• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Senator Risa Hontiveros is pinning her hope on the Commission on Human Rights to determine all the truths behind the deaths of 19 individuals, following the series of gun battles between Army soldiers and remnants of the New People’s Army rebels in Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, Negros Occidental, on April. 19.
Hontiveros, who attended Universal Health Care summit on Tuesday in Talisay City, said she is supporting the full, objective and impartial probe of CHR, to determine the real truth on what had really transpired.
“Only on the basis of the truth, that there can be justice for any who should be given justice. Only on the basis of truth and justice, we can build peace, which we have been longing for so long,” the lady senator said. She added that she also appreciates the statements of San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza and the CHR, as well as the openness of Toboso Mayor Richard Jaojoco, to find out what really happened, and any help that the national government may extend.
While the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives called for an inquiry into the Toboso incident, Hontiveros said nobody has filed a resolution for such an inquiry, in connection with the tragic incident.
But I think all eyes are focused on the CHR, as a constitutional body, which is being expected to investigate such a big incident, she added.
Cavite Representative Franciso Barzaga lauded the efforts of the 79th Infantry Battalion in Salamanca, Toboso,in neutralizing armed remnants of the New People’s Army in northern Negros, who were linked to numerous deaths of civilians in Toboso, Calatrava and Escalante City.
“Our soldiers risked their lives fighting terrorists in Negros Occidental. Congress should be congratulating them, instead of investigating them,” Barzaga said.
Hontiveros, an activist during her younger days, expressed her concern on the reported involvement of foreigners in the local armed conflict, adding that she hopes CHR will also look into it.
Among the casualties in the Toboso incident were two Americans, as confirmed in the issued statements of Bayan-USA and Anakbayan-USA, tagged by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) as legal organizations of the CPP-NPA-NDF.
AnakBayan-USA confirmed that two American nationals—Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem—were among the 19 persons killed during the armed encounter in Toboso, Negros Occidental.
Authorities reported that both individuals had entered the country in March and were later found to be involved in armed hostilities, alongside NPA members.*
