Poor track record in curbing human rights violations

With no follow through and no major convictions, the efforts of the Arroyo administration to curtail human rights violations are seen as mere palliatives.

“There is a lot of rhetoric but you are not sure of the extent of the follow-through,” Carlos Medina, executive director of the Ateneo Human Rights Center, told Abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak.

The latest in a string of said palliatives is a P25 million-fund that the president ordered to be set aside from the pork barrel of legislators. The fund would be used to reward tipsters who could give information about the perpetrators of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

Human rights advocates say, however, that the only thing that the Arroyo administration needs to stop human rights abuses is sheer political will.

Losing battle against “the butcher”

That the so-called “butcher” – former Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan – now literally seats inches away from Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo in the lower house shows the Arroyo administration’s lack of resolve to know the real score behind human rights violations.

“Palparan was the symbol of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances,” Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño said. As commander of the 24th Infantry Battalion in Central Luzon, 204th Infantry Battalion in Mindoro and Romblon and 8th Infantry Division (8th ID) in Samar and Leyte, Palparan purportedly gave the go signal in the arrest and killings of suspected members of the communist group New People’s Army.

Karapatan documented 38 cases of extrajudicial killings and 5 incidents of enforced disappearances in Oriental Mindoro during Palparan’s term (May 2001-April 2003), 25 killings and 12 abductions in Eastern Visayas when he was IB commander (February 2005-August 2005), and 75 cases of extralegal slayings and 42 reports of enforced disappearances in Central Luzon (September 2005-September 11, 2006).

In December 2007, the Court of Appeals held the controversial officer liable for the reported abduction of brothers Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo. The Manalo brothers were allegedly seized by members of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) in February 2006 in Bulacan.

In a decision of the Court of Appeals granting the privilege of the writ of amparo to the Manalo brothers, Justice Lucas Bersamin wrote that Palparan was “at the very least…aware of the petitioner’s captivity at the hands of men in uniform assigned to his command.”

The appellate court also pointed out that even if the direct link to Palparan in the abduction is hard to establish, his knowledge of the condition of the brothers showed that he “encouraged” the practice of warrantless arrests.

However, the CA said it could not compel the government to locate “the butcher” anymore because he was already retired at that time.

But the government had plans for Palparan. Before he claimed his seat in Congress, Palparan’s name was floated to be the next deputy National Security Adviser in 2006; he was later considered for a post in the Dangerous Drugs Board and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in 2009.

Such possible appointments raised questions. “You [president] must send the proper signals…putting Palparan in the government is not one,” Medina said.

Cases pending

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner told us however, that the fact that Palparan has not been implicated in human rights violations does not mean that the AFP condones such acts, or that the doctrine of command responsibility is not observed. 

Under this doctrine, military officers are also held accountable for the actions of their subordinates.

“If allegations against Palparan are proven, then we will take the necessary actions to bring him to justice. But we need hard evidence,” he said.

Brawner added that the AFP is monitoring the cases filed against military personnel and CAFGU members and, like the Philippine National Police, is requiring its people to undergo human rights education.

Based on the AFP data obtained by Abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak, however, no AFP member has been incarcerated for allegedly committing extrajudicial killings.

Sixteen cases are currently pending in the courts; two were dismissed, one led to an acquittal. Another five cases were junked by the Department of Justice, while a complaint is still being investigated by the Office of the Ombudsman.

Different definition, different numbers

PNP’s records, meanwhile, showed four convictions in two cases. PO1 Guillermo Wapile was put behind bars for the killing of Edgar Damalerio, a radio journalist and editor of Zamboanga Scribe. 

On the other hand, Jerry Cabayag, Randy Grecia and Estanislao Bismanos were convicted for the shooting of whistleblower Marlene Esperat. The mastermind behind Esperat’s slaying, however remains scot-free.

The investigation of these cases was handled by Task Force Usig, which was formed by the Department of Interior and Local Government in May 2006. TF Usig falls under the jurisdiction of the PNP.

However, critics said that TF Usig’s mandate lent ambiguity to the definition of extrajudicial killings. The group confined extralegal violence to cases involving “party sectoral representatives and media personalities.”

Following this, TF Usig discounted a number of cases recorded by Karapatan, such as the shooting of 23 inmates in Bicutan in 2005. The task force did not consider this as a human rights violation because the casualties are considered members of the Abu Sayyaf group, a movement linked with the terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah.

TF Usig currently handles 141 cases, less than the incidents monitored by Karapatan, which reached 836, and by Amnesty International, whose statistics are over 200. The Melo Commission, in its 2007 report, noted the disparity of the statistics presented by the three groups.

