key post in W. Visayas–sources
Balabad was the head of the Army’s 202^nd Brigade, which arrested the 43 suspected communist rebels in Morong, Rizal three years ago. The case against the 43 was eventually dismissed.

President Benigno Aquino III earlier dismissed the rights violation charges as “leftist propaganda,” a remark that drew the ire of leftwing and human rights groups.

Baladad is also facing an administrative case before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). He is also one of the respondents in the damage suit for the torture of the Morong 43 pending before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

Baladad and several others have been charged with violating of the Anti-Torture Law before the Office of the Ombudsman.