High-level ILO mission to probe extra-judicial killings in RP

MANILA, Philippines – A high-level mission of the International Labor Organization (ILO) is set to investigate the unexplained killings in the country.

Lawyer Allan Montaño, national president of the Fe-deration of Free Workers (FFW), reported yesterday that the Philippine government has formally accepted the request of the ILO, made two years ago, to look into the killings.

Montaño said in a statement that the ILO mission will look into the allegations and reported violations of trade union rights, including killings, attempted murders, death threats, abductions, disappearances, assaults, torture, military interference in trade union activities, violent police dispersion of marches and pickets, and arrests of trade union leaders.

He said Labor Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz, head of the Philippine delegation, noted in her speech at a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland that “the (Philippine) government favorably considers the request to accept the mission.”

“Accepting the High Level Mission proves the willingness of the government to follow the processes of the ILO,” Montaño said.

“This will serve as the most appropriate forum for those who have complaints to be heard and to substantiate their claims and allegations. Such decision, we believe, shows our country’s commitment to the ILO’s ideals of social justice and peace,” Montaño added.

The ILO’s two-year-old request for a High Level Mission stemmed from a report of the ILO’s Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR).

In its individual observation concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948 (No. 87), which the Philippines ratified as early as 1953, it raised the need for the Mission “so as to obtain a greater understanding of all aspects of this case.”

ILO members gather annually in Geneva for the International Labor Conference to discuss the adoption of new standards and look into reports of violations of the conventions or international treaties on freedom of association and collective bargaining, among others.

“All and every instance of extrajudicial killing is condemnable, be this committed by the armed forces of duly constituted governments or by the armies of rebel forces or by pure and simple criminal elements,” Montaño said.

He called on the government to mobilize its resources to further continue the investigation and prosecution, and finally, penalize the perpetrators.

Montaño said the ILO mission is not doing the probe to find fault or to ascertain guilt but to dig into the causes on why these incidents happen, so it can make the appropriate responses.

“We are confident that the ILO mission to the Philippines will take a similar tack of combining fact-finding with concrete technical cooperation programs that will help the Philippines eliminate these obnoxious extrajudicial killings and assist the social partners in complying with ILO standards,” Montaño said.

GMA scraps legal team against communist rebels

President Arroyo abolished a special team that was tasked to file criminal charges against communist rebels following a recommendation from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights.

Mrs. Arroyo issued Executive Order 808 last May 15 abolishing the three-year-old Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG) that is under the supervision of National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales.

The IALAG was formed by virtue of EO 463 in 2006 “for the coordination of national security cases.”

“IALAG has already accomplished its mandate,” the President said in her directive.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters the abolition of the IALAG was upon the “recommendation” of UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston, who visited the Philippines in 2007 to check on reports of human rights violations and extrajudicial killings in the country.

“It (EO) would show that we are responsive to his (Alston’s) recommendations because he thinks this IALAG is an instrument for violation of human rights of insurgents and those identified with the insurgents such as militant groups, which is not necessarily true,” Ermita said.

“But so that there would no longer be any questions the President decided ‘let’s just abolish IALAG’,” he said.

He pointed out that IALAG is registered with the UN Human Rights Commission. — Mayen Jaymalin with Paolo Romero, Philippine Star