Findings of CHR disputed

A human rights group contradicted yesterday the pronouncement of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) that human rights violations committed by the police and military are declining.

The Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace (EMJP) cited its own figures which showed that there are at least four victims of illegal arrest and detention every week.

EMJP secretary-general Dani Beltran also identified the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as a top human rights violator.

Beltran said there is more than one victim of "salvaging" (summary execution) every month, 85 people killed in massacres every two months and 200 peasants are victimized by the implementation of Oplan Makabayan in the countryside everyday.

In the past 29 months, Beltran alleged that 21 people have disappeared.

He also cited the statistics of Karapatan, another human rights group, which showed that from July 1998 to this month, at least 974 alleged human rights violations have been committed.

Earlier, the CHR said the AFP has slowly "shed" over the past years its fearsome image as a top human rights violator during the Marcos regime.

Based on CHR data from January to June this year, there were at least 666 cases of human rights violations, of which the Philippine National Police, as the number one violator, accounted for 264 cases or 36.64 percent, while the AFP placed fifth with 60 cases. — Jose Rodel Clapano