STREETWISE*
Melo Commission – No Surprises
The Melo Commission,
in marked contrast to the Palace hype, is widely perceived to be
neither powerful, credible nor independent.
By Carol
Pagaduan-Araullo
BusinessWorld
Posted by Bulatlat
Malacañang's creation of a supposedly "independent commission to
address media and activist killings" headed by former Supreme Court
Justice Jose Melo, has been met with much skepticism, if not
incredulity, by the very victims themselves, i.e. the families of those
summarily executed, as well as their advocates in the local and
international human rights community, the churches, the academe, the
mass media and even Congress itself. The Melo Commission, in marked
contrast to the Palace hype, is widely perceived to be neither
powerful, credible nor independent.
We must be clear on what the victims and the public expect from a truly
independent commission. It is nothing less than to determine whether
government personnel under the Arroyo administration, such as the AFP
and PNP, have any role as either perpetrators, conspirators,
accomplices or accessories to the most serious human rights violations
of killings, abduction, torture and massacre reported by human rights
groups and the victims or their organizations.
Moreover the public demands that such a commission flush out the
perpetrators of these extrajudicial killings, lay the ground for their
successful prosecution and punishment and thereby dispel the climate of
impunity that has so far enveloped these cases. It is not, as AO 157
states, that the Melo Commission "be the Government's sole voice on the
issue of media and activist killings" as if the Arroyo administration
merely wants to orchestrate its official line on the matter.
Neither is it to
merely "make a report to the President outlining its action and policy
recommendations including appropriate prosecution and legislative
proposals, if any, aimed at eradicating the root causes of
extrajudicial killings and breaking such cycle of violence once and for
all".
Such a description of the Melo Commission's function presupposes that
there is no basis whatsoever to the charge that the political killings
are systematic, officially-condoned if not directed, and subsequently
officially covered-up by means of public pronouncements by high-ranking
civilian and military officials discounting any military or police
involvement without the benefit of any serious investigation.
Is the Melo Commission starting from the premise that the killings
cannot be part of state policy in the light of the Arroyo regime's
belligerent declaration of "all-out war against the Left"? Ergo that
culpability is limited to at most certain abusive military and police
personnel and that it cannot go all the way up to the AFP and PNP top
brass, the members of the Cabinet Cluster on Internal Security and even
up to the President and Commander-in-Chief herself?
It will then have to close its eyes to direct and circumstantial
evidence indicating a pattern to the killings: the victims' activist or
leftist profile and a favored modus operandi of using motorcycle-riding
assassins after a period of surveillance and even outright harassment
by men believed to be members or assets of the AFP and/or PNP. It will
have to disregard evidence prior to and after the murders pointing to
state forces as having the motive, the means and the opportunity to
carry out these dastardly crimes. To top it all, it must refuse to
take notice of the authorities' zero track record in terms of credible
investigation, successful prosecution and punishment of the guilty
parties.
If the Melo Commission cannot investigate these glaring facts and
circumstances, how can it get to the bottom of the killings? Perhaps,
its fundamental flaw as a so-called independent commission is precisely
its being a creation of Malacañang, its members hand-picked by Mrs.
Arroyo herself without benefit of any consultation at all with
aggrieved parties.
How can the Melo Commission, like the proverbial water, rise above its
source?
But what of the sweeping powers given by Malacañang to the Melo
Commission? Essentially, these are nothing more than the limited
powers that the toothless Human Rights Commission (CHR) does not
already have. For example, while the Melo Commission may have the
power to subpoena, it has none to punish those who choose to ignore
its summons.
If today the Senate, with its much broader powers under the
constitution, cannot compel even middle level officials of the
executive department to testify, how much more the puny Melo
Commission? Mr. Melo admits as much and is left to citing the
persuasive powers of Malacañang to get cooperation from the necessary
government agencies and officials. Just how far that will get the
Commission in its mission to flush out killers and their sponsors,
including possible generals and national security advisers, is
anybody's guess.
At the end of the day, on what agencies will the Melo Commission rely
to gather evidence and to give protection to witnesses if not the very
same ones that have proven themselves incapable and unwilling to
investigate and stop the killers and even engaging in the foulest of
cover-ups. Need we point out that the creation of the Melo Commission
is a tacit admission that Task Force Usig is an abject failure if not a
sham.
What of the Melo Commission's vaunted independence? It must be said
that the current composition leaves much to be desired. Toothless
though the CHR, it has at least displayed a modicum of independence
having been the first government body to condemn the killings and call
the executive department to account. What is there in the track record
of GMA's hand-picked members of the Commission to assure the victims of
their independence?
The presence of DOJ Chief State Prosecutor Zuno and NBI Director
Mantaring virtually undermines not just the perception of independence
but the commission's real autonomy as an investigating body.
A little known fact is that the DOJ is one of the lead agencies in the
Inter Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG) created by Malacañang in
January this year. IALAG is tasked with carrying out the government's
intensified legal offensives against communist rebels which is the
other face of the two-pronged "total war" effort of the GMA regime.
Justice Secretary Gonzales had been crowing that its first achievement
is the filing of rebellion charges against the Batasan 6 and scores of
other legal and underground Left personalities.
As such, the DOJ and NBI members of the Melo Commission are being given
the impossible task of investigating killings clearly associated if not
resulting from government's counter-insurgency campaign against the CPP
and NPA. It is unimaginable that the two subalterns of Justice
Secretary Gonzales will be able to maintain such a split personality
within the commission and pursue the investigation of those mandated to
prosecute the military aspect of Mrs. Arroyo's "total war".
The rest of the members of the Melo Commission are seen to be too close
to Mrs. Arroyo for comfort, much less to demonstrate unquestionable
independence. Why didn't GMA choose individuals known for their
independence, probity and respected record of fighting for human
rights?
At this point, the answer is not hard to come by. Business World /
Posted by Bulatlat
You may email feedback at
carol_araullo@yahoo.com.
*Published in Business World
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