Sunday, February 11, 2007
Human rights groups urge UN official to fully probe killings
MANILA -- A UN official sent to investigate political killings in the Philippines must go beyond the work of a local commission that reportedly found military members were involved, human rights and political groups urged Saturday.
Human rights group Karapatan has said more than 800 people have been victims of political killings -- allegedly by security forces -- since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took office in 2001.
More than 365 of the victims were left-wing activists and more than 200 others were allegedly abducted and remain missing, Karapatan said.
Arroyo has denounced the killings and tasked a fact-finding commission headed by former Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo to investigate.
Melo's commission found that "military elements" were involved in the majority of the killings it had investigated, according to local news reports. Arroyo has not released the commission's findings.
Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, was scheduled to arrive in Manila this weekend for a 10-day visit on the invitation of Arroyo, the UN office in Manila said.
The UN office in Manila said Alston will submit a report of his findings to the United Nations with conclusions and recommendations after his trip. The office would not say what day Alston was to arrive in the Philippines.
"We appeal to the UN special rapporteur to be sensitive to the maneuvers of the Arroyo regime in trying to cover up its culpability in the political killings," said Renato Reyes, secretary general of Bayan, the country's largest left-wing alliance.
"We also hope that Alston will take a victim-centered approach, something that the Melo Commission did not do," Reyes said in a statement.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. said the UN team will be in the country for three weeks and their activities will include interviewing members of civil society as well as representatives of the government to get inputs.
"We're hoping that they will see the light. We're ready to explain, we have enough records to show them how many people were sent to mass graves," he said.
Gonzalez said, personally, he is not too happy with too much foreign involvement, but President Arroyo had invited the UN team and explained that it is part of the government policy.
He, however, noted that one good thing that may come out with the arrival of the UN team is the unexplained killings might stop as the extrajudicial killings are being used by some sectors to destabilize the government.
"They think they can bring down the government by killing people because they can see it is being blamed to the government that is why I am appealing to the international community," he said.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye denied that the UN team's investigation is a form of foreign intervention.
"I think it's better if we have a UN team visiting us to see for themselves what is going on in the Philippines," added Bunye.
The government early this month sent a formal letter to the European Union (EU) and to the governments of United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Finland, and Sweden, inviting them to assist in the investigations, particularly of the Melo Commission headed by retired SC associate justice Jose Melo.
Arroyo formed the commission to look into the extrajudicial killings and the body said members of the military, goons of politicians, and leftists are involved in the killings. (AP/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (February 11, 2007 issue)
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