Monday, July 07, 2008 Hunt for suspects of activist, journalist killings underway
THE Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Sunday said the Philippine National Police (PNP)'s Task Force Usig is now seeking the conviction of suspects in 33 cases filed in court involving the murders of political activists and journalists.
Citing a report submitted by Task Force Usig to DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Assistant Secretary for Strategic Planning and Public Affairs Brian Raymund Yamsuan noted that of these 33 cases on trial, 15 involved killings of political activists and 18 were those of slain media persons.
As of mid-June this year, Task Force Usig has already filed a total of 87 cases against suspects in 142 verified incidents of unexplained killings, of which 49 are considered cold cases, the report noted.
Of the 64 cases filed involving killings of political activists, 41 were filed in court, in which one was settled amicably. A total of 15 cases are on trial, while 17 were archived and eight were dismissed, Yamsuan said.
The report also noted that 23 cases are pending at the prosecutor's office, where nine are undergoing preliminary investigation, and 14 were provisionally dismissed.
In cases of media-related killings, 23 cases were already filed, of which 18 are on trial and two were resolved with the suspects' conviction and three were dismissed, noted Task Force Usig commander Police Director Jefferson Soriano, who also heads the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM).
Of the total number of 142 cases of unexplained killings verified by the task force, 114 involved killings of political activists and 28 cover work-related killings of journalists.
The task force has already listed a total of 259 suspects in these 142 verified incidents, where 27 have already been arrested, 14 have surrendered and five convicted by the trial courts, Yamsuan noted.
A total of 28 incidents of killings of political activists involved members of the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army (CPP/NPA) while 13 involved military and paramilitary elements as suspects -- five of these cases involved civilians who allegedly are linked to the military and one is still under investigation.
Out of the 23 cases filed involving media-related killings, one was perpetrated by the CPP/NPA, and two involved two military elements (one arrested and one surrendered) with two civilians (one arrested and one surrendered) as suspects, Yamsuan said.
He said another three incidents involved three police personnel (all detained) with one civilian who voluntarily surrendered; two cases involved two government officials who voluntarily surrendered with one civilian (one arrested); and 15 cases involved only civilians as suspects, wherein 10 were arrested and six surrendered, the Usig report stated. (VR/Sunnex)
