GMA creates P25-million fund to reward tipsters on political killings in RP

MANILA, Philippines – President Arroyo announced yesterday the establishment of a P25-million fund to pay informants in a bid to end the wave of political killings in the country.

The fund would go to those who “provide information that foils political assassination attempts or leads to their solution, especially the identification of their masterminds,” Mrs. Arroyo said.

In a statement from Syria where she is on a state visit, she said “political violence has been the scourge of Philippine politics long before our administration.”

“We want to erase the legacy of political violence that has haunted our nation for generations,” Mrs. Arroyo said. “We want to achieve a violence-free political culture once and for all.”

The President urged lawmakers to contribute P250,000 each from their pork barrel funds to bolster the reward fund.

Amnesty International-Philippines earlier reported that at least 200 political killings and 200 enforced disappearances occurred in the Philippines since 2001.

AI-Philippines director Aurora Parong said many of these cases were never brought to court due to lack of evidence or because witnesses are unable to step forward for fear of reprisal.

Meanwhile, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the government has effectively partnered with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Congress, the judiciary and other concerned sectors of society to ensure the country’s compliance with the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT).

In spearheading the submission of the Second to Fifth Consolidated Periodic Reports of the Philippines on the CAT in Geneva, Switzerland, last week, Ermita, who also chairs the Presidential Human Rights Committee (PHRC), said “the Philippines has demonstrated substantive compliance with the Convention.”

“We acknowledge that more work needs to be done and… we are ready to take on the task with the cooperation of civil society and CHR and with the support of the international community,” Ermita said in his closing statement before the international human rights community.

He said the recent passage of the Anti-Torture Law at the House of Representatives was a “crucial contributing factor to the effective implementation of the Convention in the Philippines.”

Ermita also reported on the progress of the Option Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), which was signed by Mrs. Arroyo last year.

While the OPCAT is awaiting ratification by the Senate, Ermita said that the PHRC has already initiated consultations and discussions with NGOs and civil society to facilitate the eventual implementation of the protocol. –Paolo Romero, Philippine Star