CHR: Killings give RP bad reputation

The Commission on Human Rights admitted that the country is now gaining a bad reputation before the international community due to the series of political and other extra-judicial killings.

CHR Commissioner Dominador Calamba yesterday told reporters at the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group regional office that this was the reason why foreign lawyers and investigators are being sent to the country.

Few months ago, a team of lawyers from the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia arrived in Manila to look into the series political killings in the country. The Philippines was among the signatories to an international treaty that protects human rights.

Calamba, however, believed that the foreign team would fail in its investigation since even the local police had a hard time in solving the spate of killings themselves.

He said that if the local authorities failed in solving the killings so will the foreign investigators since they do not know how things work in the country.

Militant groups are blaming the military for the over 720 political killings in the country since the start of the Arroyo administration. Although it denied the allegations, the military claimed that the New People's Army was behind those killings to gain public support.

Though political killings have not yet reached Cebu, suspected vigilantes claimed at least 167 lives in the city since December 2004.

The Cebu City Police Office admitted that it faces difficulty in solving the killings because of the lack of witnesses.

Calamba said that having witnesses would greatly help in the investigation but admitted that what police lack are their investigation skills. - Edwin Ian MelecioLPM