of the Philippines the criminal justice system is - Article 2

Appendix II:
The Melo Commission Report
INDEPENDENT COMMISSION TO ADDRESS MEDIA AND ACTIVIST
KILLINGS
Created under Administrative Order No. 157 (s. 2006)
R E P O R T (extracts & without citations)
INTRODUCTION
There is no shirking the fact that people, almost all of them activists or militants,
have been killed. There is no denying the reality that militant citizens have
been liquidated. The numbers vary. Task Force Usig of the Philippine National
Police listed down one hundred eleven (111) killings, which has since increased
to one hundred thirty six (136). Amnesty International, in its official website,
mentions 244 victims. The group Karapatan is said to have counted at least 724
killings. Unfortunately, none of the so-called activist/militant groups, be they
outright communist or satellite groups, came forward if only to inform the
Commission of the numbers of their members who have become victims of
extrajudicial killings. Be this as it may, the number, whether at a low of 111
according to Task Force Usig, or a high of 724 of Karapatan, is one too many.
It is said by those who would justify these killings that the victims are enemies
of the State. Verily, one’s attention may be called to the screams in death of the
victims of the Communist Party of the Philippines, its armed group the New
People’s Army (“NPA”), and its front organizations. Surely, ever present is
the only too human feeling of wanting to see one’s enemies and oppressors
bite the dust, so to speak, struck down on the quick based on one’s own personal
concept of justice or on the military’s unilateral assessment that they are enemies
of the State.
This may well be so, but it should be carefully noted that the victims, of which
this Commission is concerned, were all non-combatants. They were not killed
in armed clashes or engagements with the military. They were killed, it is
said, by motorcycle-riding hooded killers in assassination manner.
Government agencies hardly need reminding that in a democratic and civilized
state such as ours, one must uphold and observe the rule of law, the principles
of justice, and the system and rules of how it is dispensed – from investigation
to arrest, to inquest, and to trial. The system may be far from perfect, giving
rise to the temptation to take short-cuts. But precisely, short-cuts are in defiance
of the system of impartial justice. The rules must be observed at all times.
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