The contrasting interpretations of extrajudicial killings pushed multisectoral representatives in the summit on extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, which was headed by the Supreme Court in 2007, to push for a “local definition” of extralegal violence through legislation. This has yet to be done.

Recommendations unheeded

In 2007, cases of extralegal violence fell by 83 percent. The decline was credited to the international pressure on the Arroyo government to address the killings.

Medina said, however, that the issue of human rights violations goes beyond the numbers. “It does not matter if it is one or 100; the fact is, it [human rights violations] is still happening,” he said. 

Karapatan secretary-general Marie Hilao agreed. “One is too many,” she said. 

At a “behavioral level,” the government seemed to be moving on the right track, Medina observed. As early as 2002, for example, Pres. Arroyo issued Administrative Order No. 29 creating the Presidential Human Rights Committee.

The PHRC, made up of various government agencies, serves as the advisory body to the president. In 2008, it appeared at the UN Human Rights Council to present the efforts conducted by the government to curtail human rights violations.

But while delegates lauded the steps taken by the Arroyo administration, they also did not mince words when they said that the government is yet to implement the recommendations of UN special rapporteur Philip Alston.

The rapporteur stirred the hornet’s nest way back in 2007 when he held the Arroyo government accountable for the spate of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the country in his report.

From US delegate Anna Chambers to Switzerland representative Martin Georgos Kelemenis, the message echoed was: “Step up efforts to investigate extrajudicial killings and punish the perpetrators.”

The government recently adopted one of his recommendations, that is to abolish the inter-agency legal affairs group (IALAG), a coalition of government agencies formed in 2007 to investigate political killings. Howevr, IALAG has been criticized instead for building cases against left-leaning organizations and personalities.

But Casiño said that the government has not responded to Alston’s other challenges, which included changing its counterinsurgency program because it makes legal organizations vulnerable to arrests and attacks by state agents. The Arroyo administration was also prodded to strengthen the witness protection program and make public the AFP’s order of battle.

Pressure on policies

Commission on Human Rights commissioner Cecilia Quisumbing pointed out, however, that throwing perpetrators behind bars entails policy and financial support for institutional mechanisms.

“The CHR likes to see convictions – these are needed… but this is also a reflection of all the pillars of the criminal system,” she told us.

Quisumbing said that Malacañang extended a P25 million-financial assistance to the CHR in 2007. Then CHR commissioner Wilhelm Soriano noted that the funds were allotted for the modernization of the CHR’s forensics investigation.

Technical assistance from the European Union is also expected, though the terms of the said program are still under negotiation.

Quisumbing said though that in order to strengthen the CHR, the president should put the necessary pressure on the legislative branch to pass bills which would give the commission its charter.

Earlier, CHR chair Leila de Lima called on the president to certify as “urgent” the bills which would criminalize torture, enforced disappearances and internal displacement.

The three bills were passed on third reading by the lower house, while the Senate version of the anti-torture bill passed the second reading before both chambers adjourned sine die last June.

Casiño said that the executive branch could have these enacted as laws before she steps down in 2010. “Remember that she had the anti-terrorism bill passed quickly,” she said.

The bill, now called the Human Security Act, was criticized for allegedly blurring the lines between terrorists and legal organizations which are critical of the Arroyo administration.

Doubting “peace”

On the upside, Casiño said that reaching a peace agreement with the National Democratic Front could be one of the bright spots in the Arroyo administration. The government announced the resumption of peace talks with the communist group this August.

“That’s good news, that there’s some positive movement in the peace talks. Everyone is hoping for a comprehensive political settlement on the armed conflict,” he said.

This is considered a major breakthrough in the campaign of the Arroyo administration to end the insurgency in 2010. The talks hit a snag four years ago, as both parties crossed swords over contentious issues.

The NDF demanded that the Arroyo government remove the terrorist tag on the group, while the administration asked the NDF to agree to a ceasefire.

The government would have to meet other conditions, however, in order to remove any possible stumbling block to the peace talks. Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” R. Tañada III, chair of the human rights committee in the lower house, told us that the government would have to fast-track the compensation of the victims of the human rights abuses of the Marcos regime first.

The NDF and the government signed an agreement on this compensation in 1998.

“It all depends if the NDF will bring up this issue. The Senate has passed the legislation for this in 2008, but it has not moved in the plenary in the lower house,” he said.

Casiño, meanwhile, has some reservations on the outcome of the peace talks. “I have serious doubts on the seriousness of the administration…In her almost 9 years as president she has never shown an inclination to make the talks succeed much more now that her generals are trumpeting victory against the rebels,” he said.

“I suspect what she simply after is a good soundbite for her upcoming State of the Nation Address.” (abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak)