A group led by a Filipino lawyer on Tuesday asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to speed up the resolution of their pending motion for reconsideration on war crimes committed in Chin State by military officers of Myanmar’s military.
Lawyer Rommel Bagares said they filed the motion for reconsideration last November 2024 after the Office of the Prosecutor General decided to return the war crimes universal jurisdiction complaint filed by Myanmar citizens who fled their country and sought refuge in the Philippines on October 25, 2023.
Bagares described the DOJ’s decision to unseal and return the complaint as “unprocedural.”
Named in the complaint are Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Vung Suan Thang, Lt. General Tay Zar Kyaw, Maj. General Phyo Thant, Maj. General Than Htike, Brig. General Myo Htut Hlaing, Col. Saw Thun, Lt. Col. Myo Zin Tun, and Major Nay Myo Oo.
Bagares said that among the war crimes that the officers of Tatmadaw, the official name of the Myanmar military, allegedly committed include murder, torture, burning of houses and churches, and blocking of relief supplies to communities affected by their military operations.
“As a member of ASEAN, the Philippines has a responsibility to assist our neighboring countries, like the Myanmar people, in seeking justice,” said Bagares, who represented the five complainants in the case.
“This is the first time that such a case has been brought before the Philippines,” he added, acknowledging the novelty of the case.
The complaint accused the Tatmadaw officers of violating Republic Act 9851, or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity.
The complainants said RA 9851 allows universal jurisdiction if a crime happens abroad and that crime is classified as a war crime, genocide, or crimes against humanity and Philippine authorities have a duty to prosecute these crimes once it is brought to their attention.
Violence and armed conflict intensified in Myanmar after the military coup that ousted the democratically led government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.
The Myanmar military detained Suu Kyi and other officials and responded to the pro-democracy protests with brutal force.
