of the Philippines the criminal justice system is - Article 2

homicide against Buisan. We were informed that contrary to the
earlier ruling, there is now reasonable ground to look into the
victim’s claim of mistaken identity. We urge your full cooperation
on this matter.
We trust that you will take effective action in this case.
Yours sincerely,
Kate Hurst
Urgent Appeal Programme Coordinator
Asian Human Rights Commission
3. Police chief must aim to identify, arrest and
prosecute killers of human rights defenders
AHRC-OL-025-2006, July 6, 2006
Director General Oscar Calderon
Chief, Philippine National Police
Camp General Rafael Crame
Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Tel: +63 2726 4361/4366/8763
Fax: +63 2724 8763
Dear General Calderon
PHILIPPINES: Police chief must aim to identify, arrest
and prosecute killers of human rights defenders
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to
congratulate you on your appointment as the new chief of the
Philippine National Police (PNP) on 5 July 2006.
On the occasion of your appointment, the AHRC wishes to
suggest to you that your top priority as police chief must be to
address the unabated killings of human rights defenders and
social activists in the Philippines. We are aware that you are
well-informed of these killings, most of which remain unsolved.
Your predecessor, General Arturo Lomibao, gave assurances
that these killings would be investigated and perpetrators
arrested. We are disappointed that this did not happen prior to
his retirement; however, we note that the PNP was made one of
the lead agencies in Task Force Usig, a special unit mandated
to investigate cases of extrajudicial killings, which was created
in May 2006.
Nonetheless, the killings continue and questions about prior
killings remain unanswered. In particular, we wish to draw to
your attention the following recent cases, in which police have
failed to investigate properly or recommend or afford protection
to family members of victims or witnesses:
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