Many soldiers sacked

Press, 21 June 1985, Page 25

Many soldiers sacked

NZPA-AP Manila An average of 1500 soldiers and policemen were sacked every year for committing abuses, including torture and killing of prisoners, said the acting chief of armed forces, Lieu-tenant-General Fidel Ramos. General Ramos said that the action was in line with the military policy of "weeding out misfits and scallywags.” He said that at present there were 322 cases against soldiers and policemen pending before military courts. A significant number of

these cases involve maltreatment and “salvaging,” a local term for military executions, of prisoners, General Ramos said. He said that 30 per cent of all soldiers and policemen charged before military courts were convicted. General Ramos also said he ordered an investigation of the death while in military custody of a former seminarian whose body, riddled with bullets and reportedly -bearing marks of torture, was found in Camarines Norte province south of Manila. ______