This is a reaction to the news article on the Etong case, titled ?Police ?overkill? probed.? (Inquirer, 4/18/09) We condole with Ted Failon and his family. We also vehemently condemn the police?s actions in ?inviting? them for questioning. We ourselves also experience them often. Abductions, warrantless arrests, illegal detention, rough treatment, torture and even death at the hands of police and the military have almost become an ordinary experience for political activists and journalists who criticize and oppose this tyrannical Arroyo regime.

To date, there have been 177 victims of extrajudicial killings and more than 72,000 victims of human rights violations in the Bicol region alone. Almost all of these were done by police and military operatives.

Just recently a videotape of police hazing in Camp Simeon Ola was exposed. In the video clip, police trainees were shown being beaten up and humiliated. If the police can do this to one of their own, then just imagine what they would do to civilians. It is no wonder that the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines violate human rights so blatantly.

We are asking the Commission on Human Rights to look into this matter and the way our military and police officers are trained. If hazing is used in training our cops and soldiers, then we can only expect those who are supposed to serve and protect us to be violent and trigger-happy and to be the first ones to hurt us. They are being taught to look at people as things rather than as human beings. It is by such trainings that they are transformed into heartless, vindictive brutes. Something must be done to correct this training flaw immediately.

The way our police and military officers are trained should at least be reviewed comprehensively and supervised by the Commission on Human Rights. Policemen and soldiers already in the service should also be made to undergo extensive reorientation so that police abuses would somehow be curbed.

?JOHN CONCEPCION,
spokesperson, Karapatan-Bikol,
664-Encarnacion Bldg.,
Rizal St., Legazpi City, Albay