In its report released Aug. 15, 2006, Philippines: Political Killings, Human Rights and the Peace Process, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning group Amnesty International (AI) lambasted the Arroyo administration for failing to undertake credible investigations into the extra-judicial killings. Referring to investigations conducted by Task Force Usig, AI expressed its concern ?at persistent reports that the majority of investigations do not meet international standards as set forth in the UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, as supplemented by UN Manual Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions? and that the investigations ?have reportedly not led to the conviction of any of the perpetrators of the hundreds of killings of leftist activists since 2001.?
In the cases of 15 lawyers and 10 judges killed since 2001, AI said none of the perpetrators have been convicted. Then, out of the 114 party-list members killed since 2001 recorded by the task force, 27 cases had been filed in court and the remaining 86 are still under investigation. However, ?Out of the 27 cases filed in court, the PNP has arrested suspects in only three cases. No convictions have been reported.?
The failure to conduct believable probes into these cases and punish the perpetrators had been denounced in 2005 by an International Solidarity Mission (ISM), jointly conducted by several foreign church groups and non-government organizations, which culminated in the International People?s Tribunal (IPT) in November 2005 in Quezon City. The IPT found Arroyo accountable for human rights violations.
The human rights violations were also condemned by the Citizens? Congress for Truth and Accountability (CCTA), which recommended among others that Arroyo vacate Malaca?ang.
Melo Commission
On Aug. 21, 2006, President Arroyo formed the Melo Commission also to investigate the killings of activists and journalists. The Commission ? headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jose A. R. Melo who is reported to be close to the Macapagal-Arroyos ? has relied mainly on reports from Task Force Usig and testimonies from military officials. Without having been able to interview survivors of and witnesses to the more celebrated cases of human rights violations, it has cleared the military ? including Palparan ? in several areas.
Understandably, the formation of Task Force Usig and the Melo Commission, and Arroyo?s statements supposedly condemning the ?political killings,? have failed to douse cold water on the anger spawned by the killings and disappearances. Statements condemning human rights violations and pressuring Arroyo to act on these have continually poured in from various international quarters ? among them the Council of the European Union; the governments of Finland, Spain, France, Canada and, most recently, Japan; the World Council of Churches (WCC); the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC); the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC); the Uniting Church in Australia; the United Church of Christ in Canada; the United Methodist Church in the U.S.; and the Washington-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).
In an unprecedented move, the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce, comprising big business groups from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe, Japan and Korea, and the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters, called on the Arroyo government to put a stop to the killings or risk losing foreign investments.
A similar plea was made in a letter sent to Mrs. Arroyo later that was signed by officials of Wal-Mart and U.S.-based apparel companies Gap, Polo Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne, American Eagle Outfitters, Jones Apparel Group and Phillips Van Heusen.
In the Philippines, the frustrations of victims and their relatives over official investigation and judicial processes have driven them to turn to available international machineries, like the UNHRC and the PPT.
In an interview with Bulatlat, lawyer Romeo Capulong, who will be the lead prosecutor in Mrs. Arroyo?s trial before the PPT in March 2007, said he does not believe that justice will be served within the country?s legal framework.
?Our national forum, especially under Arroyo, is very inadequate,? the former UN Judge as Litem, said. ?We have no more way, no more forum to establish these human rights violations comprehensively, completely and fully here with competent, sufficient, credible evidence. That is why we have resorted to the PPT. Many of the Jury Members there are Nobel Peace Laureates and persons internationally known in their respective fields, so you can?t question their integrity.? Bulatlat
[tags]philippines, human rights, extrajudicial killings, political killings, philippine military, torture, karapatan, desaparecidos, philippine left, bayan muna[/tags]