Balance of terror

THE proposed plan of President Rodrigo Duterte to organize a civilian armed group to be called the “Duterte Death Squad” (DDS) to counter the Sparrow Unit, the urban liquidation squad of the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), has triggered controversy. First to react negatively is the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), saying it is not allowed under the international humanitarian law.

Speaking during the turnover of military and police housing units in Bohol last week, Duterte said he wanted to create a death squad that would kill suspected rebels even loiterers and junkies. (Junkies mean persons with a compulsive habit or obsessive dependency on something like drug addicts).

CHR Chairman Chito Gascon said protecting people from lawless violence should adhere to the established rules of engagement and due process.

International humanitarian law requires states to use only regular armed forces under strict military discipline. Thus, this strictly prohibits death squads under all circumstances.

Militants and progressive groups are also strongly against the creation of DDS, saying this might result to massive human rights violations. Even the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) hierarchy have expressed reservations on the proposed creation of the DDS. Military and police officials said its creation should be studied carefully as it might create problems in the future, like those previous civilian armed groups that helped the military in its anti-insurgency campaign that turned into syndicate groups like the Kuratong Baleleng Gang.

The Kuratong was organized by the military and Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police (PC-INP) in the ‘70s in Mindanao to fight against insurgents. But when it disbanded in the late ‘80s when the insurgency problem was minimized, it engaged in illegal activities like bank robberies, kidnapping and illegal drugs.

There were other civilian armed groups organized by the military to fight insurgents like the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu), Civilian Volunteers, Alsa Masa and even the Ilaga Group that engaged in fierce battle against the Muslim separatists in Mindanao in the ‘70s. But these groups later became a “headache” to the government because of massive human rights violations.

I cannot fathom what’s in the mind of the President. Why organize an armed group to engage in a “balance of terror” against the Sparrow Unit when we have already government agents? What’s the use of our military and the police and their respective intelligence units? If this is the case, we might as well abolish the AFP and the PNP or create a law allowing citizens to possess and carry even unlicensed firearms to defend themselves against lawless elements. Being the commander in chief, is this tantamount to admitting on the part of the President that the armed forces and police have no capability to do the task? coffee industry in the region, which has yet to take root, in spite of its great promise in improving the lives of farmers.

In Kalinga Province, coffee (Coffea sp.) is a small understory tree or shrub that is traditionally grown amongst forest trees, in the shade. Some farmers have started growing it as a monocrop in the sun.

I told Ms. Vargas that “Kalinga Blend” is such a good quality coffee until now because she has been sourcing their green beans from farmers who grow it in the forest.

Surprised, Ms. Vargas informed me that yes, she procures their coffee beans in areas where these are grown as understory shrubs in the forest.

She added that over the years, she noted that local coffee grown as a monocrop has lost their usual caramel and earthy flavor, commonly associated to coffee grown in the place.

I seem to understand what she meant having tasted coffee grown under pomelo trees in Davao that has citrusy flavor.

I wonder if Ms. Agtina realizes that by simply brewing her “Kalinga Blend” coffee, all these years, she has been helping not only the local farmers but also contributes to conserving biodiversity in the forest of the Province of Kalinga.