‘Outrage over massacre not only understandable – it is essential’

STATEMENT

ON CHR’S COLLABORATION WITH THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT (DOJ, PNP AND NBI) IN THE INVESTIGATION OF THE MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE

Several times since the beginning of the Fourth Commission, we have witnessed human rights emergencies, atrocities and crises which have called our nation’s institutions to attention and action. Several times, the public had been restive, clamoring for redress and for justice. But never before since the beginning of the Fourth Commission had we encountered such an atrocious affront to civility, decency, humanity and human rights as the mass killings this week in Maguindanao. It is incredible, inconceivable and therefore incomprehensible that a crime of this magnitude can be carried out by human beings against other human beings, against the unarmed, against those who had no conviction to die, against women and men who had every intention of returning to their families and children. It was not war between warlords but mass murder of innocents.

It was not an outburst of uncontrollable anger – it was premeditated. Where the perpetrators’ conviction to carry out the killings had materialized, it developed into frenzied baseness, not only to rob the victims of their lives, but their honor and dignity as well. It was rape, it was mutilation, it was execution, it was the most vicious form of murder perpetrated by the most grotesque version of human beings.

The public outrage over the crime committed is not only understandable – it is essential. Our people’s freedom to speak out against and be enraged by affronts to our laws and human rights lays the predicate for calling out the government to take decisive action and deliver justice. Even where the outrage is directed at the government-at-large and not just the perpetrators, and where the clamor takes on stinging and even hostile character, we, in government, must welcome the criticism. The people’s ability to speak and speak openly is the basis of our faith in our freedom, rights and democracy, the very things we must now re-assert amidst this dreadful backdrop of the murders in Maguindanao.

Now that the people have done their part, it is our turn to do ours. It is the government’s turn to vindicate our people’s faith in our institutions, in our Constitution and laws.

There is no one government institution that can fully address the Maguindanao Massacre. In order to ensure a complete and expeditious resolution of the case and impartial levy of justice against all those who must be held accountable, various institutions must work harmoniously towards the same ends of justice. The DOJ, PNP, NBI and the CHR must work collaboratively, now more than ever, to ensure that our governmental response to the massacre lives up to the most scrutinizing expectations of the public-at-large.

The collaboration between the Executive Department and the CHR will partake of a sharing of expertise at the center of parallel investigations covering the criminal, administrative and human rights aspects of the Mindanao Massacre. It is not an abrogation of each institution’s individual mandates, and certainly, the CHR will conduct its investigation independently, as it has always done in the past.

Moreover, the collaboration must extend beyond the investigation of the murders to the extremely tense and volatile situation prevailing in Maguindanao. While the perpetrators are on the run save for one suspect, there are furtive forces that remain and continue to assert a culture of intimidation and impunity throughout Maguindanao. Just as the national government has mobilized its vast resources to address the killings, there are insidious counter-forces mobilizing as well to thwart justice yet again. The collaboration between the Executive Department and the CHR must address the very serious human rights situation that affects all bystanders to the Maguindanao Massacre.

Even with Executive collaboration, the CHR will still assuredly exercise one of its most important mandates, and that is to oversee and thus ensure that governmental efforts meet the standards of utmost integrity and devotion to obtaining justice for the victims and their families. As much as the massacre is a human rights catastrophe, less-than-ardent effort to investigate, prosecute and deliver a just resolution is itself a grave violation of human rights. Even with collaborative efforts with the Executive Department, the CHR remains firmly independent in its oversight function in relation to the government.

The avowed purpose in collaboration is to enhance each agency’s effectiveness, just as the CHR’s purpose of oversight function over the government on human rights obligations has always been to enhance the government’s functions, which must always be attuned and compliant with human rights.

There are many who are working very hard to ensure that no effort will be spared to bring the criminals behind the Maguindanao Massacre to justice. We ask the public to preserve their faith in the rule of law, to extend faith to our government and its institutions, but to remain vigilant and vocal, especially where justice remains unserved.

28 November 2009
Commission on Human Rights