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Human Rights NGO Calls Attention to Underreported Cases of Human Right Violations by Non-State Actors in RP

18 June 2009 - When government forces commit human rights violations, victims can either go to the courts, cry out loud through the media and file complaints before the United Nations.  But when non-state armed groups (NSAGs) torture or execute ordinary people, or even their own comrades, they are usually considered mere statistics of an insurgency war, according to a group called Peace Advocates for Truth and Healing (PATH).

 Four officers of PATH are in the United States to brief Philippine consulate officials, the Filipino-American communities and media on the plight of the victims of communist and Islamic rebels in the Philippines.  PATH is composed of surviving victims of the bloody communist purges in the Philippines during the 1980s and early 90s.

“Victims of atrocities by NSAGs have nowhere to go to get justice,” said Robert Francis Garcia, author of the book “To Suffer Thy Comrade,” which chronicles his own experiences of torture and near-death in the hands of his former comrades in the communist rebel movement in the Philippines, who suspected him to be a government agent.  PATH claims more than 3,000 people have been brutally tortured and murdered during the purges.

“It is usually very easy to denounce government for human rights violations committed by soldiers and the police,” said Garcia.  “In fact, the extreme Left has a ready mechanism for that through the group called Karapatan.  But Karapatan, by design, only denounces violations committed by the state, and never those committed by the communist rebels,” he added.

Earl Parreno, also a writer and former rebel political officer, said the abductions, torture and killings of ordinary people by rebel groups have remained unabated, and the survivors and the victims’ families have nowhere to go for relief and justice.

He cited the recent killing of Evelyn Pitao, sister of New People’s Army commander Leoncio Pitao, and her husband Roberto Dadula.  Pitao was executed for being a suspected military agent.  “They (the NPA) are hunting down peasant leaders in the Bondoc Peninsula and Masbate who are advocating for agrarian reform, and have been recruiting children as combatants,” he said.

“Government is cold and usually unresponsive to such cases, which are considered mere criminal acts.  Probably for government, it is a good thing that rebels are murdering their own kind,” he added.

“We denounce extrajudicial executions and torture committed by the military and police, and that we subscribe to the view that government holds primary responsibility for the protection and promotion of human rights.  But violations of NSAGs should also be visible in the radar screen of human rights advocates, governments and the international community,” PATH said in a statement.

 The group said Philippine laws, and even the UN tenets on human rights, are not sufficiently addressing the atrocities by NSAGs as violative to human rights.

Aside from New York, PATH leaders have so far visited San Francisco and Chicago.  They are on their way to Washington to participate in the observance of the Torture Survivors Month (June), and to bring their case before US lawmakers and government officials. 

 

Napolcom initiates human rights desk in each police station

MANILA (PNA) -- The National Police Commission (Napolcom) has approved
Resolution No. 2009-072 ordering the activation of human rights desks in
all police stations nationwide to serve as "focal points on all aspects of
human rights" relevant to the police within their respective areas.

According to Napolcom Vice Chairman Eduardo Escueta, the approval of the
resolution would further improve the capability of the Philippine National
Police (PNP) in terms of addressing human rights issues in their
respective jurisdiction as well as any violation of their personnel.

Escueta said the human rights desks will also monitor and maintain
files/records of PNP personnel involved in human rights violations for
analysis and subsequent formulation and implementation of necessary
interventions.

“The PNP must ensure that the designated human rights desk officers are
properly educated and trained in the field of human rights,” he said.

The resolution provides for the designation of human rights desk officers
under the office/unit head of regional, provincial, districts, city and
national support unit directors and chiefs of police.

Under the resolution, the "focal points" shall serve as advocate of human
rights within their respective areas; initiate various rights projects and
activities in line with the PNP Human Rights Development Program or
“PAMANA” in coordination with concerned PNP offices.

