Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Etta Rosales and ARMM governor Mujiv Hataman offer prayers at the site where 44 police, 18 rebels and four civilians died during an intense fighting.
(INQUIRER)
MAMASAPANO, Maguindanao —- “It’s tragic.”
This was how Commission on Human Rights Chair Etta Rosales described the site of the bloody fighting between the police’s Special Action Force commandos and combined forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters that left 44 policemen dead on Jan. 25.
“It’s tragic because these are the farmlands of locals. This is where they are getting their livelihood,” Rosales told reporters after she was briefed by town mayor Benzar Ampatuan at the cornfields, the location where the bodies of the police commandos were recovered.
“When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. Whenever there are armed confrontations, it’s the civilians who are affected,” she said.
“If we cannot reach those unfortunate people and fight for their rights in their homes, jobs, schools and even in their small community that is out of the map, our efforts towards promoting human rights are useless,” she explained.
She said that because of the bloodbath, parents have ceased sending their children to school for fear of their safety.
“I hope we will all make a promise. It’s enough. We hope the firing of guns will totally stop here. We need to show to the public that we can stop the fighting,” she added.