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Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Defense, military hit int'l group verdict on slays
MANILA -- Defense and military officials lashed out Monday at an international organization that blamed the Philippine government for the rash of extrajudicial killings in the country.
Defense Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. branded the Permanent People's Tribunal (PPT) as an "international kangaroo court" for conducting what he said was a biased probe.
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In a verdict released last Sunday, the six-man tribunal said the Arroyo government was behind the hundreds of killings of mostly members of militant organizations in the Philippines since January 2001.
The tribunal, which came out with the verdict after three days of continuous sessions at The Hague in The Netherlands, also said it has the established that the Philippine military played a "central role" in the atrocities.
In questioning the findings of the tribunal, Ebdane said the group should have heard the side of the government or the military, which is being accused by local human rights group Karapatan and various leftist organizations as behind the killings.
Ebdane said the tribunal has no basis to make the conclusion that the military is behind the killings. The military has said the accusations were made by the communist group to distract government forces from their anti-insurgency operations.
"How can they conclude when they have not even talked to the organization concerned or the agency concerned? What is that, kangaroo court? It appears it's an international kangaroo court," said Ebdane.
Armed Forces Chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr., for his part, said the findings of the tribunal are serious accusations even as he expressed suspicion that the group is affiliated with Karapatan.
Esperon said the military's newly established human rights office under Colonel Benedict Jose is investigating the involvement of military personnel in the killings.
In Malacañang, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales dismissed the guilty verdict meted out by the PPT against the government.
Gonzales said the PPT "is not even legitimate and the people should not waste their time" on the group's findings.
He also dismissed the verdict as a type of cheap propaganda.
Opposition congressmen, for their part, hailed the verdict handed down by tribunal against the Arroyo government.
"The victims can use the PPT's findings and verdict, along with United Nations special rapporteur Philip Alston's report, to file charges against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo before the ICJ (International Court of Justice)," said party-list Representative Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis.
House minority leader Francis Escudero said the verdict issued by an international forum should make Arroyo take action and put an end to the extrajudicial killings.
Administration congressmen Douglas Cagas of Davao del Sur and Eduardo Veloso of Leyte said they found it ironic that while the PPT talks about human rights violations and killings, its country is the host of the patron of the crimes.
They challenged the PPT to campaign for the extradition of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison to show justice and fairness in its investigation of human rights violations and killings around the world.
At a forum in Makati Monday, former President Corazon Aquino said the incidences of extrajudicial killings in the country allegedly perpetrated by security forces are a cause for alarm and that the people have the right to ask the Arroyo government what it is doing to address the issue.
Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, on the other hand, said while extrajudicial killings and human rights violations under the Arroyo regime are high, the number of murders is just a "speck" compared to those perpetrated during the time of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
In spite of this, Rosales said the Arroyo government "has no right to inflict harm on the people."
Rosales said it's not only the government and the military that have committed violence and killings but also left-leaning groups and rebels.
"Sorry for saying this but even our (rebel) brothers, are involved in the killings. But I think what we should do now is to do away with the sin and killings and that all will commit to stop the killings and I think we would all be peaceful," Rosales said. (VR/DPB/MSN/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Baguio. (March 27, 2007 issue)
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