of the Philippines the criminal justice system is - Article 2

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the killings are—contrary to the conclusion of the Melo Commission— certainly attributable to the military organisation and the state itself .... “ ” 24 a member of the International Labour Rights Fund was refused entry to the Philippines; he had earlier joined a mission on labour rights and extrajudicial killings of labour leaders in the Philippines during May 2006, and had been actively working with local groups that have been labelled as “enemies of the state”. Others have been taken away for no more than noncooperation. Brothers Reynaldo and Raymond Manalo were arrested and allegedly forcibly disappeared by armed men identifying themselves as soldiers who entered their house in February 2006, after they had refused to cooperate with troops trying to locate their neighbour and for not participating in a meeting called by the military on their anti-insurgency campaign (story 95). Whereas the highest levels of government should be issuing explicit orders to prohibit the use of public labelling by soldiers and law-enforcement officers, the practice is becoming increasingly widespread, and is now virtually a de facto policy. National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales has pushed for official labelling of party list political organisations with supposed links to the communist movement in the forthcoming May 2007 elections. Gonzales has not named specific parties himself, but five alone were listed in the army’s “Knowing the Enemy” presentation, and unsurprisingly the proposal is known to be popular among the military. The effect of such tagging of registered political parties would be just short of declaring them illegal, and would imply that any persons voting for them are also “influenced by communists”. And in case anybody is as yet in any doubt about the implications of that tag, Major Michael Samson, the military Civil Relations Service group commander, said in an interview of 18 January 2007 that, “In the Armed Forces’ continued campaign against communism, those that were either supportive or sympathetic to the communist movement were considered as enemies of the state.” The wider consequences on the Philippines’ electoral system and democracy would be profound and far-reaching. Tagging not only exposes individual political organisations and persons to violence and persecution, but undermines the entire exercise of government and challenges the rights of all citizens to participate in legitimate political activities. The persistent official tolerance of public labelling of persons and organisations as “communist fronts” by military and other security officers speaks to the complicity of the government in the unremitting killings and violence throughout the Philippines. For this reason the killings are—contrary to the conclusion of the Melo Commission—certainly attributable to the military organisation and the state itself. Official tolerance excuses policing and prosecuting agencies from their abject failure to successfully identify and prosecute perpetrators. It is contradictory to accept, as the commission has done, that there exists a pattern of killings that can be linked to the military while denying that this a systemic problem that goes to the heart of the rot in the Philippine criminal justice system. article 2 • February 2007 Vol. 6, No. 1
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission Concerted attack on human rights groups must be strongly resisted AS-286-2006, November 17, 2006 In what appears to be a concerted attack on the entire human rights movement in the Philippines, army, civilian and police officials have all made scathing statements describing the work of rights groups there as “propaganda”. On November 15, a group of retired and active senior army officers in the Philippines declared that Amnesty International members should be barred from the country for accusing the military of being behind extrajudicial killings. The influential Association of Generals and Flag Officers said in a resolution that the human rights group had documented incidents based upon the testimonies of militants, and that its allegations were biased. The declaration against Amnesty has reportedly been endorsed by the armed forces. Meanwhile, in another report, a senior official accused rights groups of spreading “propaganda” about the killings for political purposes. The aggressive defence of the government by Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye followed an unprecedented appeal by the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in the Philippines, warning that the ongoing violent attacks could affect investment. The press secretary also specifically named local group Karapatan as being responsible for spreading untruths, and said that his government would “sit down with foreign investors to give the facts”. In a further report, Philippine National Police (PNP) Deputy Director General Avelino Razon Jr. also claimed that Karapatan had greatly inflated the number of killings, and incredibly, compared the work of the group to that of Nazi Germany: “The group is adhering to the Nazi propaganda lines of consistent lies, distortion of objective facts, continuous lies and half-truths made popular by Hitler’s propagandist Goebbels during World War II.” Ironically, the deputy director general is the head of Task Force Usig, the main unit inside the police force investigating the killings... The attacks are clearly aimed at intimidating all human rights groups working in the Philippines. In fact, they constitute a threat to the entire human rights movement. In targeting Amnesty, a large and internationally-renowned group, the military generals have made clear that anyone else could be next, if they too attempt to document and report on the incidence of killings and other gross abuses. Ultimately, these are much more than simple reactions to the latest reports