Philippines: Prosecute Political Killings

In response to growing international pressure, in August 2006 President Arroyo created a special police body, Task Force Usig, which she charged with solving 10 cases in 10 weeks. At the end of its mandate the Task Force claimed that 21 cases were “solved” by filing cases in court against identified suspects, all of them members of the Communist Party of the Philippines or the NPA. Only 12 suspects involved in these incidents were actually in police custody.

In August 2006, President Arroyo also created the Melo Commission to further probe the killings of media workers and left-wing activists since 2001. The commission’s report, which was only made public under pressure from United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston, failed to provide any new information or analysis on the cases. At the commission’s hearings, army and police officials were not challenged when they advanced distorted understandings of command responsibility, and were instead indulged in lengthy digressions on the importance of neutralizing the NPA threat. The Melo Commission’s mandate expires on June 30, 2007.

Human Rights Watch said that while the government claims that it is doing all it can to address abuses, it has taken few concrete steps to end the killings or prosecute perpetrators. On paper, the Philippines has a witness protection scheme, special courts to investigate political killings, and a variety of government taskforces and commissions investigating extrajudicial executions, but the government is failing to implement these measures in a credible or convincing manner. This generates widespread fear, particularly in affected rural communities, of further military abuses. Witnesses and family members of victims are afraid to cooperate with police for fear of becoming targets of reprisal.

Human Rights Watch called on the Philippine government to immediately issue an executive order to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippines National Police reiterating the prohibition on the extrajudicial killing of any person. In addition, Human Rights Watch has urged the United States to consider suspending military aid to the Philippines until members of the military suspected of involvement in murders have been prosecuted.

“Actions speak louder than words, and the only real proof of the government’s commitment to end these killings will be when the perpetrators are finally held to account in a court of law,” said Richardson. “Until the Arroyo administration, the army and police act on their obligations to investigate crimes and prosecute the perpetrators, even when they are members of the security forces, people will continue to get away with murder in the Philippines.”

Selected statements from “Scared Silent: Impunity for Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines”:

“At the moment I’m receiving texts saying someone will follow members of the family. I don’t know if it’s a threat or a warning. He says in some of the texts that he knows who killed my father and that I should go talk to him. I don’t know who he is. I just have his number… [I’ve received around] twenty. Saying things like ‘Don’t investigate or we’ll get your family.’”

– Marilyn Llamas, September 21, 2006

“[One witness] has already disappeared. The other witnesses are afraid of the situation here. They are afraid that the perpetrators will begin to kill them also, because they were [warned] by the perpetrators that they will come back and kill them if they talk about the incident … I am afraid that their families will also be killed if they stand up regarding the incident …. If I push the case I’m afraid of what might happen to [me and my family]. So I’m not quite sure if I’ll pursue the case or not.”

– Maria Balani (not her real name), date withheld, 2006

“After the internment of my sister, the police investigators invited me to come talk to them … Okay, I went. They asked me for my statement, so I gave them the same statement I’m giving you now. But I noticed that the investigator did not write down my statement … They did nothing.”

– Human Rights Watch interview with Maria Fabicon (not her real name), date withheld, 2006.