MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to kill armed rebels was legal, his spokesman said on Monday, when Catholic leaders joined in the condemnation of the murders of nine activists in other weekend operations against alleged insurgents.
Human rights groups are outraged at the deaths of legitimate activists under the guise of counterinsurgency operations, which took place two days after Duterte told security forces that they could kill rebels if they were holding a gun and “ignoring human rights” .
“The president’s order to ‘kill, kill, kill’ is legal because it was directed at armed rebels,” said his spokesman Harry Roque in an interview, adding that the government would still investigate the incident.
The Conference of Catholic Bishops of the Philippines, an influential religious group, in a statement denounced the use of what it called unnecessary force and violence during “Bloody Sunday”.
On Sunday, Lieutenant-General Antonio Parlade, head of an anti-rebel task force, told Reuters that the raids were “legitimate law enforcement operations” and that the authorities had search warrants for firearms and explosives.
Activists said the raids were reminiscent of police operations in which thousands of people were killed as part of Duterte’s drug war, in which police said all victims were armed and resisted arrest.
Among the dead was a Bagong coordinator Alyansang Makabayan, a left-wing group that called for an end to the “red marking”, the practice of labeling opponents of communists or terrorists to justify their targeting, which goes back to the government of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Human Rights Watch said the government’s counterinsurgency campaign no longer distinguishes between armed rebels and non-combatant activists, union leaders and rights defenders.
Since coming to power in 2016, Duterte has seen his efforts to forge peace with the Maoist rebels derail repeatedly, leading to frequent explosions and threats to eliminate them.
(This story is redone to correct the order of the wrong word ‘kill’ in paragraph 1)
(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Martin Petty)