ANALYSIS
Extra-judicial Killings and Sham
Investigation
The presidential order
forming the commission is widely seen more as a political gimmick rather
than as a major step toward stopping the extra-judicial killings. It was
meant to mollify public outrage over the killings and clear the
constitutionally-impaired presidency of possible accountability.
BY
THE POLICY STUDIES, PUBLICATION AND ADVOCACY (PSPA) PROGRAM
CENTER FOR PEOPLE EMPOWERMENT IN GOVERNANCE (CENPEG)
Posted by Bulatlat
Unless the Melo Commission gets to the
bottom of the extra-judicial killings, it will suffer the same fate as
previous presidential probe bodies. The task that challenges the
commission is to make itself credible by holding an impartial and
independent investigation of the political killings even if this would
mean summoning the President for “command responsibility” as the armed
forces’ commander-in-chief.
The commission was formed by President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Aug. 21 – the 23rd anniversary of
the assassination of Sen. Benigno Aquino, Jr. – to investigate the spate
of extra-judicial killings that, since 2001, have claimed the lives of 730
civilians as well as the disappearance of 181 others. Although under
Administrative Order No. 157 the commission is authorized to summon
witnesses and to deputize military, police and justice officials, it is
unclear whether this includes the power to summon top government officials
alleged to have a key role in the killings.
Suspected to be behind the killings are
military death squads and paramilitary and police forces. Victims’
families, cause-oriented groups and rights watchdogs allege that the
killings of church leaders, party-list organizers, youth activists,
lawyers and rights volunteers are part of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines’ (AFP) Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL or operation plan freedom
watch). Designed to end the 37-year-old leftist armed struggle, this
internal security plan had been approved by Arroyo’s Cabinet Oversight
Committee on Internal Security (COC-IS).
After a long silence, Mrs. Arroyo was
forced to form the commission on the heels of strong concerns about the
killings raised by Amnesty International (AI), Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU),
Asian Human Rights Council (AHRC) and other reputable international
organizations. Church and lawyers groups and legislators in the United
States have also urged President George W. Bush to withdraw support for
the Philippine president, who just weathered a second impeachment in
Congress on charges of violating the Constitution, betrayal of public
trust and graft and corruption.
In September, the UN Commission on Human
Rights convenes in Geneva to receive and hear complaints
on the extra-judicial killings in the
Philippines. The results of the Geneva hearings could affect the
membership of the Philippines in the new UN Human Rights Council to the
embarrassment of the president herself who is set to attend the UN session
in October.
The presidential commission is headed by
Jose Melo, 74, a former Supreme Court associate justice. Panel members
are: Catholic Bishop Camilo Gregorio, 66; National Bureau of Investigation
Director Nestor Mantaring, 58; Jovencio Zuño, 61, the justice department’s
Chief State Prosecutor; and Nelia Gonzalez, 82, of the University of the
Philippines Board of Regents. Bishop Gregorio has declined the invitation
amid charges in the church community that the body could be another rubber
stamp.
The magnitude of the killings is enormous,
unmitigated and systematic raising suspicions – not without basis - that
these are masterminded by high authorities and sanctioned by or at least
known to the President. Thus the task of the Melo Commission is not just
to ferret out the truth but to serve justice by making sure that both the
executioners and architects are hailed to court.
To address this daunting task, the
commission should have the full powers and authority to investigate and
get into the bottom of the case which also means being able to summon top
authorities including the President and her generals for their possible
role in the killings.
However, there is little independence or
impartiality to be expected from the commission. At least three of its
members, including Melo and Gonzalez, are Pampangueños who hail from the
same province as the President. Melo once worked as assistant to Mrs.
Arroyo’s late father, President Diosdado Macapagal. Both Mantaring and
Zuño are under the Department of Justice (DoJ) which has done nothing to
seriously investigate the killings despite complaints, testimonies and
evidences filed by the victims’ relatives. The department itself has
prejudged the cases with Sec. Raul Gonzalez calling them as “necessary
collateral damage” in the campaign against insurgency. Nelia Gonzalez,
according to sources from the UP administration, is Mrs. Arroyo’s protégé
and mole in the powerful Board of Regents.
The association of many if not all members
of the commission with the appointing authority thus stains the integrity
and impartiality of the body. This being so, the probers cannot expect
victims’ relatives, rights volunteers and witnesses to pin any hopes on
the investigation.
Thus, the presidential order forming the
commission is widely seen more as a political gimmick rather than as a
major step toward stopping the extra-judicial killings. It was meant to
mollify public outrage over the killings and clear the
constitutionally-impaired presidency of possible accountability.
What the President should have done, as
one senator said, is to immediately issue an order to stop the killings.
The Melo Commission may just likely be another obstacle to addressing the
issue and in dispensing justice.
The people will need to brace themselves
for the harsh reality of continued political killings. Posted by
Bulatlat
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