COTABATO /LUCENA— The wives and relatives of three men killed by army soldiers in the southern province of Maguindanao early this week have asked the Human Rights Office to help them seek justice for their slain husbands.
The complainants led by Teta and Mona, wife of victims Kenaut Katil and Padido Isamama, respectively, told the HRO that their husbands were victims of human rights violations.
Military officials earlier said Katil, 42; Padido Isamama, 36; and Pilo Alamada, 23, were killed during a shootout on Tuesday in the remote village of Lagao in Sultan Sa Barongis town of Maguindanao.
They were suspected to be members of the Pentagon Kidnap for Ramson Group (KFRG) involved in the abduction of Lambayong businesswoman Zoila Kansi.
Brig. Gen. Agustin Dema-ala, chief of the Philippine Army’s 301st Brigade, said the three were killed by pursuing troops in a “legitimate encounter.”
But Teta and Mona, in a sworn statement given to the HRO, said their husbands were fishermen who never engaged in handling firearms.
“Beside, there was no encounter that took place in those areas mentioned prior, during and after Feb. 17, as alleged by the military,” their statement said.
Meanwhile, exploratory talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) opened yesterday in Malaysia.
Silvestre Afable, head of the Philippine government delegation, said no agreement had been reached but voiced hope that obstacles for the resumption of formal talks could be resolved today.
“This is just an exploratory talk,” Afable told Reuters.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, seeking a fresh term in general elections on May 10, had expressed hope Manila could sign a peace pact with the MILF before the polls.
But many analysts — and the rebels themselves — consider this wildly optimistic after years of stop-start efforts to end a war that has killed more than 120,000 people.
A senior Philippine military official told Reuters earlier this week that the Malaysian talks were expected to focus on removing obstacles so that formal negotiations could restart.
The MILF demands the government pull its troops from a guerrilla enclave at Buliok in Mindanao, withdraw criminal cases against rebel leaders and deploy a Malaysian-led team to observe a fragile cease-fire.
