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BY Sam Mediavilla, Anthony Vargas
and Maricel v. Cruz, Reporters
Confronted with a special
commission’s findings on the culpability of soldiers and military
officers in extrajudicial killings, President Arroyo on Tuesday
ordered several new probes.
But the Armed Forces said it
could no longer investigate a retired general tagged by the Melo
Commission in the killings that have alarmed the Catholic Church,
international human-rights groups and foreign governments.
Militant lawmakers criticized the
report, saying it absolved a commander in chief that had encouraged
the murders of more than 700 activists since 2001.
Palace response
Retired Supreme Court Justice
Jose Melo, chairman of the commission, submitted the report to Mrs.
Arroyo in Malacañang after the Cabinet meeting Tuesday morning.
Details of the report were not
made public. But one of its members on Saturday said the military,
leftist groups and private “goons” (armies) of politicians were
all involved though the bulk of assailants came from the AFP.
Malacañang did not respond
directly to leaks indicating the commission had found Jovito
Palparan, a retired general favored by the President, culpable for
some of the killings.
Palace Spokesman Ignacio Bunye
said the President has ordered the Commission on Human Rights to
verify the findings of the commission.
The President, he added, also
ordered the Armed Forces to form a body to study command
responsibility.
She will ask the Supreme Court to
create “special courts” to handle the cases and order the
Department of Justice to boost its witness protection program, Bunye
said.
Malacañang will also invite
representatives of European Union countries to conduct their own
probe, in the hope of getting families and friends of killed
militants to testify.
Reports leaked to media on Monday
said the 89-page report implicated Palparan and several commanders
in areas with the most number of killings.
The four-man panel found out that
most of the victims of political killings were militants and that
the suspected assailants were from the AFP.
“I deplore the killings be they
from left or right, against journalists or activists,” Mrs. Arroyo
said in a statement after the report’s submission. “We have a
sorry history in our nation of political violence. I aim to stop it
once and for all.”
Mrs. Arroyo described the
Philippines as “likely the most democratic country in the
region.”
Out of their hands
The Palace hedged on Palparan,
saying it would leave the issue of accountability to military brass.
But the AFP said it no longer had
jurisdiction over the retired general, whom President Arroyo praised
as a hero in her State of the Union address.
The AFP chief, General Hermogenes
Esperon, said the military could not pursue charges against Palparan,
dubbed “The Butcher” by leftist groups.
Esperon admitted the AFP never
investigated Palparan, who retired last September, because no formal
complaint was filed while he was still in the service.
He also hinted that commanders
could go scot-free even if their men are charged for the murders of
activists.
Criminal acts involve only
individuals, Esperon stressed, insisting that the murders—were not
sanctioned by the AFP leadership.
“We acknowledge that there are
some members of the AFP have been involved in the deaths of members
of activists and journalists… but we do not condone these,” he
said.
“In fact, [we are] more
condemning these acts. We have taken actions [of] investigating them
in order to prosecute those involved,” Esperon said.
The AFP chief said that six
soldiers are now facing charges before civilian and military courts
for their alleged involvement in the killings of activists.
Esperon said that Cpl. Alberto
Rafon was discharged from the military service in October 2002 for
his involvement in the killing of peasant leader Nicanor de los
Santos.
Whitewash
Militant lawmakers slammed the
report for failing to get into the bottom of the killings.
House Minority Deputy Leader
Satur Ocampo of the left-leaning Bayan Muna said the findings
indicated a “whitewash.”
Rep. Teodoro Casiño, also of
Bayan Muna, said the Melo Commission should have also held Mrs.
Arroyo liable as commander in chief of the AFP.
Militants boycotted the Melo
Commission investigation, saying Mrs. Arroyo had initially refused
to acknowledge reports of mounting extrajudicial slays.
“We suspect that Justice Melo
chose to speak on the ‘most popularly accepted’ findings so that
the military line on alleged purges by the Left and other baseless
accusations of military apologists could also be considered and
contained in the report,” Ocampo said. He demanded Malacañang to
immediately make public the full 89-page report for scrutiny by all
parties, including the media.
“The report covers up the
role of President Arroyo. The Melo Commission’s contention that
soldiers acted individually in these murders is arguably the same as
saying the incidents are only isolated cases,” Ocampo said.
“The fact is, that Mrs. Arroyo
is the only post-Marcos president to publicly proclaim a
counterinsurgency operation-plan under which extrajudicial killings
have been perpetrated in a systematic and nationwide scale,”
Ocampo pointed out.
Party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran
of Anakpawis noted it would be highly unlikely that President Arroyo
will act on the recommendation of the Melo Commission.
“Will Mrs. Arroyo act on these
findings and have Palparan detained and charged for the hundreds of
extrajudicial killings he masterminded or will she dismiss the Melo
Commission’s findings? Chances are it will be the latter. It was
President Arroyo herself who lauded Palparan’s brutality and
awarded him with a medal of valor,” said Beltran, a political
detainee.
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