The Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL) urges the Senate to remove Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile as chairman of the Human Rights Committee for his anti-human rights position, shown by ramming the Anti-Terrorism Bill in the Senate and for his lack of respect for the rights of others by threatening to slap another senator who objects to his sponsored bill. CODAL also seriously urges President Gloria Arroyo to abolish the Melo Commission, condemns the killing of Bp. Alberto Ramento and reiterates its call for President Arroyo to act swiftly to stop the killings of activists.

BY THE COUNSELS FOR THE DEFENSE OF LIBERTIES

The Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL) urges the Senate to remove Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile as chairman of the Human Rights Committee for his anti-human rights position, shown by ramming the Anti-Terrorism Bill in the Senate and for his lack of respect for the rights of others by threatening to slap another senator who objects to his sponsored bill. CODAL finds it incomprehensible why majority of the Senators voted Senator Enrile to the committee when he is sponsoring a bill considered anathema to civil liberties by the human rights community.

Senator Enrile, who helped implement martial law, cannot head a committee that will help implement the compensation of martial law victims considering that he has consistently refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing during martial law. He has publicly announced that he is remorseless for his role as martial law defense minister and it is fair for the Senate to withdraw their votes for his chairmanship of the Human Rights Committee. Some CODAL lawyers were imprisoned during martial law under the direct orders of then Minister Enrile.

CODAL also seriously urges President Gloria Arroyo to abolish the Melo Commission pending the passage of an enabling law implementing her executive order creating a fact-finding body on the political killings. Such law will define the process for selecting the members, the procedure and the powers of the body. CODAL notes that although the Davide Commission was created through Administrative Order No. 146, President Corazon Aquino waited for Congress to pass a law before constituting the Commission. Congress passed Republic Act No. 6832 which expressly granted the Davide Commission contempt powers and the power to grant immunity.

Without the appropriate procedures that will generate credibility for a fact finding body, contempt powers that will ensure production of witnesses and evidence and the power to grant immunity, the Melo Commission is nothing but a “gatherer” of evidence as Sec. Eduardo Ermita himself called the still-born Truth Commission on electoral fraud. Malacañang previously proposed the creation of a truth commission to look into the Garcillano scandal through an administrative order “that will be patterned after the Davide Commission ….which was reinforced by a legislation passed by Congress.  CODAL wishes to remind Malacanang that Sec. Ermita once said that ‘Without legislation, its (the fact finding body) just a gathering of facts.”

CODAL also condemns the killing of Bp. Alberto Ramento and reiterates its call for President Arroyo to act swiftly to stop the killings of activists.

Bishop Ramento was an outspoken critic of President Arroyo and had been an active member of the Presidium of the Citizens’ Congress for Truth and Accountability (CCTA). He voted to find President Arroyo culpable for graft and corruption, electoral fraud and human rights violations in the CCTA verdict.

CODAL urges the police not to hastily conclude that the killing was an ordinary case of robbery as it may mislead investigators and cause the real criminals to escape investigation. Posted by Bulatlat

 Save as PDF