The umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan today slammed the Arroyo government’s inaction and failure to prosecute top military officials believed to be involved in the extrajudicial killings of activists. This happens a day after the international group Human Rights Watch called the efforts of the Arroyo government as mere “window-dressing”. The Philippines is among the first countries to be subjected in the Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The country’s human rights record will be examined by the international community through this process.“It cannot be denied that no high level military official has been prosecuted, let alone investigated by the Arroyo regime. Many human rights observers, including the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, have pointed to the involvement of the military in these atrocities,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.
“Even the Arroyo-created Melo Commission found Gen. Jovito Palparan liable for the killings in Central Luzon. Why is it that there has been no follow through on this finding? Why has there been no investigation and prosecution of Palparan? Why is the internationally-accepted concept of command responsibility not being applied ” Reyes added.
According the Bayan, information from the military itself reveals that the highest ranking officer being investigated for the killings is a mere lieutenant. This was based on statements by AFP spokesman Lt.Col. Bartolome Bacarro during a TV face-off with Reyes in the program Umagang Kay Ganda.
“The victims continue to cry for justice yet no high ranking official has been made accountable. There is no sincerity on the Arroyo government to solve the killings if Palparan and others like him are not made accountable,” Reyes said.
Reyes decried that despite findings that the AFP is involved in the killings, the top brass remain “untouchables”. "More than ever, Arroyo is desperate to gain the support of the AFP leadership because of her unstable hold on power. That is probably one reason why no top general has been prosecuted," Reyes said.
“The government’s efforts are all aimed at public relations and not grounded on the need for justice. It is a sad development indeed, but one that continues to enrage human rights advocates here and abroad,” the Bayan leader added.
Bayan hopes that he UN UPR will echo the findings of local and international human rights groups on the culpability of the Arroyo regime in the spate of extrajudicial killings and disappearances from 2001 up to the present.
