GMA told: Abolish ‘P50-M persecution arm’

In light of the latest report of United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston on the state of human rights in the Philippines, a lawmaker yesterday called on President Arroyo to immediately dismantle the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG) and for her government to “drop all trumped-up charges” it slapped against local activists.

Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano said Alston’s second report on the country’s dismal human rights situation is “another black-eye on the Arroyo government and an indictment of its failure to stop state-sponsored extra-judicial killings in the country.”

“If Mrs. Arroyo has any remaining shame for herself and the country, she must show seriousness in instituting necessary measures in the country’s human rights situation. The immediate abolition of the IALAG and the dropping of all trumped-up charges against activists can be the first step in complying with the recommendations of Prof. Alston,” Mariano said.

He added “in the first place, this Malacañang-directed persecution machine was Mrs. Arroyo’s creation” and therefore it is also up to her to abolish it.

According to Mariano, among others, the projects of IALAG include the “trumped-up rebellion case” against the so-called Batasan 6 that was dismissed by the Supreme Court in June 2007, the multiple murder charges against Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo and detained peasant leader Randall Echanis on the so-called Leyte “mass graves”, the dubbed Tagaytay 5 and the intensified “legal offensives” against activists in Southern Tagalog and other regions.

In his second report, Alston said the Arroyo government has yet to abolish the IALAG whose main purpose was to prosecute alleged members of the Communist Party of the Philippines, “many of whom are not reachable by legal processes.”

He also asserted that “forced disappearances and illegal detentions” in the country “remain all too common, as does the bringing of trumped-up charges against Filipino activists and human rights abuse victims.”

In January 2006, Mrs. Arroyo, by way of Executive Order 493, created the IALAG and provided P50 million sourced from the Office of the President in order “to provide effective and efficient handling and coordination of the investigative and prosecutorial aspects of the fight against threats to national security” and “address specific offenses that constitute threats to national security including but not limited to cases of rebellion, sedition and related offenses.”

The IALAG is composed of the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Department of Justice, Department of National Defense, Department of Interior and Local Government, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), National Bureau of Investigation and other units tasked by NSA Norberto Gonzales, who heads the IALAG.

At the same time, Mariano, along with the rest of the eight-member progressive party-list bloc in the House or Representatives, led by Deputy Minority Leader Satur Ocampo, called for the immediate creation of a Senate-House oversight body on the AFP and PNP, to spur the much-needed reforms to promote a human rights-based approach in the operations of state security forces.

“Congress must provide a powerful left hook, ala-(Filipino boxing champion Manny) Pacquiao, to spur reforms in the state’s uniformed services by asserting its constitutionally mandated oversight role on the AFP and PNP because the Executive has essentially not rescinded its policies that continue to impede such oversight. One of this is the abused executive privilege that military and police officers invoke in declining to appear before congressional committees,” Ocampo said.

This proposal is in line with one of the major recommendations of Alston, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, in his follow-up report dated April 29, 2009. The first report came out in April 2008.

In his report, Alston said the Arroyo administration has failed to institutionalize reforms he recommended for it to adopt two years ago to stop extra-judicial killings in the country.

Aside from Mariano and Ocampo, the progressive party-list bloc in the House is composed of Bayan Muna Reps. Teodoro Casiño and Neri Colmenares, Gabriela Reps. Liza Maza and Luz Ilagan, Anakpawis Rep. Joel Maglunsod and Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino.

“The rescission of such orders, directives and memoranda by the Executive through Memo Circular 151 dated 6 March 2008 is largely on paper. In reality, the practice of shielding state security officials from congressional hearings has been the norm. Simply said, no reforms have taken place and the killings continue. There also exists Administrative Order 197 that requires all information on extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances to be reported to the Commander-in-Chief (of the AFP),” Ocampo said, referring to Mrs. Arroyo.

He also urged Congress to strongly endorse Alston’s recommendation to abolish the IALAG, which, he said, “has been responsible for the filing of spurious criminal charges against leaders and members of legal organizations, alleging they are members of the CPP, the New People’s Army or the National Democratic Front.”

“Congress is the major institution that can immediately assert its oversight powers on the excesses of the Executive, particularly the AFP and PNP, that has cost lives of innocent civilians since Mrs. Arroyo came into power in 2001,” Ocampo said. –Charlie V. Manalo, Daily Tribune