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By Maricel V. Cruz, Reporter
AS members of the fact-finding
mission of the Inter-Parliamentary Union to make assessments on the
human-rights situation in the country, House leaders called on their
foreign counterparts to keep an unbiased and objective stance on the
extrajudicial killings issue.
Reps. Lorna Silverio of Bulacan,
chairman of the House Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Relations and
Diplomacy, and Antonio Cuenco of Cebu City, chairman of the
Committee on Foreign Affairs, also assured the IPU team that the
Arroyo administration would be cooperating with the mission as it
extends all available assistance to them in line with its policy of
transparency and commitment to resolve the killings.
As legislators, Silverio noted it
would be important for all of them to exercise caution so as not to
undermine our government policies and efforts along that line.”
Cuenco urged IPU members to
maintain an unbiased and objective stance in the course of their
investigation.
“If their intention is just to
dip their fingers on this issue and concentrate on the side of the
militants in their four days of investigation, then they should not
waste their effort in coming over.”
Cuenco said several foreign
probes had criticized the Philippine government for the killings
without taking into considerations the administration’s efforts to
effectively address the issue and end the slayings.
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