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Monday, August 07, 2006
Gov't mulls allowing international team to probe killings
NATIONAL Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said Sunday the administration may let an international fact-finding team to look into the spate of extra-judicial killings, particularly those involving militants and journalists.
Gonzales said the killings had already reached an alarming level and something should be done immediately to stop it and bring the perpetrators to justice.
He said the extra-judicial killings are a concern of the administration and everyone in the government. He added that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's order to the police and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to resolve the killings in 10 weeks sprung from her sincere desire to prosecute and punish the perpetrators.
Gonzales said the government is open to the creation of an independent international body which may help get to the bottom of the incident. He said the international team may also look into the human rights situation in the country.
"One of the major issues being discussed is the possibility of having an international monitoring body to look into the political killings. Government is prepared for the formation of an independent international fact-finding body composed of reputable members to investigate the killings and the disappearances," he said.
He however rejected possible inclusions of members of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) in the fact-finding body. He said the communist group themselves are among the suspects in the killings.
The NDF last week suggested that the government allow an international group to investigate the killings, particularly of the militants who they said are now more than 700.
"The NDF does not have the moral ascendancy to be part of any legitimate body tasked to investigate human rights violations since it is a major violator of human rights and perpetrator of political killings and disappearances," said Gonzales, who is also the chairperson of the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP).
Gonzales said the communist group "has one of the worst records of human rights violations in the country comparable to, if not worse than, that of the Marcos dictatorship." He said that these violations prompted the US and the European Union to include the NPA and CPP founding chairman Jose Maria Sison in their list of terrorist organizations. (JMR/Sunnex)
(August 7, 2006 issue)
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