Group: Extrajudicial killings, human rights violations not a numbers game

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

MANILA—Human rights group Karapatan on Tuesday said the issue of extrajudicial killings is not a numbers game contrary to Malacañang’s statement that disputed the group’s data of victims under the Aquino administration.

On Friday, the group said it has recorded 64 cases of unexplained killings from the start of President Benigno Aquino III’s term in July 2010 until October 2011.

"The issue should not be reduced to which group recorded the most or the least number of EJK cases as Abigail Valte said (last Saturday). The prevalence of extrajudicial killings up to the present administration is worrisome enough," said Jigs Clamor, deputy secretary general of Karapatan.

The group also challenged the government to explain why the incidents still continue under the Aquino administration, which earlier claimed that it has no tolerance for extrajudicial killings.

"No matter how the government downplays the cases of human rights violations, it cannot escape the fact that impunity and injustice prevail," said Clamor. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)