By MYLAH REYES ROQUE
THE Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is recommending the filing of criminal and administrative charges against soldiers involved in the shooting of botanist Leonard Co and two others, based on findings contrary to initial reports released by a Department of Justice (DOJ) panel.
CHR chairperson Loreta Ann Rosales announced her recommendation during the launch of the 2nd National International Humanitarian Law Summit at the Mabini building in Malacanang this morning.
Rosales said the killing of Co is a war crime or “crime against International Humanitarian Law” because the soldiers “failed to distinguish between a combatant and a non-combatant.”
She said they will also recommend that charges be filed against the soldiers’ superiors under the doctrine of command responsibility.
Co was shot, along with forest guard Sofronio Cortez and farmer Julius Borromeo, on November 15, 2010 in Kananga, Leyte province, in an incident that the military referred to as a crossfire between the Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion and the New People’s Army (NPA).
“They were claiming na NPA yun, allegedly NPA, pero nakita ba nila (soldiers) at 50 meters? Obviously they could not distinguish kasi civilians,” she said.
Rosales pointed out that the incident was a violation of the ‘principle of distinction’ under the Geneva convention, which is embodied in RA 98511, an act defining and penalizing crimes against IHL, genocide and other crimes against humanity, organizing jurisdiction, designating special courts, and for related purposes.
The law is already effective on the date that Co was killed.
The DOJ fact-finding panel released a report on January 20, 2011 that cleared the military of wrongdoing. The DOJ, however, has yet to release the results of its preliminary investigation.
Rosales insisted that aside from the crossfire, there is also a second violation of the principle, “Nakita na nilang sugatan (Co and others), interview pa sila (soldiers) ng interview, they kept on interrogating and it took them 30 minutes before they brought the wounded to the hospital.” She added that forensic pathologist Dr Raquel Fortun had said that Co could have lived if he had been brought to the hospital sooner.
B/Gen Domingo Tutaan of the AFP Human Rights Office said the military will cooperate with the investigation. Tutaan is among the resource speakers in the summit, which was participated in by various government offices and civil society groups.
Representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also attended. ICRC serves as guardian of the implementation of the Geneva Convention.
Representatives of various embassies led by the ambassadors of Switzerland and the Netherlands were also present, as IHL involves the implementation of treaty obligations.
The multi-sectoral summit is expected to come up with a Philippine program of action on effecting International Humanitarian Law.
Prof. Harry Roque, co-chair of the Philippine Coalition on the International Criminal Court, delivered the keynote message, while Undersecretary Maria Cleofe Sandoval of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process discussed the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro.