IT HAS BEEN eight years since seven unarmed staff members of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) were killed by operatives of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.
The victims – Liezel Bandiola, Karen Cagampang Ceralvo, Eldie Labinghisa, Peter Mecenas, Felix Salditos, Jason Sanchez, and Jayson Talibo – were extrajudicially killed in a house in Barangay Atabay, San Jose, Antique during a raid by security forces just after midnight on August 15, 2018.
The police and the military claimed that all victims died during a firefight with government forces, but the police refused to release official records and reports pertaining to the incident. When the victims’ families lodged a complaint and sought assistance by asking the Ombudsman to subpoena these records in order to aid in the investigation, the Ombudsman refused to exercise its subpoena powers and merely dismissed the complaint.
The Antique 7 massacre is emblematic of the impunity enjoyed by Philippine security forces when they target, attack, and kill civilians including non-combatant members of the NDFP as part of the government’s counterinsurgency campaign. This lack of accountability for state-perpetrated crimes is highlighted by the fact that August is International Humanitarian Law (IHL) month, commemorating the adoption of the Geneva Conventions on August 12, 1949. Under IHL, civilians, including members of underground organizations that do not carry arms and do not take an active part in hostilities, cannot be the subject of attack. Doing so constitutes a war crime which the Philippines is legally obligated to investigate and punish.
Yet, time and again, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police have violated IHL with impunity, leading to hundreds of extrajudicial killings all over the country. In the Visayas, government troops have not been held to account for the Himamaylan massacre of 2023 when army soldiers killed four members of the Fausto family including two minors, the Negros Oriental massacre of 2019 when 14 farmers were killed during joint police and military operations, the Tumandok massacre of 2020 when security forces executed nine leaders of indigenous communities opposed to the construction of the Jalaur mega-dam, and the Toboso killings on April 19 of this year when the Philippine Army massacred several civilians in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental.
These blatant and repeated violations, along with the Philippine government’s refusal to genuinely investigate and hold security forces to account, display the state’s lack of respect for IHL and human rights in general.
Those responsible for the Antique 7 massacre and other war crimes committed by security forces as part of the government’s counterinsurgency campaign must be made to answer for these violations. The government cannot claim to uphold the rule of law or abide by its obligations under international law when its own forces are permitted to engage in atrocities against civilians including non-combatant members of the NDFP.
Panay Alliance Karapatan continues to demand justice for the victims of these war crimes even as it calls for the resumption of the peace talks in order to address the root causes of armed conflict. – PANAY ALLIANCE KARAPATAN <panaykarapatan@gmail.com>
