The Commission on Human Rights denounces the violent attacks against six fallen and 20 injured soldiers during an encounter with rebel groups in Eastern Samar, and extends its deepest sympathy to the bereaved families and friends of the victims.

We recognise the essential role that the military performs in all peacebuilding efforts and demand that persons responsible are accounted and must never go unpunished.

With the government’s intensified counterinsurgency campaign in the country particularly in the Visayan region, the Commission emphasises the need to adopt human rights-based approaches to peace and security and to tackle first existing human rights violations happening in the affected communities as they are the root causes of insecurity and conflicts in these areas. While doing so, all initiatives must observe the principles of international humanitarian law and other international laws to mitigate violence and disruption of lives during armed conflicts. Failure to adhere to international human rights standards and protect human rights weakens peacemaking and peacekeeping efforts.

The Commission urges the government to reconsider the resumption of peace negotiations with armed groups to come up with compromise and solutions that could genuinely address the cessation of hostilities and insurgency in the country. Similarly, we also encourage the administration to revisit the implementation of the Executive Order 70 and evaluate if the policy is truly faithful in respecting the life, liberty, and general welfare of people in a democracy while it carries out its proposed inclusive and sustainable peacebuilding and development initiatives both at the national and local levels. ###