The Philippine government’s failure to investigate and prosecute extrajudicial killings fuels further military abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government should ensure that officials vigorously investigate serious human rights violations or face disciplinary action, Human Rights Watch said.

“We know this is just the beginning of the path towards justice. We would like to see Palparan behind bars.” Thus expressed victims of human rights violations and their families as they troop to the Department of Justice today, on the first hearing of the criminal case filed against Ret. Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. and other AFP officers involved in the disappearance of UP students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan.

By JESSICA EVANS | Human Rights Watch
One year ago, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III became the Philippines’ president after pledging to introduce reforms to protect people’s basic rights. But the longtime problem of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances with clear links to the military continues. The military denies any involvement, and police investigations into these crimes inevitably stall.

By HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Extrajudicial killings condemned, but no accountability

By HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Aquino’s first year and human rights

The Human Rights Council made a historic decision by passing the first resolution on human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity (L9/rev1) yesterday, June 17.

A panel of public prosecutors found probable cause to file murder charges against the person who allegedly hired the gunman and the gunman’s accomplices in the killing of Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) dwAR broadcaster Gerardo “Gerry” Ortega.

The adoption by the International Labor Organization (ILO) on June 16, 2011, of a new, groundbreaking treaty to extend key labor protections to domestic workers will protect millions of people who have been without guarantees of their basic rights, Human Rights Watch said today.

This poster hangs outside the army base along a busy road leading to The Fort and to the airport, for all the public to see, a few days before the commemoration of Marcos’s declaration of martial law on Sept. 21. It is offensive. It dishonors not only the other men in those posters who genuinely defended this country but the whole Filipino nation as well who suffered under Marcos’s tyranny.