Last week the PNP Chief Supt. Edward Carranza made an offhand remark about expanding the PNP's Community Mobilisation Project (CMP) nationwide and likened it to Alsa Masa which was an anti-communist vigilante group in Davao accused of numerous human rights abuses in the 1980s. Naturally the CHR and other organisations were not pleased about such a suggestion prompting the PNP to finally issued a statement that there would be no Alsa Masa revival.
This week however Duterte raised the same spectre of creating a civilian anti-communist vigilante group to counter the NPA's Sparrow units.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/11/28/1872389/duterte-death-squad-be-formed-vs-npa |
President Duterte will create an armed civilian group that he hopes will counter the New People’s Army (NPA)’s Sparrow unit, a group of urban assassins blamed for the deaths of several security forces and former rebels.
The President said his “Duterte Death Squad” would be sent to transport terminals, eateries and other public places to kill suspected rebels and even loiterers and junkies.
“I will create my own Sparrow. Walang hanapin kundi mga istambay na mga tao, prospective NPAs at bibirahin sila (They will look mainly for idlers, prospective NPAs and kill them),” the President said yesterday during the turnover of military and police housing units in Bohol.
“I will match their talent in assassinating people. They have firearms, for sure. That’s my plan,” he added.
Duterte said he would be satisfied if each member of the armed unit would identify one or two NPA rebels for liquidation.
The President said he had tried to talk peace with the communists but the rebels continued to kill soldiers and policemen.
“What I lack is a sparrow unit. That’s their advantage... So I will create a sparrow – Duterte Death Squad against the sparrow. There’s no problem. They are the enemies,” he said.
Immediately there was an uproar from the usual suspects, the CHR, the political opposition, concerned citizens, etc. calling such a proposal illegal. From Duterte's corner no-one questioned the legality or sanity of his proposal. They did attempt to justify or downplay Duterte's suggestion to form death squads.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1057873/pnp-members-of-duterte-death-squad-should-be-qualified |
Members of a “hit squad” mulled by President Rodrigo Duterte would have to undergo processing by the Philippine National Police, said Director General Oscar Albayalde on Wednesday.
“Hindi naman ‘yung sinabi niya na aarmasan niya basta-basta ‘yung mga [sibilyan]. Those that are qualified to handle firearms and to be owners of licensed firearms [will only be allowed],” Albayalde said.
Albayalde is under the impression that Duterte wants his death squads to be composed of citizens. And why not? Who would suspect them? With no military demeanour they would easily blend in and be able to get the job done. DND Sec. Lorenzana had a different notion in mind about how to form these death squads.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/676376/lorenzana-backs-formation-of-duterte-death-squad-vs-npa-unit-wants-soldiers-for-the-job/story/ |
Lorenzana, however, conceded that such Duterte Death Squad unit will be hard to put in check.
“The danger of abuse here and committing a mistake...napakalaki kung walang kontrol,” Lorenzana said.
Still, Lorenzana maintained that such anti-Sparrow unit is necessary especially after they reportedly killed a soldier aboard a motorcycle recently.
It seems that Lorenzana's idea of a death squad would be that it is composed of soldiers with no oversight. But if there is a chain of command then how would they get out of control? Why even form a death squad in the first place when the AFP has special forces who engage in the kind of operations that would take down an assassination squad? The PNP has the SAF. Just send those units in to do the job. Or pick the best of the best from the AFP special forces and the PNP SAF and then send them in to crush the Sparrow. And don't call them a death squad. Call them Duterte's 11.
Both Lorenzana and Duterte justify the formation of a death squad based on the activities of the NPA's Sparrow group which is the communists own elite assignation team. Only one problem. Sparrow has not been active for three years now.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1058975/pnp-chief-npas-sparrow-unit-is-nonexistent-for-three-years-now |
(We have not seen any incidents of Sparrow Units anymore. Although, there are incidents in the past three years, if I am not mistaken, there were almost 136 killings recorded accordingly. But we monitor them and they no longer exist.)
No Sparrow Units for the past three years. "They no longer exist." Or do they? Just a few months ago the PNP was telling a different story.
For the March 27th, 2018 marital law update I wrote the following:
The country's top cop said that the NPA stepped up the operation of its Sparu unit to prove that they are a "force to reckon with."
The unit, according to Dela Rosa, mostly operates in Mindanao particularly in Region X (Northern Mindanao), Region XI (Davao Region), Region XII (Soccsksargen) and Region XIII (Caraga). Its primary task is to "liquidate" its enemies, which include policemen and soldiers.
Here is an official scorecard for anyone keeping score:
In response to this rising threat the PNP has directed retired officers to train active duty officers to hunt down the SPARU.
