This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 1, Feb. 4-10, 2007
Arroyo is Engaging in Double Speak and Cover-ups The
directives issued by President Arroyo, in response to the report of the Melo
Commission, were not meant to get to the bottom of the killings but to continue
with the cover-up. Only the recommendation to seek the involvement of foreign
investigators is worth noting. But then again, under what framework will these
investigators work? BY
BENJIE OLIVEROS Once again, the government
of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been called to task for the spate of
political killings, which up to now has remained unabated. Last week, the Melo
Commission submitted its report to President Arroyo. The supposed crux of the
findings, as revealed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo to the media,
is that it found retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan and other unnamed commanding
officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) guilty of command
responsibility for the extrajudicial killings which have claimed the lives of so
many activists. As of the last count of
Karapatan, the Philippines’ leading human rights watchdog, the victims of
political killings have numbered 830 including members of militant organizations
who were assassinated and ordinary peasants who have been killed in the course
of military operations. Contrary to the report of a major TV station,
Karapatan’s data does not include those who were killed in armed encounters or
those who were rendered hors d’ combat but were killed anyway. The
latter case is recorded as a violation of international humanitarian law. The commission’s finding is
nothing new, however. The responsibility of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration
and the AFP on the spate of political killings has already been pointed out last
year by Amnesty International (AI) and by the constitutionally-mandated
Commission on Human Rights (CHR). Both groups concluded that the circumstances
surrounding the political killings point to the involvement of state agents and
hence, at the very least, the government should be held accountable for its
failure to protect the rights of the Filipino people. Double talk Once again, the Macapagal-Arroyo
administration has engaged in double talk. President Arroyo declared that it had
“no tolerance for human rights violations.” She issued a six-point directive
for: The
Melo Commission to continue with its work and “submit supplemental reports
from time to time”; The
Department of National Defense (DND) and the AFP to come up with an updated
document on command responsibility; The
DND and the Department of Justice (DoJ) to link up with the CHR in forming a
fact-finding body to “delve deeper into the matter of involvement of military
personnel in unexplained killings, file the corresponding charges against, and
prosecute culpable parties”; The
DoJ to broaden and enhance its Witness Protection Program to cover all
witnesses to the killings; The
presidential chief legal counsel, Sergio Apostol, to draft a letter to the
Supreme Court (SC) seeking the creation of special courts for the trial of
cases involving extrajudicial killings; and, The
Department of Foreign Affairs to submit a formal proposal to the European
Union (EU) to send investigators to assist the commission in its work.
While appearing determined
to get to the bottom of the killings, Mrs. Arroyo immediately absolved the AFP
by declaring that 99.9 percent of the military as “good, hardworking, and
patriotic Filipinos.” Does she mean that less than one percent of the military
is able to systematically kill 830 people nationwide, without the knowledge of
their superiors? Her statements, of course, are consistent: that the killings
were done mostly by New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas and by a few soldiers.
She is again echoing the
line of the government that most of these cases were a result of “purges” by the
NPA. She even tried to discredit Karapatan and people’s organization s by
calling them as “front organizations of the communists,” and accusing them of
bloating the figures, harping on two cases, out of the 830, of listed victims
allegedly turning out to be alive. Another cover-up The directives issued by
Mrs. Arroyo were not meant to get to the bottom of the killings but to continue
with the cover-up. Instead of forming a
truly-independent body, as called for by people’s organizations, or expanding
the membership of the Melo Commission to include representatives from human
rights organizations and persons known for their independence and integrity, as
recommended by AI, it merely asked the commission to continue with its work. Second, what is the purpose
of asking the AFP and DND to define command responsibility? Is it to render as
inutile the recommendation to hold Palparan and other unnamed generals
accountable under the principle of command responsibility? Third, the directive for
the DND, DoJ, and the CHR to “delve deeper into the matter of involvement of
military personnel in unexplained killings, file the corresponding charges
against, and prosecute culpable parties” is at most perfunctory. The DoJ has
been sitting on about 400 cases concerning extrajudicial killings submitted by
the CHR for prosecution. Fourth, how can witnesses
trust the DoJ and the Philippine National Police (PNP) with their lives when the
DoJ has been bending the law to prosecute those who oppose the administration,
and the PNP has been accused of covering up the killings? Justice Secretary
Raul Gonzalez was even heaping praises on Palparan. Fifth, how long will it
take to create special courts and to define their rules on procedures and
evidence? Meantime, the body count of victims of extrajudicial executions keeps
on mounting. Only the recommendation to
seek the involvement of foreign investigators is worth noting. But then again,
under what framework will these investigators work? Will they form an
independent body or will they be part of one? Will they be merely working
within the framework of the toothless Melo Commission, the findings of which
were deemed by the government as “hardly a comprehensive report?” Investigators
are only as good as the authority they hold, their access to information, and
their freedom of movement. Will they be working under
the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security, the AFP and PNP? If yes,
then it will not be difficult to predict the results. International
involvement Many statements of concern
from various human rights, church and lawyers institutions in the country and
abroad as well as some foreign governments regarding the spate of extrajudicial
executions have been issued. But the response of the Macapagal-Arroyo
administration has always been the same. The usual fare is that the government
declares adherence to human rights, forms an investigative body, absolves the
AFP, and declares that the extrajudicial executions are both the handiwork of
communists and being used by communists for propaganda purposes. Meanwhile, the
killings continue at an alarming rate. There is no local venue
left for the Filipino people to seek redress for the spate of political
killings. Nothing less than the action of the international community coupled
with the movement of the Filipino people can put a stop to the extrajudicial
executions. The Arroyo administration
should show proof that it adheres to human rights principles and international
humanitarian law. First, it should allow the United Nations a free hand in
conducting investigation and access to information when it sends its special
rapporteur on extra-judicial killings and summary executions, Philip Alston,
this month. Second, the government can
ratify the Rome Statute of 1998 and submit itself to the International Criminal
Court (ICC). The ICC tries crimes against humanity. If the Arroyo government is
not party to the killings, as it claims, then it has nothing to fear. But if the
political killings are part of a counter-insurgency strategy, such as Oplan
Bantay Laya 1 and 2, then the Filipino people cannot expect the government to
voluntarily submit itself to an honest investigation from local or international
groups. It will only continue to engage in double speak and cover-up while the
killings continue. Bulatlat © 2007 Bulatlat
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