If he were to have his way, Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran would like to be a member of the House Committee on National Defense. That way, he said, he can help start investigations into the Witness Protection Program, extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 25, July 29-Aug. 4, 2007

Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Rep. Crispin Beltran wants to join, among other House Committees, the Committee on National Defense. This, he said, is so he could help initiate and actively take part in investigations in aid of legislation into extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances.

Based on data from Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights), a total of 885 people have been killed extra-judicially from January 2001, when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was catapulted to power through a popular uprising, to June 2007. Meanwhile, 183 persons are recorded as having been forcibly disappeared during the same period.

State forces have been identified as the perpetrators in many of the prominent cases of extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances.

“In particular, I would like to see an investigation into the Witness Protection Program (which is often paraded as an instrument toward the resolution of cases of extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances),” Beltran told Bulatlat in an interview.

“In her recent SoNA (State of the Nation Address), Arroyo pledged increased support for the Witness Protection Program,” Beltran pointed out. “But in reality there is no Witness Protection Program. Why? The ones who are tasked with taking care of the witnesses are the military and police, who are involved in the extra-judicial killings (and forced disappearances). How can you trust such a Witness Protection Program?”

The Witness Protection Program, which traces its origins to the 18-year-old Republic Act No. 6981 or the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act, entitles witnesses to, among other things, “a secure housing facility until he has testified or until the threat, intimidation or harassment disappears or is reduced to a manageable or tolerable level.”

“When the circumstances warrant, the Witness shall be entitled to relocation and/or change of personal identity at the expense of the Program,” Sec. 8 (a) of RA 6981 states. “This right may be extended to any member of the family of the Witness within the second civil degree of consanguinity or affinity.”

There is nothing in the law, however, which clearly defines what may be considered a “manageable or tolerable level” of threat, intimidation or harassment. Furthermore, it is easily noticeable that under RA 6981 the program officers retain the option of removing the witness from the secure housing facility upon completion of his/her testimony.

These provisions give witnesses no assurance that they will be safe from retaliatory actions that may probably result from their testimonies. The fear that they may be hunted down by those they would be testifying against is known to have discouraged many potential witnesses from coming out in the open.

“So there is no such thing as a Witness Protection Program,” he added. “That’s all bluff.”

Arrest and detention

Meanwhile, Beltran is thankful that he and the so-called Batasan 5 representatives in the 13th Congress – Satur Ocampo, Teddy Casiño, and Joel Virador of Bayan Muna (People First); Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis; and Liza Maza of the Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP) – were all already out by the time the Human Security Act of 2007 (HSA), also known as the Anti-Terrorism Law, took effect. “If we were still in prison or protective custody by the time the HSA took effect, the government could use that law to prolong our detention,” he told Bulatlat in an interview.

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