Friday, February 23, 2007 Editorials: UN special rapporteur’s report
WHEN civilization was in its in fant stage and the notion of human right was but a figment of the primitive man’s imagination, killing was a matter of self-defense and survival.
The one immediate choice was to kill or be killed.
But civilization has since given man the refinement of existence, the culture of divine living, and the idea of placing premium on human life.
People living in a democracy shouldn’t be surprised then at the uproar against extrajudicial executions of suspected leftist activists and fearless journalists.
That these killings happened right in our midst should arouse undue international alarm.
Denial
The justice secretary, however, reacted to the pronouncement by the United Nations special raporteur on the extra-judicial killings by saying that he did not exactly know how many had died although “I am certain the number is high enough to be distressing.”
But the “impact of even a limited number of killings of the type alleged is (already) corrosive in many ways.”
While the defense and military establishment reportedly chose to be silent about the UN findings, the justice secretary reacted vehemently.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said that UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston closed “his eyes to the purported atrocities committed by the Left.”
He expressed the belief that Alston was brainwashed by leftist groups and that he is “in denial of the atrocities of the other side.”
Gonzalez bemoaned the fact that the assessment appeared one-sided since the deaths of rightists have not been duly accounted for.
There is the allusion from the military that most of the deaths can “be attributed to internal fighting in the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army.”
In a sense, there may be a measure of truth in this assertion, but proof is needed.
Atrocities
Meanwhile, in ordering the release to the public of the Melo Commission Report, President Arroyo partly exculpated herself from involvement in the killings.
But even the Melo Report itself did not trace accountability of the killings all the way up to the Palace.
In fact, according to former justice Jose Melo himself, the military’s accountability will be “limited to immediate commanders” of the soldiers linked to the killings.
In any case, whatever was the finding of the UN special rapporteur and the Melo Commission, the fact remains that human lives were terminated without basis.
It is an act that should never be countenanced in a civilized society.
