Amnesty Int’l defended from military allegation of biased reporting

BAGUIO CITY — Various human rights groups defended Amnesty International (AI) yesterday from the military’s allegations of bias in reporting supposed extrajudicial killings.

"It is either insubordination on the military’s part because their commander-in-chief asked AI to come to the Philippines, or the government is saying one thing that they do not really mean," said Ruth Cervantes, speaking for human rights group Karapatan.

Several international groups of reputable status have already conducted fact-finding missions and issued reports on the Philippines, she added.

Cervantes said authorities "shoot messengers" rather than going after those behind the killings of activists and journalists.

"(Press) Secretary (Ignacio) Bunye should blame the perpetrators of killings and abductions for destabilizing government, not rights groups and concerned sectors," she said.

"They only have themselves to blame for public distrust and international attention on the rights situation in the country because his boss failed to curb human rights abuses. The issue of extra-judicial killings cannot anymore undermine public trust on the Arroyo administration because there is already none left.

"Human rights groups are doing a civic duty of monitoring government compliance to human rights instruments and how its forces relate to citizens while militant organizations are exercising their right to defend themselves against attacks, and here we find ourselves being maligned and accused of destabilizing government."

Cervantes said various groups have been campaigning in the Philippines and around the world against extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances.

The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission on Tuesday announced the release of the report of the Hong Kong Mission for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines that looked into the extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances, she added.

The Ilocos Human Rights Alliance (IHRA) and Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) blamed the government and supposedly military-sponsored death squads for the attempted assassination of Bayan Ilocos Region chairman Billy Austin last week in Vigan City.

The two groups chided the military for claiming that the attack was undertaken by militant groups to destroy the image of the government.

The Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command pointed at the New People’s Army as the culprits in the killing of two leaders of the leftist Bayan Muna party-list group last year. — Artemio Dumlao