PH wants world condemnation vs CPP-NPA-NDF

Absalons purposely killed, not just bomb victims, says witnesses, autopsy

On Jun 14, 2021

Undersecretary Severo Catura, Executive Director, Presidential Human Rights Committee and spokesperson for the peace process, human rights and international engagements under the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), said the Philippine government would call on the global community to condemn the continuing bombings of the CPP-NPA when the UN body concerned with the implementation of the 1997 Ottawa Treaty convenes this week.

THE Philippine government is seeking world condemnation against the top leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), including party founder, Jose Maria Sison, for the bombing and brutal murder of two civilians in Masbate province last June 6, 2021, that also left a 16-years old civilian wounded.

The complaint, to be lodged before the United Nations (UN) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), would also cover the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed terrorist wing of the CPP confirmed as behind the murder of Kieth Absalon, 21, his cousin, Nolvin, 38 (not 40 years old as earlier reported by the media), and the serious wounding of Nolvin’s 16-years old son.

Aside from this, the government is also preparing a criminal case against Sison and his CPP confederates before the regional trial court in Bicol for violation of RA 9851, the law that defines and penalize any act in violation of international humanitarian laws (IHLs), genocide and other crimes against humanity. Also contemplating on filing a separate case are the victims’ families.

Under RA 9851 and the various international conventions to implement the IHLs, the “superiors” or leaders of the CPP-NPA such as Sison, are also “criminally responsible” for the acts committed by their men in the field. The law also compels the government to immediately report such violations to the ICRC, which is tasked to monitor compliance to the IHLs.

Specifically, presidential undersecretary for human rights, Severo Catura, said the Philippine delegation would also seek condemnation against Sison and the CPP-NPA from the UN body that supervises global adherence to the 1997 Ottawa Treaty than bans the use of anti-personnel mines (APMs) in armed conflict. The body is expected to convene this week, Catura added.

The autopsy, conducted on the same day at a local funeral parlor, showed that the NPA shot Kieth in the head, with the bullet entering his right eye.

The Ottawa Treaty is the international convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mine (APM) and for their immediate destruction by all signatories that include the Philippines. The treaty was affirmed by the Oslo Diplomatic Conference on the International Total Ban on APM of the same year.

On the other hand, as part of the country’s adherence for respect to IHLs and in support of the Ottawa Treaty, the Philippines, on December 11, 2009, passed RA 9851 principally authored by Sen. Richard Gordon, also the chairman of the Philippine Red Cross.

Gordon, in a statement over the Masbate incident, branded it as an “assassination” as the APM used by the NPA did not distinguish who its victims would be.

In compliance with the Ottawa Treaty, Section 4 of RA 9851 prohibited the use of “weapons, projectiles and materials and methods of warfare” that can result to “superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering or which are inherently indiscriminate,” such as the APM and other improvised explosive devices (IEDs) now regularly being used by the CPP-NPA in its ongoing terrorist campaign against the government and the Filipino people.

Southern Luzon (Solcom) area commander, Lt. General Antonio ‘Jun’ Parlade, explains how lethal the ‘anti-personnel mine’ (APM) of the New People’s Army (NPA) can be, despite its crude construction, during a virtual press conference on June 14, 2021. In the Bicol region and for this year alone, 4 civilians were killed and scores more of civilians were wounded by the ongoing bombing campaign of the CPP-NPA, Parlade said.

Also, under Section 10 of the law and in adherence to the provisions of the IHLs, the “superior” of any armed unit shall also be “criminally responsible as a principal” to the crimes committed by their men in the field.

In further compliance to the implementation of the law and the IHLs, the Supreme Court, for its part, had already designated specific trial courts to handle all cases related to RA 9851.

Catura believes the government has a strong case before the UN since Sison and the CPP-NPA have already been classified as terrorists by the United States, the European Union, Australia and New Zealand, among others.

Purposely killed by the NPA

Southern Luzon (Solcom) area commander, Lt. General Antonio Parlade, whose area of responsibility covers the Bicol region and Southern Tagalog, said that there were at least 4 other witnesses to the bombing in Masbate last June 6, 2021, aside from the 16-years old son of Nolven.

In a report during the virtual press conference of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) on Monday, June 14, 2021, Parlade said that the group of the Absalons who went for a bike ride early that day actually consisted of 7 bikers.

While the Absalons were riding in front, their 4 companions were following behind and were thus spared from the APM the NPA detonated when they reached Bgy. Anas, Masbate City.

The Necropsy Report on Nolvin Absalon, 38, showed that he and his cousin, Kieth, 21, were both shot by the NPA despite both already being severely wounded by the bomb blast. The attending medicolegal expert, Dr. Victoria Manalo, concluded the cause of death as “hemorrhagic shock due to gunshot wound and blast injuries.”

Parlade said that as soon as the blast took place, the undetermined number of NPAs rushed to the Absalons who are already seriously wounded.

The witnesses said the NPAs (headed by one ‘Eddie Rosero,’ aka, ‘Star,’ according to Parlade), proceeded to execute their victims who were already begging for their lives by shooting them.

That the Absalons were murdered in cold blood was supported by the post mortem necropsy report of the City Health Office of Masbate.

The autopsy, conducted on the same day at a local funeral parlor, showed that the NPA shot Kieth in the head, with the bullet entering his right eye.

Nolven, on the hand, was shot on the right shoulder and on his left thigh.

In both cases, the reports said they both died from “hemorrhagic shock due to gunshot wound and blast injuries.”

The witnesses’ testimonies and the autopsy report thus bared as a complete lie the CPP-NPA’s claim that the Absalons were “accidental victims” of their bomb.