The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is investigating the alleged ‘military hazing’ video that has gone the rounds of social networking sites.
Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, spokesman of the AFP, said on Wednesday that the military is still trying to find out if the two men clad in military uniform shown in the video are real soldiers.
Cabunoc also said that the Army’s 9th Infantry Division, the unit securing the Bicol region, has been tasked to probe the alleged torture incident.
“We already saw the video. We are leaving it to the Army to conduct the investigation because it looks like that the perpetrators of the alleged torture are Army personnel,” he said.
The 10-minute video, posted by one “CRIS CRISTV” on YouTube last November 1, showed men wearing camouflage uniform being mauled and hit repeatedly with sticks.
Cabunoc maintains that the military does not tolerate torture and abusive practices.
“Our training institutions teach us to respect rights of ordinary civilians and likewise of our fellow soldiers,” he said.
“There were portions of the video that is really not right, they were hurting, hitting the soldiers…I wouldn’t want to say they are indeed soldiers or they look like soldiers,” Cabunoc said.
