Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. on Friday, April 24, maintained that the slain University of the Philippines (UP) student leader in a recent encounter in Negros Occidental was not an innocent civilian, saying she was allegedly found armed and in combat gear during the clash with the New People’s Army (NPA).
Brawner dismissed criticisms of the Philippine Army’s April 19 operation in Toboso town, where 19 suspected NPA rebels were killed, including Alyssa Alano, an education and research councilor of the UP Diliman University Student Council.
“Are they saying she was an innocent student? No. If she is innocent and has no intention of joining the armed group, why was she found wearing a combat rig with a magazine pouch? She was armed. She was fighting,” Brawner said.
The clash broke out in the hinterlands of Barangay Salamanca between the 79th Infantry Battalion and suspected remnants of the Northern Negros Front, Komiteng Rehiyon-Negros (NNF, KR-N). Military reports said the encounter lasted for hours before the rebels retreated.
Troops recovered the remains of the fatalities, high-powered firearms, and subversive documents. At least five suspected rebels were also arrested during follow-up police operations.
Brawner contrasted Alano’s case with that of Chantal Anicoche, a Filipino-American activist found at an encounter site in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro, on January 1.
He recalled that Anicoche did not resist and was taken into custody alive, given medical attention, and later released to her parents.
“Unlike in the case of Chantal in Mindoro, when she was found by troops, she was not resisting, her firearm was far from her. So what did we do? We took her into our custody. We gave her proper medical attention. We even called her parents, and she was picked up by her parents and brought back to the United States,” Brawner said.
The AFP leadership maintained that its forces respect human rights and only respond with force when fired upon.
“Our soldiers are not human rights violators. In fact, we respect human rights. But once you start fighting and firing against government forces, you are a combatant and you can become a casualty,” Brawner said. (Martin Sadongdong)
