Philippines: Human rights abuses committed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) (2000 - April 2001)

Information on human rights abuses committed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the period January 2000 - April 2001, beyond what is contained in Country Reports 2000, is limited among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

Amnesty International issued an "Urgent Action" on 5 October 2000 with regard to ten people who were reported to have been

arrested by the Philippine armed forces on 25 September 2000 during a raid on a mosque on the island of Jolo. The army claim they are members of the armed opposition group Abu Sayaf, who recently gained international notoriety after a series of kidnappings of local and foreign hostages. Detainees are often tortured during interrogation in the Philippines.

While the soldiers reportedly recovered weapons in the mosque, Amnesty International reported that a "local religious leader" had claimed that "some of those arrested were cleaners at the mosque, and others were homeless people sheltering there" (ibid.). Attempts to visit them by members of a local delegation of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) were reported to have been denied by the warden of the Sulu Provincial Jail (ibid.).

Reporting on the conflict in Mindanao, Freedom House wrote that

residents occasionally accuse the army of indiscriminate shelling and other abuses during counterinsurgency operations ... [and that]

Each year, police, soldiers, and local civilian militias are accused of committing several extrajudicial killings and disappearances and are implicated in the torture and arbitrary arrest and detention of suspects. Security forces are also accused of involvement in extortion schemes, the drug trade, illicit logging, and other illegal private activities. Civilian militias often guard private commercial interests in the countryside and violate the rights of local residents with near impunity (2000).

The Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), based in Quezon City, is an advocacy organization that carries out human rights research, provides services such as legal assistance, and conducts "campaigns and mobilizations to counter various forms of political repression." According to TFDP:

Even before the eruption of armed hostilities in Central Mindanao, the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) has already noted the involvement of government forces in human rights violations.

According to the first quarter record of the TFDP-Documentation Desk, there were two persons who became victims of involuntary disappearance due to political reasons.

Last January 8 [2000], Cesario Lebrilla, a community organizer in Bagong Silang, Caloocan, was taken from his house at gunpoint by unidentified military intelligence agents. He was blindfolded and brought to an unknown place where his captors kept him for around 15 days.

His abductors repeatedly interrogated him about his alleged involvement in the Alex Boncayao Brigade, a rebel formation operating in Metro Manila. His captors denied him sleep and fed him little. Lebrilla was hit with rifle butts and beaten several times. His hands were placed on handcuffs. He was threatened of being killed if he did not cooperate. The military released him after two weeks on the condition that he turn into a government informer.

He told his story to the media when he was reunited with his family. Then he went into hiding to evade from further military harassment. He sought the assistance of human rights groups who helped him obtain psycho-social assistance.

A labor organizer, Joel Castillo, disappeared last March. His relatives and friends looked for him in vain. Two weeks later, the military presented Castillo before the press, saying that he was being arrested on suspicion that he was one of the rebels who bombed the Department of Energy office last February. Castillo is now out of jail on bail (July 2000).

Without identifying whether the alleged perpetrators were members of the armed forces the TFDP claimed:

89 families, mostly in Metro Manila, lost their homes to demolition.

Nine persons fall as victims of harassment by government agents; 1,050 persons were hurt in two cases of violent dispersal of protest actions.

Five political prisoners have been tortured by their captors.

Political Prisoners:

From January to April this year [2000], TFDP has also documented a total of 152 persons arrested by government authorities under political circumstances. This number is almost at par with the total number of politically-motivated arrest and detention for the whole 1999 which netted 198 persons.

Many of those arrested have already been released. But as of March 31 the number of political prisoners stands at 194 persons confined in 62 detention centers in different parts of the country. Ten of the jailed political dissidents and other human rights defenders are women.

Though the government said that they have links with clandestine political organizations, the authorities refuse to recognize that they are political prisoners and charged them with common crimes such as murder, kidnapping and illegal possession of firearms.

Some 37 political prisoners are members of farmers organizations; 7 are trade unionists; 3 belong to youth organizations; 3 are members of indigenous peoples' associations; the rest have no organizational affiliation (ibid.).

With respect to government actions on human rights, the TFDP reported that

the Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court (PCICC), affiliated with the NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court (NGO-CICC) based in New York, welcomed the signing of the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court (ICC) by the Philippine government before the December 31, 2000 deadline. The Rome Statute is for the establishment of a world court which can try individuals for war crimes and grave human rights violations.

Dr. Aurora Parong, Deputy-Chairperson of the PCICC and Executive Director of Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), said "the signing is long overdue. It should have been done two years ago. We had to do a lot of pressure and lobbying to get the government to sign!" Dr. Parong expressed concern over the reservations posed by the AFP and the police regarding the world court. "If they do not plan to commit human rights violations and atrocities in their military and police work and governance, they have nothing to fear! If they continue to commit human rights abuses, then they (the police and military and even heads of state) may be subject to the world court's jurisdiction." She said that Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) documented grave human rights violations under the Estrada government especially in its total war against the MILF in the year 2000 (from January 1-November 15, 2000) (n.d.).

For further information from the TFDP specific to Mindanao, please consult the attached report. For other information on alleged human rights abuses in the areas of central and western Mindanao, as well as the island of Jolo – which is part of the Western Mindanao administrative district (CIA 1993) – please consult the attached media articles.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Amnesty International. 5 October 2000. "Philippines: Urgent Action." (AI Index: ASA 35/011/2000) [Accessed 20 Apr. 2001]

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 1993. "Philippines Administrative Divisions." [Accessed 20 Apr. 2001]

Freedom in the World: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties 1999-2000. 2000. Freedom House, New York. [Accessed 19 Apr. 2001]

Task Force of the Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), Quezon City, Philippines. July 2000. "A Human Rights Update: First Quarter Assault." [Accessed 19 Apr. 2001]

_____. n.d. "World Court: Hope for Victims of Human Rights Abuse." [Accessed 20 Apr. 2001]

Attachments

Business World [Manila]. 11 August 2000. Teddy Casino. "Fast Forward; Images of an Ugly War." (NEXIS)

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). 27 September 2000. "Estrada Orders Probe of Human Rights Violations by Military." (NEXIS)

M2 Presswire. 19 September 2000. "Amnesty International, Philippines - Civilians at Risk as Armed Forces Launch Massive Attack." (NEXIS)

Task Force of the Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), Quezon City, Philippines. December 2000. Mindanao: Human Rights Violations Amidst War. [Accessed 19 Apr. 2001]

Xinhua News Agency. 27 September 2000. "Probe Set for Complaints of Human Rights Violations in Sulu." (NEXIS)

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB databases

LEXIS-NEXIS

REFWORLD

World News Connection (WNC)

Internet sites including:

Amnesty International

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances

Asia Pacific Center for Justice and Peace

Derechos - Human Rights in the Philippines

Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND)

Human Rights Network On the Web (HR NOW!)

Human Rights Watch

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge].

Phillipine Center for Investigative Journalism

Philippine European Solidarity Centre (PESC-KSP)

Philippine Human Rights Information Center

Philippine Human Rights Law

Project Disappeared: The Philippines

Solidarity Philippines Australia Network (SPAN)

The Task Force Detainees of the Philippines(TFDP)

U.S. Committee for Refugees