Melo Commission Report: Findings

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IV. FINDINGS

From the evidence and presentations received by the Commission, it became apparent early on that the Commission must differentiate its inquiry into the killings of activists from those of media personnel and agrarian reform movement. It appeared that the killings of media personnel are more or less attributable to reprisals for the victims? expos?s or other media practices. In the media killings, local politicians, warlords, or big business interests are viewed as the parties responsible for the killings, while in agrarian reform related killings, it is suspected that landowners and those opposed to the implementation of land reform are behind the killings. On the other hand, the killings of activists were invariably laid at the doorstep of the military.

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Melo Commission Report: Recommendations

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V. RECOMMENDATIONS

The Commission?s recommendations, which mostly fall within the Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, recommended by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations on May 24, 1989, are as follows:

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Melo Commission Report: Conclusion

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VI. CONCLUSION

In ancient Sparta, life was dictated by war. In those turbulent times, city states were almost constantly at war ? with other neighboring city states and with marauding invaders. Thus, a strong military was absolutely necessary to the survival of the state.

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A Bloody Red Carpet for UN Rapporteur

COTABATO CITY — What a bloody red carpet our government had given to Professor Philip Alston! Not only was the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings criticized by the head of the Senate Committee on Justice, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, for his comment on the dismal human-rights situation in the Philippines — a trail of blood followed Alston in his visit to the country.

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Fearful of Landslides, Davao Folk Storm City Hall

DAVAO CITY ? Residents of Carmen, a village in Baguio District, this city, stormed City Hall this week to press for their longtime demand to be relocated to a safer area due to the threat posed by possible landslides.

Mothers, their small children in tow, trooped to the office of City Administrator Wendel Avisado on Tuesday and expressed their fears about the possible avalanche of loose soil, water and boulder from the mountains.

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