By Priam Nepomuceno – PNA News
MANILA — Political and civil rights will not be suspended in areas covered by the implementation of Memorandum Order 32, a military official said Monday.
“Wala pong nababangit dun, ang (kautusan), pinag-iingat din kami sa mga civil rights violation. (There is no such thing mentioned in Memorandum Order 32, and we were also cautioned against committing civil rights violations),” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) public affairs office chief, Col. Noel Detoyato, said in an interview with reporters.
He also stressed that the memorandum order was triggered by incessant atrocities committed by the New People’s Army (NPA) and its allied groups in the countryside.
Detoyato added that the order will allow the military and the police to better counter the threats posed by rebel forces.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea issued Memorandum Order No. 32 on Nov. 22 amid “sporadic acts of violence” allegedly committed by lawless groups, particularly in the provinces of Samar, Negros Oriental and Occidental, and Bicol Region.
“There is a need to reinforce the directive of the President in order to prevent further loss of innocent lives and destruction of property and bring the whole country back to a state of complete normalcy as quick as possible,” he said in the memorandum order.
