Victims urged to report CARHRIHL violations
The Davao-based government peace negotiator challenged the businessmen during a recent security briefing conducted by the military and police. He said the stalled peacetalk with the CPP-NPA-NDF (CNN) has been interrupted several times as the negotiationg table is becoming more sensitive to public pressure. In the case of business firms who were subjected to rebel attacks, the owners should express their dismay as such harassments undermine the productivity of the establishment and endanger the lives of workers and the communities. “The negotiators both from the Government and the NDF panels listen to the sentiments of the stakeholders”, Dayanghirang said.
Responding to the fears and apprehensions of the businessmen in handling the atrocities, Ltc. Edgardo de Leon of the 10th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army said the pressure from the rebel groups would continue unless the businessmen decry the harassments.
De Leon added that individuals and establishments victimized by the NPA can invoke the provisions of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, commonly referred to as CARHRIHL, a signed agreement between the Government and the CPP-NPA-NDF represented by the NDF, as a mechanism in laying the grounds for achieving the much sought but elusive just and lasting peace. He said complaints on its violations such as extortion through the collection of the so-called “revolutionary taxes”, arson or burning of equipment and facilities among others can be raised to the peace panel through a Joint Monitoring Committee for the compliance of the CARHRIHL.
The military official cited Part IV, Article 4, Section 4 that says: “Civilian population and civilians shall be treated as such and shall be distinguished from combatants and, together with their property, shall not be the object of attack”.
“We should optimize the use of the CARHRIHL as an instrument to advance the peace process by upholding, promoting, protecting and ensuring the rights of every individual because that is what it is intended for and it applies to everyone”, de Leon said.
Ltc. de Leon cited specifically two (2) recent incidents that affected the banana export industry: 1) the January 19 incident in Kitaotao, Bukidnon when two (2) prime movers transporting refrigerated container vans filled with bananas for Dole and Sumifru were torched to ashes; and, 2) the January 16 encounter that occurred inside a banana plantation of Sumifru in Mawab, Compostela Valley after soldiers foiled an attempt to hostage the workers in a packing house. He encouraged the banana companies involved to file a complaint to the peace panel or the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).
While acknowledging the huge economic contributions of the business sector in addressing poverty, Dayanghirang also urged local businessmen to respond to the social issues in the communities where they operate and underscore in their corporate social responsibility programs those projects that physically and psychologically empower the barangays.
Dayanghirang said the panel is now negotiating on the second agenda of the talk which is the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER). He encouraged the business sector to help address the socio-economic ills while the talk is on-going by prioritizing in their CSR programs those projects and activities that would address the root causes of insurgency such as the issues on the ancestral domain claim of indigenous peoples, the educational and health gaps in the countryside, and advocacy for sustainable environment among others.
The CARHRIHL is the first substantive agreement produced by the GRP-NDF peace talks. CARHRIHL was signed by the two parties on 16 March 1998 in The Hague, The Netherlands. The government issued Memorandum Order No. 9 on 7 August 1998 to implement the Agreement. But CARHRIHL was activated with the formation of the GRP-NDF Joint Monitoring-Committee only in 2004.