|
The military officer reviled for encouraging the
killings of Filipino militants told the Melo Commission the deaths
of activists had nothing to do with a New People’s Army (NPA)
purge.
“No plausible explanation has
been given for the rise in extrajudicial killings, except that the
killings were perpetrated by the CPP-NPA pursuant to a purge of its
ranks,” the special body noted in its report.
It said the Philippine National
Police also identified some victims as targets because of their
alleged “financial opportunism,” but stressed that policemen
presented no clear basis or evidence.
Palparan himself told the Melo
Commission there was “no reason to believe” that the killings
were part of a communist purge.
It said Palparan contradicted the
AFP’s purge story, saying, “I don’t charge it to [an] NPA
purge.”
“The only other theory left is
that certain elements within or connected to some military officers
are responsible for the killings,” the report said.
Local rights group Karapatan says
more than 830 people have been murdered for political motives since
Mrs. Arroyo came to power in 2001—many of them leftists, and some
of them accused by the army of links to the guerrillas.
Palparan branded groups connected
to the CPP-NPA as “enemies of the state, which brings to a
conclusion that certain elements in the military would take the more
direct approach to ‘neutralizing’ the enemy,” the Melo report
said.
The special body also pointed out
the contradiction between the “purge” theory and the claim that
slain activists were enemies of the state.
“It is surprising if there
indeed is an on-going purge among the ranks of the CPP-NPA, why the
military has done nothing to promote or encourage such rift,” the
Melo report said. “Verily, if your enemies begin to fight among
themselves, the result could only be to your benefit.”
|
