Persons Without Human Rights Background
Head Human Rights Bodies in the Arroyo Government:
A Media Plan to Muddle Issues and Exonerate AFP
BY THE COUNSELS FOR THE DEFENSE OF LIBERTIES (CODAL)
Posted by Bulatlat
Pro-Arroyo supporters handling human rights issues
CODAL is seriously
concerned that people without any track record for human rights advocacy,
such as Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, Justice Melo and Rep. Bienvinido Abante,
are heading human rights bodies tasked with investigating human rights
violations of Arroyo government.
Senate should withdraw votes for Sen. Enrile
CODAL condemns the
shameless lack of remorse and sensitivity of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile for
his role as the implementor of martial law. He misses the point when he
justified his role by using the 'constitutionality' of martial law, since
the issue is not merely whether Pres. Ferdinand Marcos had the power to
declare martial law but whether he had the power to close Congress, to
conduct political killings, illegally arrest and detain the opposition and
enrich his family through graft and corruption. Surely, many of the acts
Hitler may have constitutional basis in Germany, but they were crimes
against humanity under international law just the same.
CODAL is concerned
that an unrepentant martial law executor, without any background or
sympathy to human rights, is currently the head of the Senate Human Rights
Committee. It is surprising and unacceptable why Sen. Enrile got the vote
of the Senate majority to chair a Committee which will deal with issues on
political killings, compensation of martial law victims and other human
rights concerns.
Due to Sen. Enrile's
lack of understanding of human rights and lack of remorse for his role
during martial law, CODAL calls on members of the Senate to withdraw their
votes for Sen. Enrile, oust him from his current position and vote for a
senator with knowledge of human rights to chair the Senate Committee on
Human Rights.
Muddling the issue
CODAL finds abhorrent
the attempt of Pres. Arroyo's administration at pointing to the New
People's Army as responsible for the murder of more than 700 people,
considering that the relatives of the victims point to the military as
perpetrators while not one of these relatives ever mentioned the NPA as
their suspects.
Experienced lawyers
know that relatives of the victims will not point to the much feared
military if they suspect the NPA. CODAL confidently asserts that Gen.
Hermogenes Esperon does not really have any evidence, admissible in court,
to prove his claims before the Melo Commission except self serving
'captured documents' that no one can verify or testimonies of witnesses
whose credibility is not even closely comparable to those of the
victim-survivors or their relatives. Gen. Esperon was merely playing a
media counter offensive to diffuse criticism from Pres. Arroyo and the AFP.
MELO Commission's lack of human rights sensitivities
CODAL is seriously
concerned that the Melo Commission is contributing to the military's media
counter offensive when it allowed the AFP to explain why they are not
guilty of the political killings rather than asking the victims what
actually happened. Any serious, competent and genuine fact finding body or
court for that matter must first establish the facts of the incident
before interviewing the suspects. The prosecutor must first lay the basis
of the case before the accused or the respondent is allowed to present his
or her defense. This major mistake of the Melo Commission is a serious
blow to its already tattered credibility, from which the Commission may
not be able to recover. From the conduct and composition of the Melo
Commission, it is no longer surprising to expect that it will come out
with a decision declaring that there is no evidence proving government
involvement in the killings, using the killing of journalists as a basis.
It may sacrifice an individual soldier or two as perpetrators but will
point to the NPAs and criminal syndicates as the main perpetrators of the
killings.
The sinister
inclusion of the Committee on Defense and the Public Order Committee
headed by former military officers in the House of Representatives'
investigation of the political killings is one more proof of the malicious
effort by government to derail the ongoing investigation and discourage
witnesses from testifying. Rep. Abante, who chairs the human rights
committee, shows his lack of human rights advocacy and sensitivity by
inviting former military officers to join in his committee's
investigation.
Pattern of Deception
All these point to
the fact that Pres. Arroyo and the military hopes to distract
international concern by muddling the issue using supposed killings of the
NPAs as a diversion. Such an argument however, is not only irrelevant to
the issue of political killings but is an admission on the part of the
military of their involvement in the current killings using the analogous
principle of 'negative pregnant' under the rules of court. It is negative
pregnant because instead of proving their innocence of the recent
killings, the military argues that the NPAs committed similar killings
more than 16 years ago. The rules of evidence require specific denial of a
charge and the presentation of evidence to prove such denial rather than
using generalities and pointing to the perpetrators of another incident
not related to the issue at hand.
CODAL expresses its
abhorrence over the contribution of the Senate, the Melo Commission and
the House of Representatives Human Rights Committee in this blatant cover
up. CODAL asks the victims and the human rights groups to expose this
grand design of the AFP and the Arroyo government, so that the search for
truth and the real perpetrators of the political killings will not be
derailed. CODAL urges human rights groups and concerned governments
worldwide to insist that the Melo Commission and congressional human
rights committees focus their investigation on the killing of the 752
victims so that the issue of current political killings will be
substantially resolved and the death squads stopped from committing more
assassinations and extra judicial killings.
September 23, 2006
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