of the Philippines the criminal justice system is - Article 2

esponding to ensure their protection and security, as stipulated
in RA 6981, an Act for Witness Protection, Security and Benefit.
As you are aware, the AHRC has previously sent you many letters
requesting your intervention in providing protection to witnesses.
Yet despite our request and your department’s obligations to
implement the provisions of the Act, we are unaware of any action
taken in the cases we have forwarded to you.
Under Section 3 of RA 6981, any person who has witnessed or
has knowledge or information on the commission of a crime and
has testified or is testifying or about to testify before any judicial
or quasi-judicial body, or before any investigating authority, may
be admitted into the programme. Additionally, one of the
conditions is that any member of a family subjected to threats
on their lives shall likewise be admitted. In line with this, the
AHRC wishes to bring your attention your department’s failure
to apply the conditions of the Act to potential witnesses and
relatives of the dead.
We specifically draw your attention to the killings of activists
who failed to receive security and protection from the police; a
witness killed prior to testifying in court; another witness fleeing
for fear of his life; and the many families who have failed to secure
protection and as a result are reluctant to cooperate in any
investigation for fear of their lives. Despite your department
having been made aware of these situations, to our knowledge
no adequate action has been taken.
Mr Norman Bocar, a lawyer from Eastern Samar, was killed
on 1 September 2005. Prior to his death Bocar sought the help of
the police for his security following serious threats against his
life. It is not known however, whether the police acted on his
request. The police investigation into his death has reached no
conclusive findings and the perpetrators were not identified. The
police formed “Task Force Bocar” to investigate the killing but
this has failed to bring any justice to this case.
Mr Joel Reyes was killed on 16 March 2005 in Panganiban,
Camarines Norte. The lone witness to his case, Dario Oresca,
was also slain before he could testify in court. Even though the
local police were aware of the threats made against Oresca, he
was not placed under any protection. In a letter to the AHRC, the
Commission on Human Rights (CHR) regional office in Naga City,
the Commission’s special investigator, Raymundo de Silva
admitted failure of the RA 6981. De Silva said that the programme
was not yet thoroughly understood by the populace.
Although De Silva concluded in his findings that the killing of
Reyes and Oresca could have been perpetrated by a reformist
armed group critical of the communist movement and identified
two alleged perpetrators, named only as Ka Clito or Ka Abril and
Ka Darlin or Ka Love, these persons have not been located. Thus,
the case will be highly jeopardised by the absence of a prosecution
witness in court.
article 2 • February 2007 Vol. 6, No. 1 161