Write Fairly, Mindanao War Journalists Urged

The use of the military's biased jargon, such as labeling communist and Moro fighters as "terrorists," unjustly hides the political nature of their causes thus blurring the legitimacy of one party seeking peace in the negotiating table.

BY BULALAT

PAGADIAN CITY - Zamboanga del Sur tri-media practitioners attended a forum on the war conventions last week amid reports of widespread human-rights violations as a result of the government's anti-insurgency campaign.

The forum, organized by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (New Patriotic Alliance) in Zamboanga del Sur, focused on the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CAHRIHL).

CAHRIHL, the first major agenda of the 1992 Joint Hague Agreement signed by the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) in 1998, enumerated the legal rights of the civilians and of the two contending forces -- the government and the guerrillas.

Among media practitioners who were present in the forum were Edgar Dagumo and Ricardo Villaronte of RMN-DxPR, Editor Tony Bayamban of Mindanao Biznews, Editor of Western Mindanao University-Extension's Iskolar, and Mars S. Marata of National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).

Lawyer Emil Deliverio, legal counsel of the humans rights group Karapatan, stressed that the CAHRIHL has laid down rules that are based on the internationally-accepted protocols of war so that in the course of civil war between the two contending forces, “humaneness and civility” are observed.

He said that with CAHRIHL, the armed groups engaged in war are guided that they are not allowed to create damage on the life and property of the civilians, of the neutral organizations such as the Red Cross and medical professionals, among others.

Respect for combatants

Deliverio also stressed that the agreement calls on the two parties to pay utmost respect to wounded or dead combatants from both sides.

Jenah Belza of Karapatan-Western Mindanao said the discussion on CAHRIHL with journalists is timely in that there have been cases of violations of this agreement but these are not amplified in the media.

She mentioned several cases of violations of the CAHRIHL committed by government forces during anti-insurgency campaigns against the communist rebels.

Belza noted the desecration of a fallen guerrilla in Tambulig town where an Army trooper allegedly cut off the guerilla's right ear, the summary execution of suspected NPA sympathizers in Zamboanga del Norte, the illegal search and massacre in various towns in Zamboanga del Sur and Misamis Occidental.

Marata of NUJP stressed that CAHRIHL was crafted in the context of the decades-old civil war between the government and the NPA. As such, the media should be careful in treating stories that come from both groups, Marata said.

He added that there are several press statements especially from the military that do not reflect the real incidents in the conflict area, citing several cases that took place in different parts of Western Mindanao.

The NUJP director noted the NPA-AFP encounter in Sapang Dalaga town in Misamis Occidental last March where the government reported that four guerrillas were killed while none on their side. When verified later with the residents, it was learned that the soldiers suffered 11 casualties while none on the side of the guerrillas.

"Let us be meticulous especially on controversial stories lest we will be used," Marata said, adding "media should always seek to elucidate rather than obfuscate an issue at hand."

Marata also warned against the use of the military's biased jargon, such as labeling communist and Moro fighters as "terrorists," saying it unjustly hides the political nature of their causes thus blurring the legitimacy of one party seeking peace in the negotiating table.

He urged fellow journalists to join the peace process by using their craft to dig into the roots of the civil war and by observing prudence in treating all sides of the stories related to the peace process.  Bulatlat

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