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Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Arroyo orders briefing on efforts to solve killings
MANILA -- Malacañang shifted into overdrive to inform foreign businessmen of efforts exerted by the government to resolve and put an end to the political killings in the country.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday directed all concerned agencies, including the police and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), to hold a dialog with the business sector to update them on efforts to solve extrajudicial killings and stress that government had nothing to do with the incidents.
Sun.Star Network Online coverage of the Pacquiao-Morales Sunday fight here
Arroyo told police to open all avenues of information and hold dialogs with investment and business sectors to keep them abreast of the developments.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the administration understands the concern of some well-meaning sectors as Arroyo herself is equally concerned about the incidents.
Bunye, who is also Presidential spokesman, said the administration "is committed to stopping the culture of violence, maintaining peace and order and protecting the democratic and basic human rights of every individual in the country."
"We condemn these killings. They are a smear to Philippine democracy and the rule of law but at the same time, we are fully aware that there is a continuing, insidious propaganda campaign to undermine public trust on the government," he added.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the DILG and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) should also hold a dialogue with the different foreign business chambers to assure them that efforts being exerted to solve and prevent the incidents.
Ermita said they should be kept abreast with the latest developments in the investigations of Task Force Usig and the Melo Commission chaired by retired Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Jose Melo.
The police over the weekend announced that they are close to solving all killings of journalists as they are now down to five unresolved cases.
The Melo Commission, meanwhile, was directed by Arroyo to start interviewing family members, relatives, and friends of the victims after members of left-leaning groups refused to participate in the probe.
Spain and Finland also accepted Malacañang's invitation to send a team to the Philippines to assist the Melo Commission in solving the killings and preventing a repeat of the incidents.
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said they were surprised by the concerns raised by the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce (JFCC) in the Philippines and believes these should be immediately addressed.
Teves said even some multinational institutions abroad have also manifested similar concerns to Philippine officials there.
The JFCC includes groups from the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe, Japan and Korea, and the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters.
Earlier, a similar plea came from local officials of US-based apparel companies Gap, Polo Ralph Lauren, Wal-Mart, Liz Claiborne, American Eagle Outfitters, Jones Apparel Group and Phillips Van Heusen.
Business magnate Raul Concepcion, Consumer and Oil Price Watch head, criticized the JFCC for threatening to withdraw their investments in the country if the government would not be able to stop the series of political killings in the country.
"You should do this discreetly and inform the office of the President," Concepcion said.
"As guests in this country, they should have made it a point to inform the proper channel and not blurt out in public their opinion as it may cause a bad impression," he added.
While the extrajudicial killings "create a very negative impression on the international community", the JFCC should have expressed its concerns privately as an act of courtesy to the host government.
At the Senate, Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. assailed the administration's lack of determination to solve the extrajudicial killings of political activists by ignoring suggestions from well-meaning groups to strengthen the Melo Commission.
Pimentel lamented that relatives of the victims and witnesses to the killings have refused to testify before the Melo Commission because they doubt its capability to conduct an impartial and objective investigation as well as to protect witnesses.
He lamented the defeatist attitude of the President and members of the commission who give up on efforts to persuade the families of the victims and the witnesses to cooperate without taking tangible steps to address their concerns about the alleged lack of independence of the fact-finding panel.
In a recent speech, the President said it was futile to talk to the families of the slain political activists and left-leaning groups since they refuse to cooperate with the commission. The President told the commission to focus their attention instead on looking into the killing of journalists.
Pimentel said the administration has done nothing to gain the confidence and trust of the families of the victims and the witnesses by initiating steps to erase the perception that the Melo Commission is a "paper tiger" with a hidden agenda to whitewash the inquiry.
Other criticisms against the commission are the following:
* The commission lacks the power to cite witnesses for contempt in case they ignore the summons to appear before it or they refuse to answer questions from Commission members while they are testifying,
* There is no provision in Executive Order (EO) 157 creating the commission that authorizes the fact-finding body to extend adequate protection to witnesses, including immunity from suit,
* The lack of definite budget for the commission, which could impair its investigative work, although EO 157 contains a vague provision that the funds needed by the commission will be given by the Office of the President,
* The designation of National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Nestor Mantaring and Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño as members of the commission despite the fact that they belong to the Department of Justice (DOJ) which is under the direct supervision of the Office of the President.
He said the Palace also disregarded a suggestion from the Amnesty International to enhance the credibility of the Melo Commission by expanding its composition to include representatives of non-government organizations (NGOs) with track record in investigating cases of human rights violations.
According to Pimentel, the commission itself reinforced the doubts about its objectivity by hearing first the testimonies of two military generals -- General Hermogenes Esperon, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and retired Major General Jovito Palparan, former chief of the Army's 7th Infantry Division.
"Something was gravely wrong here because as in a murder case, you opted to hear the side of the accused before hearing the side of the witnesses," Pimentel said.
He said the Melo Commission had already been overtaken by events, citing investigations being conducted by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and a number of international organizations.
Pimentel said even the International Parliamentary Union, during its general assembly in Geneva last month, came up with a report on the extrajudicial killings, involuntary disappearances, abductions and other human rights violations in the Philippines, together with recommendations to punish the criminal perpetrators and to stop the senseless atrocities.
Active and retired generals, meanwhile, sought the banning of officials and members of the London-based Amnesty International (AI) from the Philippines after they blamed the government and the military of perpetrating the extrajudicial killings.
The Association of Generals and Flag Officers (AGFO), which has active and retired military and police generals as members, said the statement of AI is "hypothetical, biased and prejudicial to the Philippine government."
The position of the AGFO was made public by AFP Civil Relations Service chief Amable Tolentino. A resolution on the matter was adopted last August 18 and was signed by the leadership of AGFO led by Brigadier General Jose Bello.
Tolentino chided the officials of the human rights organization for their one-side investigation, saying they only listened to the testimonies of militants, communist supporters, and other personalities as resource persons.
"There are no accounts from government entities to substantiate an objective research and analysis," said Tolentino.
Protestant leaders also condemned anew the Arroyo government for its inaction on the extrajudicial killings of church workers.
Reverend Pastor Billy Austin of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) was gunned down by two unidentified men on November 9.
Witnesses claimed that Austin, Avelino Dacanay, secretary-general of Solidarity of Peasants Against Exploitation (Stop-EX), and three other church workers were crossing a street to go to the office of the Bagong Alayansang Makabayan (Bayan) when armed men shot at them at around 9:30 p.m.
"We believe that death squads composed of agents under the command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines are the perpetrators of this human rights violation," the Ilocos Human Rights Advocates (IHRA) said. (JMR/CPB/VR/MSN/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (November 15, 2006 issue)
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