EDITORIAL - Weak prosecution

A law against torture was passed in 2009, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines has announced a policy of “zero tolerance” for human rights abuses among its members. At least three task forces have been formed to deal with cases of extrajudicial killings and disappearances. Retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, dubbed “the Butcher” by militant activists, is in hiding after being ordered arrested in connection with the kidnapping, detention and torture of two students of the University of the Philippines.

Despite some progress in ending human rights violations, however, abuses continue in this country, attributed to law enforcers, soldiers, militia, and politicians who want to harass or permanently silence media critics. Worse, failure to bring the perpetrators to justice has created a culture of impunity, according to human rights watchdogs. Palparan has vanished, and militant groups have expressed suspicion that he is being protected by certain elements in the AFP.

Politicians suspected to be the brains behind the murders of militants, journalists and legal professionals are rarely arrested or even placed under investigation. Only the atrociousness of the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao in 2009 led to the arrest of members of the Ampatuan clan, who ran the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao like their personal fiefdom for nearly a decade. But the trial is moving at the usual snail’s pace of Philippine justice.

Last year the New York-based Human Rights Watch listed at least 10 cases of killings and disappearances attributed to state forces in the Philippines. While lauding recent efforts to stop human rights abuses by state forces, Human Rights Watch also expressed hope that the government will be as relentless in its pursuit of perpetrators of rights abuses as it is “relentless in its pursuit of creating human rights task forces.”

The slow progress in bringing perpetrators to justice has also been noted by Washington, which has withheld higher military aid from the Philippines since 2008 because of the country’s failure to meet certain conditions in protecting human rights. Manila has asked Washington to lift this requirement for higher military aid. While working on this, the Philippine government should work harder on actual efforts to stop human rights abuses.