The Killings in the Philippines Must End

The Killings in the Philippines Must End

Brief Presentation before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development Parliament of Canada
Ottawa, Canada
April 15, 2008

By Rep. Satur C. Ocampo

Deputy Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Philippines

On November 28, 2007, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Prof. Philip Alston released his final report on the spate of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines which had been occurring at an alarming rate over the past six years.

From this representation’s view, the Alston report is a well-documented and argued rebuke on the Arroyo government’s complicity, through the institutional arrangements that have permitted the killings to continue, and its failure to stop them.

Prof. Alston points to the Philippine military’s “state of denial” over the numerous cases of extrajudicial killings which involved its soldiers. The 900 documented cases of extrajudicial killings and 180 cases of enforced disappearances mostly of leftist activists have been attributed to state security forces and are widely believed to have been sanctioned by the Arroyo government through its counter-insurgency program.

Prof. Alston scrutinizes two “policy initiatives” of the Arroyo government that are “of special importance to understanding why the killings continue.” “First, the military’s counter-insurgency strategy against the CPP/NPA/NDF increasingly focuses on dismantling civil society organizations that are purported to be CPP front groups.” “Second…the criminal justice system has failed to arrest, convict, and imprison those responsible for extrajudicial executions. This is partly due to a distortion of priorities that has law enforcement officials focused on prosecuting civil society leaders rather than their killers.”

Thus, the Alston report recommends, as top essential measure that “extrajudicial executions must be eliminated from counterinsurgency operations.” It specifically calls for the following:

1. As Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, the President must take concrete steps to put an end to those aspects of counterinsurgency operations which have led to the targeting and execution of many individuals working with civil society organizations.

2. The necessary measures should be taken to ensure that the principle of command responsibility, as it is understood in international law, is a basis for criminal liability within the domestic legal order.

3. The Government should immediately direct all military officers to cease making public statements linking political or other civil society groups to those engaged in armed insurgencies. Any such characterizations belong solely within the power of the civilian authorities. They must be based on transparent criteria, and conform with the human rights provisions of the Constitution and relevant treaties.

4. Transparency must be introduced to the “orders of battle”, “watch lists”, and similar list of individuals and organizations maintained by the AFP, PNP, and other elements of the national security system.

The report also recommends the abolishment of the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG), which was formed by President Arroyo on January 17, 2006 mainly to build and file spurious charges of rebellion and criminal offenses against leaders and members of people’s organizations and political parties critical of the government. In fact, this representation is a victim of these politically motivated trumped-up charges.

According to Prof. Alston, “The most deleterious role played by the IALAG bodies, may however, be to encourage prosecutors to act as team players with the AFP and PNP in its counter-insurgency operations and to de-prioritize cases involving the deaths of leftist activists.”

None of these recommendations have been carried out by the Arroyo government. Even the government’s own fact-finding body, the Melo Commission, has recommended the investigation of a notorious military officer implicated in the killings but no such action has been taken to date.

The resolute efforts of human rights and people’s organizations, religious groups, and progressive political parties to document cases and bring them up to the United Nations, international bodies, governments and Parliaments paid off in 2007. The responses through strong international criticisms on and appeals to the Arroyo government and the initiatives of the Philippine Supreme Court – after calling an unprecedented national summit on extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in July 2007 — to institute mechanisms for the protection of human rights through the Writ of Amparo and the Writ of Habeas Data have largely contributed to the noticeable decline in the killings and abductions, since the beginning of 2008.

I emphasize decline, not a stop to the killings and abductions. The repeated announcements of President Arroyo and the chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines that they will unrelentingly pursue the counterinsurgency program billed as “Oplan Bantay Laya” until 2010 bodes continued, or intensified, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and other human rights violations.

Worse – and this is what I wish to highlight in this short presentation – the climate of impunity continues to pervade in the country as the perpetrators of the killings and abductions remain scot free. The victims and their families continue to cry out for justice.

In this light, I appeal to you, my fellow parliamentarians to urge the Canadian government to:

1. Call on the Philippine government to decisively hold accountable those responsible for the killings and enforced disappearances;

2. Urge the Philippine government to implement the recommendations of the Alston report;

3. Urge the Philippine government to abandon its counterinsurgency program which regards activists as “enemies of the state” and are therefore subject to outright attacks and annihilation by government troops and agents;

4. Call on the President Arroyo to immediately certify the enactment of pending legislations in Congress that penalize enforced disappearances, torture and define the command responsibility of military officers whose troops are involved in the commission of such offenses;

5. Call for a review of Canadian aid to the Philippine government to determine if funds may have been funneled for the commission of human rights violations against civilians by state security forces and agents, and to base further aid on the implementation of the Alston report recommendations and the overall improvement of the human rights situation.

Thank you for this opportunity to interface with you. I would gladly answer questions from you.