In his television program on Sunday, Duterte said he hopes that the indemnification “should be done in a hurry” to help the victims.
By MARILOU AGUIRRE-TUBURAN
Davao Today
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — “A positive step.”
This was how Davao City Vice-Mayor Rodrigo Duterte described the move of the Communist New People’s Army to indemnify the victims of the grenade blast in Fatima village, Paquibato District last September 1.
In his weekly television program Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa (By the People, For the People) on Sunday, Duterte said “a lot of people are expecting actions from the NPA” as he hopes that the indemnification “should be done in a hurry” to help the victims.
“This is a test to NPA’s sincerity,” the vice-mayor said.
Rigoberto F. Sanchez, spokesman of the NPA’s Merardo Arce Command-Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command (MAC-SMROC), already said they will “take concrete measures to indemnify the victims” in a “self-criticism” statement dated September 9.
The NPA has claimed “full responsibility” after a team of its 1st Pulang Bagani Company committed a “gross mistake in judgment” in launching the tactical offensive against a military detachment situated within a civilian community.
The MAC-SMROC-NPA submitted its recommendation for indemnification to the Regional Council of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Southern Mindanao Region (NDFP-SMR), of which the latter immediately acted upon according to its spokesperson.
In a statement emailed to the media dated September 12, NDFP-SMR’s Rubi del Mundo said its Regional Council “orders for the indemnification of the wounded individuals, including children” who were casualties of the grenade blast. The order of indemnification, Del Mundo added, is based on the recommendations by the NPA’s MAC-SMROC.
“The directive is a unilateral exercise of revolutionary political authority by a government of the working class and peasantry that has its own legal and judicial system and rules in accordance with its political principles and circumstances,” Del Mundo explained.
Del Mundo said that the Order of Indemnification is in compliance with the NDFP Declaration of Undertaking to Apply Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Protocol I of 1977, Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Protocol I of 1977, the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, the Constitutional Guide for Establishing the People’s Democratic Government, and the Basic Rules of the New People’s Army.
For the speedy dispensation of indemnification, Del Mundo has asked for the “intercession of concerned professionals and peace advocates who will comprise the Third Party Facilitators.”
The Third Party Facilitators, Del Mundo said, will award the compensation to the 41 affected individuals who are on their list. However, the spokesperson pointed out, their help is not limited to these individuals. (Marilou Aguirre-Tuburan/davaotoday.com)
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