By Satur C. Ocampo
At Ground Level | The Philippine Star

“In 2006 and 2007, when the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and several other major donors publicly raised their concerns over the politically motivated killings under then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the number of killings dropped drastically. Under President Aquino, though, it is international pressure that has dropped, while the killings continue.”

Human Rights Watch

Such is the pointed reminder to President Aquino a rebuke, actually from an international human rights monitoring organization as he prepares to deliver his second state-of-the-nation address on Monday.

And there are similar reminders, rebukes, and appeals from various groups within the country. All urge the President to decisively resolve the issues of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and other human rights violations attributed to state security forces in pursuance of internal security policies and programs.

Under P-Noy’s watch, the human-rights alliance Karapatan has documented 48 extrajudicial killings and six enforced disappearances. None of these have been solved, contrary to Mr. Aquino’s claim in his first SONA that three political murder cases had been solved of the six recorded then.

Human Rights Watch’s 98-page report, titled “No Justice Just Adds to the Pain: Killings, Disappearances, and Impunity in the Philippines,” details some of these cases through 80 interviews with victims, their families, and witnesses in 11 provinces and with PNP and AFP officials. A former soldier narrates how military commanders trained and ordered him and other soldiers to kill leftist activists, hide or burn their bodies, intimidate witnesses, and make the killings appear like they were supposedly done by the New People’s Army’s “special partisan units.”

In the past decade only seven cases of extrajudicial killings were successfully prosecuted, with 12 defendants convicted, but HRW notes “none since P-Noy assumed office.” There has been no military member convicted, it adds, and no senior military officer convicted for direct involvement or as a matter of command responsibility.

Elaine Pearson, HRW-Asia deputy director, remarks: “Activists are being gunned down in the street, while implicated soldiers walk free. The Philippines can only bring an end to these horrific abuses if it is clear that anyone who orders or commits them will be jailed and their military careers will be over.”

Wasn’t this essentially what P-Noy said in a meeting with European ambassadors shortly before he was elected President? “Cases of extrajudicial killings need to be solved, not just identify the perpetrators but have them captured and sent to jail,” as quoted in this column last May 14.

Now P-Noy is pressed to make good on what he said then.

One challenge to him comes from Karapatan and Hustisya (an organization of victims and their families) which have initiated the filing of criminal charges against retired Army Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. and other military officers for the abduction and disappearance in 2006 of UP coeds Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno. In a press statement, the two groups were firm:

“Mr. President, you have to back up our initiatives, you have to stand up with us in our pursuit of justice and ensure that Palparan, et al., end up in jail. Equally important, you have to immediately put a stop to human rights violations under your administration and end impunity in this country.”

In Mindanao’s Caraga region, tribal, labor and human rights groups will hold mass rallies coinciding with Monday’s SONA to protest P-Noy’s “inaction” on the continued killings of tribal leaders and members of indigenous peoples “who refuse to cooperate with influential politicians who favor mining and logging interests.”

Monday will also be the final day of a three-day fast undergone by 354 political prisoners all over the country. They are calling attention to their demand to free all political prisoners, preferably through a presidential proclamation of a “general, omnibus and unconditional amnesty.”

Their amnesty demand is supported by several groups church formations, lawyers, progressive party-list representatives in Congress, as well as Karapatan, Hustisya, Selda (ex-political prisoners), and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.

It’s a just demand, deserving of public support. Why?

These are persons who were arrested, detained and imprisoned basically for acts in furtherance of their political beliefs. Long-established jurisprudence requires them to be treated differently from common criminal offenders. Yet they have been arbitrarily denied liberty and due process of law through “legal” schemes, such as charging them with common crimes (murder, kidnapping, arson, etc.), instead of rebellion or sedition. They are thus denied the right to bail, even as their cases take forever to be heard. They are stigmatized as plain criminals of the heinous kind rather than treated as political offenders.

Of the 354 political prisoners, 47 were arrested under P-Noy, 27 before Arroyo, and 280 under her. Most are victims of Arroyo’s “legal offensive” via the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group created in 2006. The IALAG has been abolished upon recommendation by UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston, yet its malevolent effects continue to penalize its victims.

Justice demands rectification of these anomalies.

As his mother Cory Aquino saw the justness of granting general amnesty for the Marcos dictatorship’s political prisoners in 1986, can’t P-Noy do likewise for Arroyo’s and his own political prisoners?

E-mail to: satur.ocampo@gmail.com

Bulatlat.com

MANILA – A few days before President Benigno S. Aquino III delivers his State of the Nation Address (Sona), three more victims add to the growing list of political killings.

Roque Laputan, 59, a member of Anakpawis partylist, Davao del Sur, was murdered by unidentified men, July 10. Laputan, was at the forefront of protests against the operation of Xstrata-owned Sagittarius Mines Inc. in Davao del Sur and the company’s plan to put up a coal-fired plant here.

Laputan was in a store in Tagansuli village when two masked men on a motorcycle arrived, one of whom alighted, grabbed Laputan by the neck and shot him twice in the head. He died instantly.

