This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 11, April 23-29, 2006
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Despite
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s moves to abolish the death penalty, human
rights lawyers noted that extrajudicial and political killings continue
contradicting the image of “kindness and compassion” she wants to portray.
Arroyo’s position against the death penalty, they said, is but a “desperate
effort to save her presidency.” BY
AUBREY MAKILAN Despite President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo’s moves to abolish the death penalty, human rights lawyers
noted that extrajudicial and political killings continue contradicting the image
of “kindness and compassion” she wants to portray. Arroyo’s position vs. the
death penalty, they said, is but a “desperate effort to save her presidency.” Extrajudicial killings Lawyers Jose Diokno of the
Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) and Alfonso Cinco IV of the Alliance for the
Advancement of People’s Rights (Karapatan) shared the same view that the
continuing extrajudicial killings of activists and those considered as
“dissenters” prove that the president’s announcement to commute all death
sentences are just for show. “This is hypocritical,”
said Cinco, after receiving a report that another farmer was killed in Bacolod,
Negros Occidental. “She encourages political
killings and repression by tolerating it,” Cinco said. Diokno concurred by saying
that “as the Commander-in-Chief, she is responsible for the behavior of her
men.” Based on the records of
Karapatan, 558 people had been killed since 2001, the year Macapagal-Arroyo took
over the presidency. The list of those killed includes party list activists,
union leaders, peasant leaders, youth and women activists, human rights
advocates, lawyers, journalists, and church people. The pattern of killings
points to police and military death squads as the culprits. Questionable Diokno and Cinco said that
the “wholesale” commutation of death sentences to life terms was done hastily
thereby creating legal loopholes. Under the law, only those
cases confirmed by the Supreme Court could be commuted to life imprisonment.
“Macapagal-Arroyo’s announcement, therefore, is applicable to only a hundred of
about 1,200 death convicts,” said Cinco. Both lawyers also
questioned the consistency of Macapagal-Arroyo’s stand regarding the death
penalty. In 1993, she abstained when
the senate voted on the death penalty bill. She explained that she voted in
accordance with her “conscience and constituency.” In August, 2001, a few
months after assuming the presidency from ousted president Joseph Estrada,
Macapagal-Arroyo suspended the implementation of the death penalty. But by 2003, in her
state-of-the-nation address, she warned that no drug lord would be spared from
the death penalty. But two months after, she promised the late Pope John Paul II
that she will again suspend the death penalty. But just before 2003 ended and
cases of kidnappings continued to rise, she announced that convicted kidnappers
would face lethal injection. In February, 2006, she
declared that she will certify as urgent a bill that will abolish the death
penalty law or Republic Act 7659. She subsequently announced, April 15, that
she is commuting all death sentences to life terms. After four days, she
certified as urgent House Bill 4826, a consolidated bill of 15 different bills
calling for the abolition of RA 7659. Diokno said that if she
really is against the death penalty, she should have a consistent stand since
the start of her career as a politician. “She tries to present
herself as a highly moral and compassionate president,” said Cinco, “But she is
far from it. She has no credibility after allegations of cheating during the
2004 elections and of her involvement in so many scams surfaced and continues to
hound her.” Flawed justice system Human rights groups said
that given the “flawed justice system”, the death penalty would not render
justice to all victims of heinous crimes. Both lawyers said that most
death convicts are poor people who can’t afford costly legal services for their
defense. Worse, Diokno said, some
innocent people are meted out the death penalty. He cited a kidnapping case
he handled 10 years ago where a co-accused was used by the government to testify
against his client. The co-accused, turned state witness, admitted in court that
he was tortured by the police to pin down Diokno’s client. The case remains
unresolved up to now. Diokno said that even if
there are free legal assistance services being offered by the Public Attorney’s
Office and non-governmental organizations like the FLAG, these entities cannot
cope with the numerous cases being referred to them. Their resources are not
even sufficient to gather evidences and look for witnesses. Cinco added that because a
lot of people seek free legal assistance, pro bono lawyers are overworked
handling at least 15 cases a day. “With this situation, you can just imagine how
difficult it is for the lawyer to study all his/her cases well,” Cinco said.
Cinco said the government’s
practice of criminalizing political offenses as another proof of the flawed
justice system. He cited that the Supreme Court decision in the “People vs.
Amado V. Hernandez” case expressly prohibits the criminalization of acts that
are committed in pursuit of political aims. At present, there are about 276
political prisoners. Of this number, 11 are in death row. Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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Rights Lawyers Decry Continuous Political Killings
Despite
Arroyo’s Position vs. Death Penalty
Bulatlat