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CHR, DSWD urged to charge soldiers for torture of 8 kids in Sulu

The militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Tuesday asked the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD) in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to file criminal and other appropriate charges accused of torturing eight children in Sulu.

Pamalakaya said the CHR and DSWD must immediately take to court Brig. Gen. Ruperto Pabustan and other members of the Joint Special Operations Force about the alleged arrest of 8 children and their subsequent psychological torture in the hands of the team.

Pabustan denied the children and their parents were tortured, but admitted that arrests were made during the implementation of the gun ban in the province. CHR regional director Jose Manuel Mamauag said if the allegations were true, the military committed psychological torture against the eight children.

“Children are being subjected to state terrorism in the name of unjust and immoral war. We oblige the CHR and DWSD to file criminal raps and other appropriate charges against Gen. Pabustan and members of the special operations force,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

“This is tantamount to crimes against humanity,” he added.

Hicap said the CHR and the DSWD should treat the case as high profile, and repel any move of the Philippine Army and the defense department to scuttle the case to allow justice to take its course.

The Pamalakaya leader also asked Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro to immediately relieve Pabustan and his men for committing grave violations of human rights and allow them to face charges and be tried in any regular civilian court.

Bai Racma Imam, DSWD Secretary in ARMM was furious after receiving reports that Gen. Pabustan and his men committed both human rights violations and child abuse, adding that the department is now looking for the children and their parents so charges can be filed against those committed the abuse.

On August 19, all the six children and 6 other adults were brought to Camp Teodulo Bautista, main base of Task Force Comet, 104th Army Brigade and Joint Special Operations Force in the capital town of Jolo.

A 13-year old girl told members of the Consortium of Bangsa Moro Civil Society, a non-government organization said she and two other children witnessed how soldiers tortured their fathers. The children said guns were pointed at the heads of their fathers, who were in tears.

They said a jungle knife was pointed at their necks, including those of the 4 year old and 6-year old children. The soldiers were wearing bonnet masks and they asked the children where the guns of their father are and ordered them to dig their graves.

Pamalakaya’s Hicap said the Senate and House of Representative committees on committees on defense, justice and human rights and women and children should conduct separate or joint congressional inquiry on the case of eight Sulu children. “This is not a simple case of petty crime. The members of the special task force in Sulu committed a major blunder, an act of state terrorism against civilians and children,” he added. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 00:27 | link | comments |

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