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Rights watchdog Amnesty
International added to the pressure on the Philippines on Friday to
stop a wave of political assassinations that two new reports blamed
largely on the military.
In a related
development, militant and opposition lawmakers called for the
resignation of the Armed Forces chief and the justice secretary
following their angry tirades at the Melo Commission and the UN
special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings.
The commission
created by the Philippine government and the United Nations this
week both said that the Armed Forces, one of the most powerful
institutions in the country, were behind many of the murders.
Compelling
“The body of
evidence is now so compelling that it can no longer be ignored,”
the group said in a statement.
It called on
the government of President Arroyo to “act decisively to end the
political killings,” particularly in the run-up to the country’s
midterm elections in May.
“The
election period will be fraught with its own tensions,” Amnesty
said.
The government
made public the findings of its own inquiry on Thursday after
pressure from a UN rights investigator who announced his similar
conclusions the previous day.
The inquiry,
headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, said members of the
military allowed and even encouraged the killing of “enemies of
the state.”
Natalie Hill,
deputy Asia Pacific director for Amnesty International, urged all
political parties to work to put an end to the ongoing killings and
so minimize the risk of a further escalation of violence during the
polls.
“As the
Philippines enters the period of Lent, all political parties and
civil society groups need to reflect on the numerous human lives
that have been lost and resolve to end these killings. Those
responsible for or complicit in the killings, particularly military
elements identified by the Melo Commission and the UN expert, must
fully support the remedial measures implemented by the government
and cooperate with investigators,” said Hill.
Charges
Militant
lawmakers on Friday clamored for the resignation of the Armed Forces
chief, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., and Justice Secretary Raul M.
Gonzalez.
Detained
party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis charged Esperon,
Gonzalez with “mental and emotional incapacity,” saying their
responses to the separate reports on extrajudicial killings were all
nonsequitur and fallacious in nature.
“With their
recent conduct and response to the issue of the Melo report and
Alston’s findings, they have proven that they are incapable of
objective thinking. They simply just might go amok. It would be best
for them to go into early retirement,” Beltran, in an interview,
said.
As far as Rep.
Satur Ocampo of the left-leaning Bayan Muna is concerned, President
Arroyo has two choices: “To side with the killers, or to take
concrete steps to stop further killings and start the healing
process.”
Senatorial
candidate Francis Escudero, meanwhile, called on the military
leadership to address the problem of summary executions instead of
hurling charges of its own against the insurgents.
Escudero was
dismayed by Esperon’s complaints about the UN special rapporteur,
Philip Alston, whom he accused of a bias for insurgents.
According to
Escudero the military leadership is wide off the mark. He said the
issue is the depredation of death squads under its employ, not the
atrocity of the CPP-NPA.
“Either he
is stonewalling on the issue or he just doesn’t get it,”
Escudero said of the country’s top military officer.
 --Maricel
Cruz
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