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Antonio Zumel Center for Press Freedom

Friday
May 24th
Laws of war, Constitution require Trillanes et al to speak out on slays
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Written by Satur C. Ocampo   
Tuesday, 19 June 2007 20:43
There are many legal, political and moral bases for Senator-elect Antonio Trillanes IV and other officers and gentlemen of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to expose the truth about extrajudicial executions, abductions and torture of Filipino activists which are actually violations of international humanitarian law or the laws of war.

It is an open secret that the Oplan Bantay Laya I and II, the counter-insurgency operation-plans against the New People’s Army, consider as targets legal people’s organizations and the civilians and non-combatants that compose them. The results are horrendous: 863 slain activists and civilians and 118 victims of enforced disappearances.

This dirty war approved by President Arroyo and pushed by militarists led by National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and AFP Chief Hermogenes Esperon is downright illegal under the laws of war.

Under the Geneva Conventions or the laws of war, soldiers and officers of all parties to armed conflicts are prohibited from harming or killing any civilian, non-combatant or hors de combat (combatants rendered immobile or unable to fight).

Like Senator.-elect Trillanes, the officers and gentlemen of the AFP should be true to their oaths as soldiers, and uphold the Constitution and the laws of war. They should speak out now and do their part in stopping extrajudicial executions, abductions and torture.