Two residents of Pangarap Village in Caloocan City were killed when security guards opened fire at a vigil site set up by residents protesting against the demolition in the area. Soliman Gomez and Rommel Fortadez died and six others were injured.

The guards, who were allegedly drunk, were guarding the property owned by Gregorio Araneta III, a relative of newly-appointed Department of Transportation and Telecommunications secretary and Aquino’s running mate, Manuel “Mar” Roxas III.

“Killings continue just before Aquino delivers his second Sona. Does this tell us that the same policy of extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary killings would continue for the next years of Aquino’s term?” Cristina Guevarra, Hustisya secretary general, said. “We ask him, how many more?”

Reacting to announcements made by Malacañang that Pres. Aquino’s SONA will focus on his anti-corruption campaign report for the past year, Hustisya, an organization of families of victims of human rights violations, asked whether human rights is not an alarming issue for the Aquino administration.

“Didn’t he mention an end to extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in his straight path? If this is so, why do killings continue?” Guevarra said.

During his first Sona, Aquino vowed to resolve cases of extrajudicial killings, citing the murder of Fernando Baldomero, a local councilor in Lezo, Aklan, among others.

One year after, the case was recently archived because the arrest warrant issued in January this year had not been served, according to Ernan Baldomero, son of the victim and Hustisya vice chairman. The suspect, Ernan said, has eluded arrest.

“We are raising the alarm not only because victims under the past administration have not been given justice, but most especially, killings continue under Aquino. Until when shall we wait for concrete action to stop the killings?” Guevarra asked.

According to Karapatan, there have been 48 victims of extrajudicial killings, not yet including the recent cases.

Congressional probe

Meanwhile, Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano said they are seeking an inquiry into the incident in Pangarap Village, adding that the this is not the first time that security guards of Araneta-owned Carmel Development Inc. (CDI) indiscriminately fired at the residents. On April 28, three were injured in the shooting.

Carmel Development is claiming ownership of the 7,008-hectare area where the community is located. The area, almost half the size of Caloocan City, includes Pangarap Village that is part of “Tala Estate,” historically a leper colony as determined by Commonwealth Act 161. Anakpawis said the Aranetas want to clear the area, demolish the urban poor community and develop the area into a commercial center.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) filed a case (GR No. 187876) against CDI for illegally claiming the land. According House Resolution 1236 filed by Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Gabriela Womens Party, Act Teachers Party-list and Kabataan Party, the DENR said CDI had failed to prove that it had fully paid for the land, which is supposedly part of the “Friar Lands,” “over which the Government holds the title and are not public lands but private or patrimonial property of the Government and can be alienated only upon proper compliance with Act No. 1120 or the Friar Lands Act.”

Mariano said the violence at Pangarap Village adds to the series of bloody demolitions against urban poor communities. Other incidents of violent demolitions also took place in Sitio San Roque in Quezon City, Barangay Corazon de Jesus in San Juan City and Laperal Compound in Makati City. “Aquino’s neglect on the plight of the urban poor is evident in the series of violent demolitions under his watch.”

http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2011/07/18/no-justice-just-adds-pain-0

(Manila) – The Philippine government’s failure to investigate and prosecute extrajudicial killings fuels further military abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government should ensure that officials vigorously investigate serious human rights violations or face disciplinary action, Human Rights Watch said.

The 98-page report, “‘No Justice Just Adds to the Pain’: Killings, Disappearances, and Impunity in the Philippines,” details strong evidence of military involvement in seven killings and three enforced disappearances of leftist activists since President Benigno Aquino III took office on June 30, 2010.

“Activists are being gunned down in the street, while implicated soldiers walk free,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Philippines can only bring an end to these horrific abuses if it is clear that anyone who orders or commits them will be jailed and their military careers will be over.”

The report is based on more than 80 interviews across 11 provinces with victims of abuses, their family members, witnesses, and police and military officials, including a former soldier who said military commanders ordered him to kill leftist activists and intimidate witnesses.

Human Rights Watch was unable to investigate several other suspected extrajudicial killings reported recently by local media due to time constraints and security concerns.

The Philippines faces multiple insurgencies from the communist New People’s Army (NPA) and other armed groups that have been responsible for many serious abuses. In addressing these insurgencies, the government should respect its legal obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said.

The military appears to have targeted several of these victims as suspected members of the NPA because of their involvement with leftist organizations, work on land reform, or opposition to the military’s presence in their communities. Military units operating in conflict-affected areas often consider all leftist organizations to be fronts for the rebel group and anyone who opposes the military presence to be NPA members.

“My husband was lying with open [gunshot] wounds on his chest and neck,” said Mercy Dejos, describing how she had found the body of her husband, a community human rights officer, and that of her son. “His fingernails were removed.”  Her son appeared to have been shot in the back, she said.

