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A report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer said that on Aug. 19, eight children ages 4 to 13, along with six adults, were brought to Camp Teodulo Bautista, the main base of Task Force Comet, 104th Army Brigade and Joint Special Operations Force in the capital town of Jolo for interrogation regarding their links with and possible involvement in the operations of the Abu Sayyaf group.
The perpetrators of the psychological torture were army troops tapped to support the Philippine Marines in pursuit of fleeing members of the bandit group allegedly behind the massacre of 14 marines and the beheading of 10 of them during the July 10 ambush in Basilan.
Brig. Gen. Ruperto Pabustan, head of the Philippine Army brigade, and of the joint special task force, confirmed his men had arrested 8 children along with six adults in the course of the government campaign to impose a Sulu-wide gun ban, but the general denied allegations the children were tortured, along with their parents and adult companions who were tortured in front of them in order to subject the children to extreme psychological torture.
One of the victims, a 13-year old girl, told members of the Consortium of Bangsa Moro Civil Society, a non-governmental organization, that she and two other children witnessed how soldiers tortured their fathers. The children said guns were pointed at the heads of their fathers, who were in tears.
They said a jungle knife was pointed at their necks, including those of the 4-year-old and 6-year old. The soldiers were wearing bonnet masks and they asked the children where the guns of their father were and ordered them to dig their graves.
Critics of the U.S.-backed war against terror in the Philippines condemned what they called another political tragedy that stemmed from the government's all-out war policy in the South. Prior to the torture of the Muslim children in Mindanao, kids and other non-combatants, whenever they were displaced, killed or harmed in the course of military operations, were considered part of collateral damage, a Jurassic excuse of the Manila government and the military to justify the loss of lives among young people.
But the Aug. 19 tragedy introduces a new dimension in the government's all-out war -- it is now treating children as possible suspects or targets in their war against the terrorists or in areas of armed conflict.
The incident took place about a week before U.S. lawmakers visited the country and congratulated Filipino troops for their successful campaign against terrorist groups. The delegation was headed by Texas Rep. Silvestre Reyes, a staunch ally of U.S. President George W. Bush and chairman of the Congressional Committee on Intelligence and the Armed Services Committee. He was joined by other pro-Bush congressmen, namely New Jersey Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, member of the Appropriations Committee and the Select Intelligence Oversight panel; New Mexico Rep. Heather Wilson of the Committee on Energy and Intelligence Committee and Maryland Rep. C.A "Dutch" Ruppersberger of the Appropriations and Intelligence Committee.
New York Rep. Gregory W. Meeks was the only Democrat among the U.S. congressman who joined the bipartisan delegation. The Reyes delegation denied that Washington is cutting its military aid to the Philippines, because the country is highly regarded by the U.S. government as a reliable ally in the war against global terrorism.
But the U.S. staunch ally tortured eight Muslim children in an open display of blatant disregard for human rights and civil liberties. The case of the Sulu children who were subjected to mental, psychological and physical torture at the hands of U.S.-trained and logistically backed Filipino troops should be an eye-opener to peace and human rights advocates all over the world. The case must compel U.S. foreign policymakers to rethink and reconsider their military support to the Philippine government and its military in the War on Terror.
I don't know where Rep. Reyes and the other lawmakers got the idea that Filipino troops must be congratulated for their efforts to fight terrorism, and that local troops deserve more funding, more guns, more ammunition and more anti-terrorist training. Perhaps Washington praised the Filipino troops for acting like their American counterparts in Iraq. Worse, the Bush regime is using millions of dollars of American taxpayers' money to support the militarist government in Manila in the name of the U.S. self-serving global crusade against terrorism.
Human rights watchdogs have held the Philippine government and its military accountable and responsible for extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances of critics of U.S. policies in the Philippines. The abduction and torture of eight Muslim children last Aug. 19, 2007 was another crime worthy of wholesale condemnation.
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(Gerry Albert Corpuz is a correspondent of Bulatlat.com, an alternative Philippine online news site. He is also the head of the information department of Pamalakaya, a national federation of small fisherfolk organizations in the Philippines. His website is www.gerryalbertcorpuz.motime.com, and he can be contacted at themanager98@yahoo.com.)
