Press Release
May 2, 2007

THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE KILLING OF
INNOCENT GIRL SHOULD BE PROSECUTED -- PIMENTEL

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today urged the Armed Forces of the Philippines to conduct a no-nonsense investigation into the accidental killing of a nine-year old village girl during an encounter between government troops and communist guerillas in Compostela Valley and to identify the soldiers responsible for the tragedy.

Pimentel said it is good that the AFP, through Army Brig. Gen. Carlos Holganza, 101st Infantry Brigade commander, admitted that there was a mistake when the military initially tagged Grecil Buya-Galacio as a girl warrior after she died from a bullet wound that she sustained during the firefight in Purok 8, Barangay Kahayag, New Bataan in Compostela Valley last March 31.

As a gesture of good will, the AFP should offer some monetary compensation to the family of the slain girl, Pimentel said.

While describing Holganzas plan to apologize to the girls family as a correct gesture, the senator from Mindanao said this is not enough as he called on the military authorities concerned to pinpoint the soldiers who were responsible for her death and to impose appropriate sanctions against them and initiate their criminal prosecution.

I hope the military will not hide the identities of the soldiers responsible for the death of the innocent girl. They should be held accountable for their action. Justice must be rendered for her untimely and tragic death, Pimentel said.

Pimentel said it is irresponsible on the part of some military men to immediately brand Grecil Galagio a girl warrior without the benefit of an investigation.

He said reports reaching his office from Mindanao revealed that Grecil was hit due to indiscriminate firing by soldiers. Her lifeless body was found three meters away from their house.

Pimentel said the heavy traces of firing at the Buya-Galacio house indicate that it was subjected to primary target of attack by military elements.

He said information furnished to him by the Salinlahi Foundation, Inc. and Alliance for Childrens Concerns, which sent a mission to the Compostela Valley, also showed the following:

Grecil finished her Grade 2 at the Simsimen Elementary School with flying colors. Certificate of death signed by the municipal health officer shows the cause of the death of Grecil was a gunshot wound in her head. Grecils parents have filed murder case against the Army unit involved in the incident with the Regional Trial Court of Compostela Valley.

Pimentel said this is not the first time that government troops have tagged children they had mistakenly shot as child warriors of the New Peoples Army.

He said the Salinlahi Foundation and Alliance for Childrens Concern have recorded cases of 54 children killed during military operations against rebels.

Most of these cases have remained unsolved and the perpetrators have gone scot-free, Pimentel said.

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