Karapatan on Monday condemned the shooting of a pregnant member of the New People’s Army (NPA) by suspected military agents in Tagum City, Davao del Norte.
Lawyer Maria Sol Taule, deputy secretary general of Karapatan, said the shooting of a certain Arnida Cuaton Maguiguilid on Sept. 19 was ‘a violation of international humanitarian law.’
‘The pregnant NPA member, also vulnerable due to her condition, clearly had hors de combat status,’ she pointed out. ‘Despite this, she was shot in the back, which crippled her and endangered her unborn child as well.’
Citing earlier local reports, Karapatan said Maguiguilid, who was on medical leave from the NPA and seven months pregnant, was about to enter the gate of the boarding house where she was staying in Barangay Visayan when she was shot.
Maguiguilid was brought to the hospital by her housemate, where she was ‘seized’ by elements of the Philippine Army (PA). She was presented before the media on Sept. 24 as a ‘surrenderee.’
The military distanced itself from the Sept. 19 incident and insisted that it only came into the picture to facilitate her surrender.
‘Our immediate concern was to ensure that she was safely brought under government care and provided the medical attention she needed,’ Maj. Ruben Gadut, spokesperson for the PA’s 10th Infantry Division.
Pressure to surrender
Karapatan, in a statement, also pointed out how the 93rd Infantry Battalion published pictures of a 7-year-old child on its Facebook page to pressure her mother, an NPA member, to surrender.
The military, it said, ‘made a show of throwing a birthday party for the child and published photos of it online as part of a psywar operation.’
For Taule, ‘the publication of the child’s pictures for military purposes violated child rights and was likewise contrary to international laws of war.’
She stressed that the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949 states that civilians, especially children, must be treated humanely.
‘Posting the child’s name, photograph and location while giving her mother an ultimatum to surrender was not only inhumane and exploitative; it was tantamount to holding the child hostage to compel her mother to do something against her will,’ she said.