Phl still fails to address extra judicial killings - rights group

MANILA, Philippines - The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) had cited the failure of the government to investigate and prosecute cases of unexplained killings and enforced disappearances that have remained unsolved during the first year in office of President Aquino.

In its report “No Justice Just Adds to the Pain: Killings, Disappearances, and Impunity in the Philippines” released last Tuesday, the human rights monitoring group said the Aquino administration fell short in curbing killings and disappearances allegedly committed by the military in at least 10 cases recorded over the past year.

“The Philippine government has consistently failed in its obligations under international human rights law to hold accountable perpetrators of politically-motivated killings and enforced disappearances.

The victims’ families were denied justice as killers literally get away with murder. With inconclusive investigations, implausible suspects, warrants of arrest infrequently executed, and no convictions, impunity prevails,” according to the 98-page report, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR.

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

It cited the killings of Fernando “Nanding” Baldomero, Pascual Guevarra, Reynaldo “Naldo” Labrador, Rene “Toto” Quirante, Ireneo “Rene” Rodriguez, Rudy and Rudyric Dejos; and the disappearances of Agustito Ladera, Renato Deliguer and Alfredo Bucal. It was, however, unable to investigate several other suspected extrajudicial killings reported recently by local media due to time constraints and security concerns.

HRW said Aquino has yet to fulfill his campaign pledge to end serious violations of human rights in the country 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.

“President Aquino should work toward leaving behind a professional, accountable military as his government’s legacy. 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,” said HRW deputy Asia director Elaine Pearson.

“Activists are being gunned down in the street, while implicated soldiers walk free. The Philippines could 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,” she lamented.

HRW has cited the failure of authorities to successfully prosecute cases of killings and disappearances due to “poor policing and criminal investigation” and “inadequate witness protection program” of the Department of Justice for witnesses who have been subject to harassment and intimidation.

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, it stressed.

No senior military officers have been convicted either for direct involvement in these violations or as a matter of command responsibility.

It’s just now that retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan is facing charges before the DOJ for the alleged abduction of University of the Philippines activists Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño in 2006.

A study showed that 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.

HRW revealed a confession of a former soldier 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 of communist rebels by using .45 caliber pistols and wearing balaclavas thought to be favored by the rebels.  – With Alexis Romero