Military welcomes CHR probe into deaths in Nasugbu clash

By Mar Gabriel
Eagle News Service

The Armed Forces of the Philippines said it welcomes a Commission on Human Rights probe into the encounter between government troops and alleged members of the New People’s Army in Nasugbu, Batangas that resulted in the deaths of 15.

But Major General Rhoderick Parayno, 2nd Infantry Division commander who has jurisdiction over the place where the Nov. 28 encounter took place, said he hoped that the investigation “will show results that are true, fair and not bias(ed).”

“Inaasahan din natin na sana igagalang din nila ang mandato ng AFP to perform our role which is protect and secure the state,” AFP Public Affairs Office Chief Col. Edgard Arevalo added.

The military also stood by its earlier pronouncement that those killed were NPA members.

Parayno said he was “confident” that such was the case as all those killed were “wearing their bandoleers and holding their M16s.”

“Lubos na nalulungkot ang AFP na may estudyante na napasama na napatay sa Batangas..Ang alam ng magulang, nag-aaral. Yun pala napasama na sa NPA,” Arevalo added, referring to Josephine Anne Lapira, 22, a student from the University of the Philippines-Manila, also an officer of the Gabriela Youth-Manila.

It was the leftist group Gabriela that called on the CHR to conduct a “thorough and immediate” probe into the firefight, slamming what it said was the brutal manner in which the 15 were killed.

“All their belongings, even the clothes on their bodies, were taken away by the military,” Gabriela alleged.

The CHR responded by sending a team to Batangas to investigate the incident.

This week, the President officially declared the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA as a terrorist organization.