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PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa said that the primary lesson that the group of former police officials will impart to the younger set of police personnel is how to protect and defend themselves against the SPARU or the NPA’s special partisan armed regional unit.
At a press briefing on Thursday, Dela Rosa said that the PNP has an ongoing reorientation of policemen on the field as part of, “anti-SPARU operations so we would not end up victims of SPARU operations.”
Go read that update for yourself. https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2018/03/marital-law-serpent-and-sparrow.html.
What is going on here? Earlier this year the PNP claimed the Sparrow Unit existed and were even ramping up attacks. Now the PNP says they haven't existed for three years! DND Sec. Lorenzana says anti-sparrow units are needed because of the attacks they have recently made. Does Lorenzana know that the Sparrow unit has not been active for three years?
What is the truth? Who is lying and why are they lying? And what about DDS? What about the death squads? As they say, there is nothing new under the sun! From the same martial law update mentioned previously:
What is the truth? Who is lying and why are they lying? And what about DDS? What about the death squads? As they say, there is nothing new under the sun! From the same martial law update mentioned previously:
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| https://www.rappler.com/nation/163524-duterte-davao-death-squad-fight-npa-sparrow-units |
Journalist Jun Ledesma has claimed that Duterte is right and wrong about the DDS. They were formed to fight the NPA SPARU units but they did not actually exist.
Four days after, Jun Pala showed up at the coffee shop of Maguindanao Hotel, a watering hole of media men in Davao. In whisper, he told me that Colonel Tan-Gatue requested him to announce that a “Davao Death Squad” had been organized to counter the vicious NPA liquidation squads called Sparrows.
I was curious what it was all about so I again accompanied Pala to the INP headquarters. It was there where I learned that DDS was nothing but a phantom force. DDS were ghosts as well as other phantom forces conceptualized by Tan-Gatue to match the many front organizations of the NPAs. It was to scare the NPA sparrows and their mass base as well, he explained. A week later, I heard Pala announcing in is program about another group called “Christian Soldiers for Democracy”.
The third phalanx was the more visible “Contra Force”, this time with Pala himself as the head. His headquarters was located in one of the abandoned stalls at Maderazo Fruit stand. In this venue, Pala received cash donations from various quarters, mostly grateful Chinese businessmen. In retrospect, DDS was actually a successful ghost force. Since its inception, the NPA hit squads had slowed down.
Allegedly the original DDS never existed but were only a form of psychological warfare against the NPA. But now Duterte wants a real death squad because the SPARU unit has been revived. He said as much back in March.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/646232/duterte-says-npa-has-revived-infamous-hit-squad-sparrow-unit/story/ |
If there is no Sparrow unit then who has been ambushing the PNP and AFP forces? Who is running operations? Regular NPA rebels? Rogue AFP or PNP elements? Private armies? The AFP says the killers are still the NPA's own assassination squad.
The only thing that can be known for certain is that the President, the PNP, and the DND are lying to the public. But why? It is a tangled web that could be unravelled by a Senate investigation or an obstinate investigative journalist. Too bad the Senate concentrates on insignificant things like hazings and fake news. Too bad there are no investigative journalists in the Philippines worthy of the name!
In an interview aired over radio station dzRH, AFP spokesperson Brig. General Edgard Arevalo said that while the Special Partisan Unit (SPARU or more commonly termed as Sparrow Unit) is no longer called by that name, the New People’s Army (NPA) still has a squad that carries out liquidations.
He clarified that the creation of a Duterte death squad “remains to be an idea of the President. We have not received clear instruction about that.”
“But what we see is there is indeed a need for us to counter this liquidation squad of the NPA,” Arevalo said.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1059279/military-creation-of-duterte-death-squad-remains-an-ideaEven the PNP was forced to clarify!
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| https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/12/03/albayalde-npa-hit-squad-still-exists/ |
National police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde clarified on Monday that the New People’s Army (NPA) still maintains a group of hitmen.
“These hit squads are now popularly referred to as the Sparrows. But they are not based in urban areas like the former Sparrow Unit, but only gets out from the red area (normally rural area) to do special partisan operations like liquidation, murder or assassination, as directed by the Regional Party Committee,” said Albayalde.A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet and an assassination team by another name would still be a group of assassins. If the PNP says there is no more Sparrow and both the PNP and the AFP say there is still a liquidation squad what is the difference?
The only thing that can be known for certain is that the President, the PNP, and the DND are lying to the public. But why? It is a tangled web that could be unravelled by a Senate investigation or an obstinate investigative journalist. Too bad the Senate concentrates on insignificant things like hazings and fake news. Too bad there are no investigative journalists in the Philippines worthy of the name!
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