While civil society organizations in the island-province of Sulu pour in collective efforts to peace building, we, the members of the Mindanao Peaceweavers are alarmed and bothered with the chain of carnage allegedly perpetrated by no less than uniformed men who are supposed to be vanguards of peace and order.
While civil society organizations in the island-province of Sulu pour in collective efforts to peace building, we, the members of the Mindanao Peaceweavers are alarmed and bothered with the chain of carnage allegedly perpetrated by no less than uniformed men who are supposed to be vanguards of peace and order.
On January 28, 2006, at around 7:15 p.m., a group of innocent civilians who have just gone out from a Mosque in Duhul Bato, Barangay Mauboh, Patikul, were fired upon, killing one and wounding 10 others. The suspect is, ironically, a law enforcer belonging to the Philippine Marines whom Gen. Alexander Aleo, in a press conference, said was already being investigated by the local Police.
Even before an update on the supposed investigation has to be made public, on the night of February 2, 2006, six other civilians were mercilessly butchered, leaving six other wounded survivors at Palar, some 50 meters away from both the Marines and 104th Brigade headquarters in Subsub, Jolo. A child survivor said the brutal gunmen ran towards the Marines detachment after the horrendous bloodbath.
These grisly slaughters of innocent civilians happened at a time when the province of Sulu is engulfed with tension brought about by the presence of US soldiers going around the towns of the province, including schools, with their flashy guns in full view of everybody.
The cold-blooded killings have happened while local folks complained against US soldiers, conducting joint exercises with their Filipino counterparts, reportedly cutting coconut trees, using their parcels of land, and, digging land without even asking permission from the civilian owners. Disturbing planes hovering low every night have all the more reinforced the already tensed situation in at least four municipalities of Sulu where US troopers are.
These are occurring at a time when the people of Sulu are still in anguished over the massacre of four civilians allegedly by Army soldiers in the village of Baunu Ice, Barangay Kapuk Punggul, in the town of Maimbung last February 1, 2005, who, like many other victims, are yet to be afforded justice.
These things have happened when the Tausogs of Sulu are pleading for government to demilitarize the island as one of the requirements in their effort to discard the culture of gun in favor of a culture of peace. The burgeoning number of US
troops came at a time when the Tausogs are commemorating the centenary of the Bud Dahu massacre where over 1,000 people, some 400 of them women and children, were ruthlessly slaughtered by US soldiers led by Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood from March 6-8, 1906. Tomorrow we also recall the infamous “Burning of Jolo” which practically razed the entire town to fire and destruction — a carnage which up to now continues to traumatize the town of Jolo and its people.
Aside from human casualties, these merciless killings also serve to impede the efforts of the Sulu provincial government to transform the island from a war to a zone of peace and progress, a noble mission that everyone should rally behind.
When will the butchering of humans in Sulu stops? Hope not until after another century?
The Mindanao Peaceweavers strongly condemns the killings in Sulu and calls on the AFP to investigate the alleged abuses committed by its soldiers in the area. We reiterate our call for the Commission on Human Rights to set-up its office in Sulu to ensure that these human rights violations are expeditiously investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice.
We appeal on all sectors of society, both from government and private organizations in Sulu, Mindanao and the entire country, to join hands and together work to hasten the healing of wounds wrought by these gloomy pasts while never lowering our guards against anything that may attempt to threaten peace and progress that we all dream of.
Mindanao Peaceweavers
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