The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) charged that the US government is just as responsible as the Aquino regime for the grave violations of human rights perpetrated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and various state paramilitaries under the regime’s Oplan Bayanihan.
The CPP statement was issued in reaction to the published contents of the US State Department’s 2013 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices which cited continuing extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances undertaken by security forces in the Philippines.
“The US government cannot feign innocence because it has been providing the AFP and its agencies with military advice, training and aid. In fact, the AFP’s current campaign of suppression deceitfully named Oplan Bayanihan was drafted under the close supervision of US military advisers and patterned after the US government’s Counter-Insurgency Guide of 2009,” said the CPP.
“Under Oplan Bayanihan, entire communities are being militarized, with the people’s human rights abused by the operating units of the AFP in the name of so-called peace and development,” said the CPP. “US military advisers have taught the AFP to describe every campaign of suppression as ‘peace and development’ in hopes of concealing the brutalities and abuses daily being committed by the fascist troops against the people.”
“Furthermore, since 2011, the US government has increased foreign military financing to the Aquino government by almost 300% from USD11.9 million to USD40 million in 2013 in order to enhance the capacity of the AFP and reward Aquino for allowing the US unrestricted access for its rotational warships and troops.”
The CPP described the US human rights report as an effort to “wash its hands of responsibility over the dismal state of human rights in the Philippines.”
“While describing the serious human rights abuses in the Philippines, the US has understated the extent of the violations by citing dubious figures from police and other government agencies and downplaying more accurate reports coming from independent human rights organizations,” pointed out the CPP. “It does not even make mention of Oplan Bayanihan nor of the fact that rights abuses perpetrated by the AFP are being committed under this US-designed campaign of suppression.”
“The US report failed to point out that since he assumed power in 2010, Aquino’s armed forces and armed paramilitaries have perpetrated an average of one extrajudicial killing per week, racking up a total of 164 cases,” said the CPP. “This pattern continues to date, with six cases since January.”
“The CPP calls on the Filipino people to raise their voices of protest against human rights abuses being committed by the US-backed Aquino regime.”
“The scheduled visit of US President Barack Obama in April must furthermore be greeted with protests demanding an end to US military aid to the AFP, denouncing US interventionism in the Philippines and condemning violations of Philippine sovereignty with the increasing frequency of US war vessel dockings in Philippine territorial waters and the permanent stationing of US troops in exclusive facilities in the Philippines.”
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