Aside from Escueta, the resolution creating the human rights desks was
signed by the other members of the Commission en banc -- Interior and
Local Government Secretary and Napolcom Chairman Ronaldo Puno,
Commissioner Luis Mario General, and PNP Chief Jesus Verzosa.

The activation of the human rights desks was contained in PNP General
Orders No. DPL 07-20, which suggested the designation of Human Rights Desk
Officers who will be under the command of either the chiefs of police,
district directors, provincial and regional directors and National
Operational Support Units.

The approval of the resolution came after the PNP General Headquarters
forwarded to the Napolcom their request for the activation of the human
rights desk at the different levels of command in the police force.

Although it has no investigative function, the human rights desks can
receive reports or complaints of human rights violations against any PNP
member and assist in the referral of complaints to appropriate
investigating offices such as the Napolcom’s Inspection, Monitoring, and
Investigation Section.

 

Media Killings
By Press Secretary Cerge Remonde

THE President and I had a very productive dialogue last week with some officers from various media groups, the PNP and the DoJ, on an issue which is very important to all media people like me – the issue of violence against media, the media killings, and the protection of our brothers and sisters in the profession.

KBP Chairman Butch Canoy was there, and so were KBP Vice Chairman Jun Nicdao, and KBP President Herman Lasbano. We also had Joe Fabia of the Philippine Press Institute (PPI), Alwyn Alboro, and Nonoy Espina of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).

From the government side, we had Department of Justice (DoJ) Undersecretary Ric Blancaflor who heads Task Force 211 and General Raul Bacalso, head of Task Force Usig. Task Force Usig was created to investigate incidents of slain militant partylist members/leftist activists and media practitioners who were killed due to work-related circumstances, while Task Force 211 was formed to investigate political violence, as well as media killings.

Expressing her deep concern over the escalating media killings, the President in that meeting ordered both Task Forces to really double, triple, quadruple their efforts to solve crimes or violence against media men.

The President also ordered the strengthening of the DoJ in terms of prosecution and protection of witnesses. She donated R2 million to the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists to help the family of victims in their search for justice.

She ordered PNP and DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno to offer rewards for 27 fugitive suspects in the killings of media workers.

She ordered the immediate creation of a special and dedicated tracker teams to go after suspects in media killings who have been issued warrants of arrest. According to General Bacalso, there are 50 suspects in media killings who are still at large, and 27 of them have warrants of arrest.

General Bacalso said that of the 31 journalists slain during the last nine years due to work-related circumstances, 26 cases have been filed and 5 are considered cold cases or no development or progress on the investigation for more than a year.

Cold cases are endorsed to the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) for lateral investigation. One incident was perpetrated by the CPP/NPA.

Out of the 26 cases filed, one was perpetrated by the CPP/NPA; two cases involved two military personnel as suspects who are on bail; four cases involved four police personnel where three are detained and one at-large; two cases involved two elected Municipal Mayors who voluntarily surrendered; and 17 cases involved only civilians as suspects.

Of the 26 cases filed in court, 20 are already on trial, two were resolved with the suspects’ conviction and four were dismissed.

It has been agreed in that dialogue that the definition of "solved cases’’ would be applied only when a suspect is arrested or convicted. Now the PNP and news organizations need not quarrel anymore over the definition of solved cases which in the past has led to differences in figures.

The President also ordered the PNP to circulate all over the country posters with the photographs of the suspects in markets, municipal halls, plazas, and other public places.

 It was also agreed during the meeting that the two Task Forces and the media – especially the KBP which has chapters nationwide, and of course the NUJP and the PPI – to forge much closer coordination to prevent commission of crimes against media practitioners. Each group was encouraged to have their individual prevention programs.

The group also saw the importance of media men reporting immediately to the police any threat to their lives so that precautionary measures can immediately be undertaken. It also eases investigation should a crime materialize.

It was also suggested that families of victims be encouraged to cooperate for the early solution of crime. Based on experience, 90 percent to 95 percent of crimes were solved because of the cooperation extended by families.

 

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