Several of the victims were killed or abducted in front of witnesses, either when armed men entered the victim’s property and shot the person in cold blood, or shot the victim from a motorbike. Some attackers wore civilian clothes and covered their faces, while others wore military uniforms and made no attempt to hide their identities.  In several cases there is evidence that soldiers worked with members of paramilitary forces – primarily the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Units (CAFGUs) – or paid military “assets,” including “rebel returnees,” former members of the rebel group.

A former soldier told Human Rights Watch that military commanders had ordered him to kill leftist activists and to hide or burn the bodies. He said the military had trained him and other soldiers to make targeted killings look like the work of the rebel group’s Special Partisan Unit (SPARU) by using .45 caliber pistols and wearing balaclavas thought to be favored by the rebels.

“The brazen nature of some of these abuses – in broad daylight and in front of witnesses – shows how members of the military can kill and ‘disappear’ people with little regard for the consequences,” Pearson said. “Tagging someone as a leftist activist is like sounding the alarm that they are on a military hit list.”

The government has failed to effectively investigate and prosecute the killings and enforced disappearances perpetrated during the last decade, Human Rights Watch said. Neither has it held accountable those responsible for the most recent abuses.

Only seven extrajudicial killing cases have been successfully prosecuted in the past decade, resulting in the conviction of 12 defendants, none since Aquino took office. There has not been a single conviction of anyone who was an active member of the military at the time of the killing. No senior military officers have been convicted either for direct involvement in these violations or as a matter of command responsibility.

Police investigations have stalled – especially when evidence leads to the military. Arrest warrants against those allegedly responsible have not been executed and internal military investigations are nearly nonexistent. The Philippine Justice Department’s inadequate protection program for witnesses, who have been subject to harassment and intimidation, has further hindered efforts to bring those responsible to justice.

Extrajudicial killings have long been a problem in the Philippines. Hundreds of members of left-wing political parties, political activists, critical journalists, and outspoken clergy have been killed or forcibly disappeared in the Philippines during the past decade.

In 2006 and 2007, when the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and several other major donors publicly raised concerns over the politically motivated killings under then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the number of killings dropped drastically. Under President Aquino, though, it is international pressure that has dropped, while the killings continue, Human Rights Watch said.

The US, the EU, Japan, Australia, and other governments should press the Philippine government to investigate these killings thoroughly, prosecute those responsible, require rigorous accountability in the military, and articulate clearly the consequences if these steps are not taken, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch called on Aquino to fulfill his campaign pledge to end serious violations of human rights in the Philippines by directing the police and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to vigorously pursue crimes allegedly committed by the military or themselves be subject to disciplinary measures. The military should conduct transparent internal investigations and discipline officers and soldiers responsible for extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, including under principles of command responsibility.

“President Aquino should work toward leaving behind a professional, accountable military as his government’s legacy,” Pearson said. “The US, EU, and other donors should be asking the Philippine government hard questions about why killings and disappearances continue one year into the Aquino administration.”

Accounts from “‘No Justice Just Adds to the Pain’: Killings, Disappearances, and Impunity in the Philippines”:

“I saw droplets of blood. When I walked around the corner, I saw the bodies of my husband and son. My husband was lying with open wounds on his chest and neck…. His fingernails were removed…. His forearms were scratched like his arms had been tied up…. His chest was bruised as if he had been beaten with the butt of a rifle. My son, Rudyric, was curled up on his side and I could see bullet wounds on his back with exit wounds on his upper chest…. I then fell unconscious.”
– Mercy Dejos, who found her husband and son after they had been killed on February 27, 2011, in Davao del Sur province. She said soldiers had threatened her husband, a community human rights officer, on several occasions before he was killed.

“Around 2 a.m. [I awoke to hear] someone banging on the door [of the house]….  The armed men used their rifle butts to enter the house. The soldiers saw Toto immediately and used their rifles to beat him. They beat him continuously; he was trying to escape to the second floor of the house, but they kept pulling him back and beating him…. They pulled him away from us and pushed him to the ground floor. Then the soldiers jumped down. One soldier shouted to another to hold on to him; then they shot him [three times]. The commander then ordered the soldiers to move, so they left.  We were very scared. We couldn’t do anything, not even shout or utter a word.”
– A witness to the September 30, 2010 killing of Rene “Toto” Quirante in Negros Oriental province.

“[Most of my fellow police officers] have created a threatening environment for me….  One time when I arrived at the police station, one police officer shouted at me that I am an enemy of the state…. There is a group influence…. I just avoid them and … do my work. One day in the station a fellow officer said to me, ‘There will be a time of reckoning because you’re going out of your way [to investigate this case].'”
– A police officer investigating the killing of a leftist activist, describing how his colleagues have threatened and harassed him because he is actively investigating the crime.

“[She] told me five men came to her house…. They were from the military.  [One of them] threatened her that if she [testified], something would happen to her family…. He said, ‘I am not bluffing and very serious about this conversation.’ Since then, people have told her that people have been regularly visiting [her place]. She’s not been staying in her house since.
– A local government official describing how soldiers threatened a witness to a human rights violation who was planning to testify against the military