As nation goes to polls:
Human Rights Must be Respected - Amnesty International

In the past, elections in the Philippines resulted in numerous deaths. The police reported the killing of 64 people during the 1998 elections, and of 132 people in the 2001 mid-term elections.

By BULATLAT.COM

Amnesty International (AI) has called on Philippine government forces, armed opposition groups, and all political parties to fully respect international human rights law and humanitarian principles in line with the national and local elections on May 10.

In a statement issued last week, the London-based AI said that in recent months, a series of reported extra-judicial executions may have happened in the guise of military anti-insurgency operations against the New People's Army (NPA). While some observers blamed the attacks on local political rivalries, there are concerns that those responsible may be part of or linked to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the AI added.

On April 28, Isais Drummond Manamo, secretary-general of the party-list group Anakpawis in Mindoro Oriental province, was killed by an unidentified armed man.

The following day, both Rogelio Perez, a Bayan Muna party-list official in Quezon, and his wife Cristina, a Bayan Muna member, were shot. Perez died while his wife was seriously wounded. He is the 41^st Bayan Muna member to have been killed since April 2001.

The AI stressed that violent attacks on Bayan Muna and Anakpawis party-list members appear to be part of a pattern of killings and disappearances of activists and human rights defenders. All were members of lawful political parties which have been publicly labeled by senior military officials as "front organizations" of the NPA. AI believed that such statements make members of lawful organizations vulnerable to grave human rights violations, particularly in provinces with a significant military presence.

The AI urged the government to ensure the protection of political party members and to conduct full and impartial investigations into cases of alleged extra-judicial executions which have occurred in the past months.

In the past, elections in the Philippines resulted in numerous deaths. The police reported the killing of 64 people during the 1998 elections, and of 132 people in the 2001 mid-term elections. Since last December, at least 71 people have reportedly died as a result of election-related violence. Bulatlat.com

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