Written by Noel Sales Barcelona   

Barely hit the headlines, a seven (7) year-old girl was allegedly killed by a drunk soldier in Biasong, Pantukan, Compostela Valley last September 2, around 11:30 PM.

In an email, Hanima I. Suazo, acting secretary-general of Karapatan-Southern Mindano Region said, a certain Private First Class (PFC) Baltazar M. Ramos of the 71st Infantry Battalion indiscriminately fired his M16 after he had a squabble in a bar in the area and killed Sunshine Jabinez.

“Based on our investigation, PFC Baltazar was already drunk when he was awaken by his fellows certain Valdez and Sgt. Dalipong to go to a videoke house. Upon [his] arrival, Ramos immediately entered and harassed the civilians who were also drinking. He bullied the civilians drinking with them in the videoke owned by a certain Lynlyn by saying “sinong astig dito? (Who’s tough here?)”. The civilians did not answer him because he is a soldier. And then, Ramos went inside the kitchen and asked a civilian, then told the person: “ikaw astig ka? (You! Are you tough?!)” Ramos picked up a bottle and smashed it to the head of the civilian but the civilian also picked up a bottle to smash the head of Ramos but he ran and the civilian ran after him,” Suazo shares to CBCPNews.

Suazo said that Ramos went to their barracks and have himself an M16 rifle.

“The people in the bar had already a hint the he might get a gun so they ran away for [their] safety,” Suazo said.

The owner of the bar, upon seeing Ramos approaching with an M16 on his hand, shut the door and has it padlocked. But Ramos, says Suazo citing the interview with Lyn-Lyn, banged the door and began forcing the bar owner to let him in for his enemy was inside and he would kill him.

Lyn-Lyn had tried to shoo away the angry and drunk Ramos, by telling him that his enemy had already left.

“Frustrated and infuriated, Ramos had begun firing towards the direction of the house of the Jabinezes,” Suazo said.

OPLAN Bayanihan to increase human rights abuses

For Suazo, the recent killing of the seven-year old Sunshine signals another bloody chapter of the implementation of the anti-insurgency campaign of the Government dubbed as “OPLAN Bayanihan”.

“The constitutional provision on civilian authority being supreme over the military at all times is a myth just as the Aquino government's Oplan Bayanihan's claim of adhering to human rights, international humanitarian law and rule of law is. The so-called Peace and Development Outreach Program (PDOP) of the 10th Infantry Division of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is no different from its Re-Engineered Special Operations Teams (RSOT) as it continues to violate human rights and international humanitarian laws by encamping in the civilian communities,” the human rights advocate said.

Military camps in civilian communities: risking women and children

Suazo stresses that military deployment and encampment in civilian communities put lives of residents, especially women and children, in heavy risk—and the proof of the pudding is the death of the seven-year old Sunshine.

Prior this, in 2007, during the implementation of Mrs. Arroyo’s OPLAN Bantay Laya 1 and 2, Grecil Buya, 9, was killed during an alleged “encounter” between the Maoist New People’s Army (NPA) and the elements of the military. The military even presented Buya as a 10 year old “child rebel” and that she was a “boy”. Grecil, was also, from Compostela Valley.

The Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC) had expressed its alarm over the alleged abuses perpetrated by military men against juveniles. According to the CRC, since 2010, there were 19 children mislabeled by the military as “child soldiers.”

Military abuses during campaigns, unacceptable “old thing”

“Military abuses in the civilian communities are not new. It happens everyday and in every area where there are massive military troops deployment. Ramos' abusive attitudes are being reinforced by the culture of impunity that is happening in the militarized countryside wherein civilian supremacy is deliberately being eroded by the military's refusal to bow to civilian rule,” Suazo said.

According the June 2011 report of Karapatan National Office in Manila, in the first 365 days of the Benigno C. Aquino III presidency, 48 extrajudicial killings, five disappearances, 29 torture cases, 151illegal arrests and 3,010 victims of forcible evacuation from rural villages because of military operations were recorded. All of these, according to Karapatan, is connected with the implementation of OPLAN Bayanihan.

Meanwhile, Suazo said in her text message that the military is very cautious that the case of Sunshine be released in the media.

“The military is cautious in its efforts to hide the crime they’ve committed. Hindi nila tinatantanan ang family mula umpisa, until now. Once lang naming nakausap ang family [of Sunshine],” says Suazon in her SMS.

This reporter had already emailed the Philippine Army and still waits for their reply.

Nonetheless, Suazo’s group wants a thorough investigation about the matter and put the perpetrator behind bars.