Numerous transgressions of human rights and international humanitarian law (IHL) have been perpetuated by the military and security forces of the Marcos regime, as seen in the previous weeks in separate places in the Philippines.

In Samar province, the 8th Infantry Division captured, tortured and deliberately killed three New People’s Army (NPA) Red fighters in two separate incidents in April. In Jiabong town, the 47th IB shot Ka John Paul in the thigh, tortured him for information and getting none, shot him in the chest and killed him. 

In Motiong town in the same province, fascist troops captured unarmed Ka Mike and Ka Oking who were casually walking across a vast carabao pasture carrying out mass work. The fascist soldiers tortured them all night then killed them when they got no information. To claim the two died in an encounter, soldiers staged a fake battle and planted M14 rifles on their bodies.

The fascist soldiers tortured them all night upon capture, and having extracted no information, willfully killed them. Manuel said signs on the two remains showed faces battered by beatings and bodies riddled with bullets. The NPA-Western Samar condemned the regime’s 8th ID for its violation of IHL in murdering the hors de combat NPA fighters. 

In Pantar, in the southern province of Lanao del Sur, the Armed Forces of the Philippones (AFP), faked a “prolonged firefight” on April 17 while serving an arrest warrant against Amerol Mangonraka and Benjie Amor Macabato whom they accused of being members of the Dawlah Islamiya–Maute Group. After the alleged firefight, the bodies of the two appeared, along with their wives, and six others the military accused of being “fighters.” The dead included Nahara Khairiya S. Hamim, Jamail Ibrahim, Fahmi Aminodin, Sohaile Borud Bato, and Mohaimen Aragon. One of them was a student at Mindanao State University in Marawi City.

Residents reported that there was no prolonged firefight in the area, at the time the police and soldiers claimed. Those who knew the victims say some of the killed had already surrendered to the government. Evidence shows they were killed while lying down and sleeping.

The Moro-Christian Peoples Alliance (MCPA) secretary general Amirah Lidasan says the discrepancies between police and residents’ reports demand a thorough investigation since this involves violations of civilians’ rights.

In Palanas, Masbate, the regime’s soldiers who settled in the town burned the house of a resident, used the residents sparse drinking water to wash their motorcycles, forced them to pay the electricity consumed by the soldiers and manhandled the young sons of a father who refused the soldiers’ orders. The residents were distressed over the army’s plans to fire mortars from Barangay Nepa toward Barangay Parina. The plan is set to take place on May 15 despite residents’ and barangay officials’ opposition. A similar activity is expected in Cataingan town.

In T’boli, South Cotabato, 105th IB soldiers arrested, tortured and killed Jonathan Kubot, a farmer, having failed to make him admit being an NPA fighter.  The NPA-Far South Mindanao condemned the soldiers’ atrocious deed. It also clarified that he was not a Red fighter.

Rules on respecting the rights of hors de combat and treatment of civilians are stipulated in the IHL and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). The National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines signed this agreement more than a quarter of a century ago.