of domestic and international rights bodies. They are manifestations of an extreme, deep-rooted bias against human rights defenders. This resistance to human rights standards, and bias against persons who work to achieve them, is also manifest in the persistent denial about the extent and nature of the killings that the government is being called upon to address... The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) calls upon the government of the Philippines to unequivocally denounce the resolution passed by the Association of Generals and Flag Officers against Amnesty International, require the police to justify its outrageous statement comparing a local rights group to the Nazi regime, and publicly retract the remarks of its press officer... The struggle for the victims of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines is no less than the struggle for the survival of democracy and some notion of the rule of law there... article 2 • February 2007 Vol. 6, No. 1 25
Page 1 and 2: Vol. 6, No. 1 February 2007 ISSN 18
Page 3 and 4: Contents SPECIAL REPORT: THE CRIMIN
Page 5 and 6: Burma. But where are these laws fou
Page 7 and 8: The ALRC is acutely aware that thes
Page 9 and 10: The criminal justice system of the
Page 11 and 12: When Alberto Yadan (story 12) was m
Page 13 and 14: A Statement by the Asian Human Righ
Page 15 and 16: the policemen who killed Baria afte
Page 19 and 20: In his 21 February 2007 comments on
Page 21 and 22: sufficiently adept at creating lawl
Page 23 and 24: In his letter, Chief Superintendent
Page 25: cannot excuse themselves of their f
Page 31 and 32: Rotten to the core: Unaddressed kil
Page 33 and 34: Prof. Jose Ma Cui: Shot dead in cla
Page 35 and 36: Later, the village chief, Carlito C
Page 37 and 38: Jesus Servida: Killed for the union
Page 39 and 40: Roderick Aspili: Shot dead watching
Page 41 and 42: professors at the Eastern Samar Sta
Page 43 and 44: a fresh investigation for this purp
Page 45 and 46: Badilla, Palawan.... jurisdiction,
Page 47 and 48: Bishop Ramento also openly opposed
Page 49 and 50: Napoleon Bautista: Abducted, tortur
Page 51 and 52: The perpetrators questioned Pastor
Page 53 and 54: Eladio Dasi-an: Gunned down on way
Page 55 and 56: However, Fr. Geremia was informed t
Page 57 and 58: Noel Capulong: Shot and killed afte
Page 59 and 60: Jose Doton: Tailed and shot on moto
Page 61 and 62: one of the gunmen came close to the
Page 63 and 64: Enrico had just finished a meeting
Page 65 and 66: After several questions, the police
Page 67 and 68: Elpidio de la Victoria: No empty th
Page 69 and 70: Amante hid behind a tree some 70 me
Page 71 and 72: Melanio Evangelista: Murdered in be
Page 73 and 74: found surrounding the house. That e
Page 75 and 76: Jose Manegdeg: Same job, new victim
Page 77 and 78:
the spot. Those who were seriously
Page 79 and 80:
Diosdado Fortuna: “Is there anybo
Page 81 and 82:
Dacut and a companion were on their
Page 83 and 84:
On October 1, 2004, 327 farm-worker
Page 85 and 86:
The AHRC highlighted the case in a
Page 87 and 88:
The couple had left Padre Burgos at
Page 89 and 90:
It has also been learned that altho
Page 91 and 92:
with rifles and the others had .45-
Page 93 and 94:
They warned that they would be shot
Page 95 and 96:
of the 7th Infantry Division, gave
Page 97 and 98:
unnecessarily delayed. Like other l
Page 99 and 100:
wore civilian clothes. The men’s
Page 101 and 102:
companion, Rahim, after Ed’l Fit
Page 103 and 104:
that the remaining equipment of the
Page 105 and 106:
esidents about the noise from the c
Page 107 and 108:
following us?” He replied, “Ban
Page 109 and 110:
The victims, represented by six law
Page 111 and 112:
The absence of a law on torture mea
Page 113 and 114:
to the detachment, where he was fur
Page 115 and 116:
While it is acknowledged that there
Page 117 and 118:
Fr. Rolando de Leon: Church service
Page 119 and 120:
suggestions from the victims’ fam
Page 121 and 122:
police who initially conducted the
Page 123 and 124:
While the constitution guarantees t
Page 125 and 126:
Take the case of 11 persons, two of
Page 127 and 128:
The Philippines is a signatory to t
Page 129 and 130:
3. The strengthening of agencies fo
Page 131 and 132:
permit outside scrutiny, and a very
Page 133 and 134:
conviction before one can conclude
Page 135 and 136:
(c) The need to restore accountabil
Page 137 and 138:
Appendix II: The Melo Commission Re
Page 139 and 140:
More importantly, it is also undisp
Page 141 and 142:
5. TFU did not investigate Gen. Pal
Page 143 and 144:
5. Reaction to Gen. Palparan’s st
Page 145 and 146:
... 21. Summary/Notable Matters: a.
Page 147 and 148:
My order to my soldiers is that, if
Page 149 and 150:
No witness came forward to testify
Page 151 and 152:
It being well-nigh obvious that som
Page 153 and 154:
(b) With respect to superior and su
Page 155 and 156:
Likewise, the utterance of statemen
Page 157 and 158:
towards the greater ideals of democ
Page 159 and 160:
There should be no requirement that
Page 161 and 162:
Even assuming that these victims an
Page 163 and 164:
esponding to ensure their protectio
Page 165 and 166:
provided in all cases where require
Page 167 and 168:
homicide against Buisan. We were in
Page 169 and 170:
uniformed policemen, reportedly fro
Page 171 and 172:
for fear of the lives due to contin
Page 173 and 174:
members of the armed forces, police
Page 175 and 176:
For the time being we must withhold
Page 177 and 178:
The activists and leaders facing th
Page 179 and 180:
7. The national information agency
Page 181 and 182:
8. Retract statement justifying kil
Page 183 and 184:
5. Questionable evidence The police
Page 185 and 186:
knowledge or information on the com
Page 187 and 188:
(f) he has not at any time been con
Page 189 and 190:
Appendix V: Online Petition— Stop
Page 191 and 192:
article 2 • February 2007 Vol. 6,
Page 193 and 194:
The State party should ensure that
Page 195 and 196:
Other special reports published in
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