Jr. (PDP-Laban) today urged Malacañang and the Armed
Forces of the Philippines to heed the order of the
Commission on Human Rights for the immediate pullout
of soldiers from barangays in Metro Manila and spare
the country from the specter of militarization and
undeclared martial law.
Pimentel said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and
Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, AFP chief-of-staff, will gain
nothing but merely inflame public anger if they defy
the position taken by the CHR against the continued
deployment of the soldiers in 27 depressed barangays
in Manila, Quezon and Caloocan cities.
"I laud the order of the Commission on Human Rights
for soldiers to leave the urban barangays. Their
presence there is unconstitutional. Maintenance of law
and order in these areas is the duty of civilian
authorities," he said.
In issuing the order, the CHR, headed by Chairperson
Purificacion Quisumbing, said military presence in
urban poor communities in Metro Manila should not be
tolerated because it will always be equated by the
people with war or martial law.
"Militarization of the civilian communities would be
tantamount to violation of certain civil and political
rights of the residents," Chairperson Quisumbing said
in a letter to the President, Executive Secretary
Eduardo Ermita, Gen. Esperon and Philippine National
Police Director General Oscar Calderon.
He said the orders and recommendations of the CHR have
binding effect and cannot just be ignored by
responsible public officials since the CHR is the
independent constitutional body mandated to protect
the human rights of Filipinos.
Pimentel, principal author of the Local Government
Code, said barangay chairmen, with the help of the
tanod (watchmen), are primarily responsible for
maintaining law and order in the communities.
In case of troubles in the barangays caused by lawless
elements, the police is called upon to deal with the
problem.
It is only when the threat to the security of barangay
residents becomes so grave and beyond the police's
fighting capability that the military may be asked by
civilian authorities to intervene.
Pimentel brushed aside Gen. Esperon's assertion that
soldiers were deployed to the barangays in Metro
Manila to neutralize the alleged presence of communist
insurgents.
"If that is his justification, how come that none of
the barangays has reported that rebel elements have
infiltrated their neighborhood?" he said.
Noting that the military deployment has taken place
during the election season, Pimentel said it is
obviously intended to intimidate and harass barangay
residents who are sympathetic or supportive to
candidates who are known political opponents or
critics of the Arroyo administration.
The Minority Leader also suspected that the stationing
of soldiers in the urban poor communities was a
pre-emptive move intended to prevent their residents
from joining protest rallies against administration
wrongdoing such as the persecution of certain leaders
of militant party-list organizations and attempts to
commit electoral fraud.
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