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WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday sought
tougher action by the Philippines to end a wave of extrajudicial
killings linked to the military, as a US congressional panel
examined the problem at a special hearing.
Rights groups say over 800 people
have been killed since 2001 during the administration of President
Arroyo, who has vowed to take steps to end the murders of the
journalists, church leaders, political figures, human-rights
activists and trade union leaders. “We are encouraged by the steps
that the Philippine government has taken to date, but we will
continue to make clear that more progress is essential and that we
stand ready to be of additional assistance to the Philippine
authorities,” said deputy US Assistant Secretary of state Eric
John.
He spoke at a hearing Wednesday
of a US Senate panel on East Asia and Pacific that investigated the
circumstances under which the killings occurred and examined
strategies to help end the violence.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, who chaired
the hearing, said “it remains to be seen” if the Philippine
government’s assurances to solve the killings “will be followed
by real and tangible actions.”
Washington has underlined its
concerns to the Arroyo administration over the killings and
“strongly urged Philippine officials to take additional steps,”
such as those recommended by Manila’s own commission of inquiry on
the violence, John said.
The panel, headed by retired
Supreme Court justice Jose Melo, found there was circumstantial
evidence linking some sections of the military to the deaths.
A special UN Human Rights
Commission rapporteur Philip Alston also alleged that rogue military
personnel were behind most of the killings and that the military was
in denial over the killings, calling for a thorough investigation
for the culprits to be brought to justice.
He blamed a flawed
anti-insurgency campaign that often also targeted civilians.
But the military has denied any
guilt, saying many of the murders were carried out by communist
insurgents as part of an internal purge.
“It is disturbing to note that
even though hundreds have been killed so far, to date there has not
been a single conviction,” T. Kumar, rights group Amnesty
International’s Asia-Pacific advocacy director, told the hearing
Wednesday.
He said that a military general
implicated in the killings in the Melo report was lauded by Arroyo
as “an asset to the counterinsurgency” following his retirement
last September and had been encouraged to run for a seat in the
Philippine Congress.
Kumar said that Gen. Jovito
Palparan, the army’s former head of counter-insurgency, had
allegedly led a Philippine military team in US-led operations in
Iraq and “this underscores larger concerns about human rights
abuses committed by some of the coalition troops in Iraq.”
A former senior US diplomat at
the hearing questioned Arroyo’s capability to take steps to end
the extrajudicial killings, saying she has been “politically
weak” since her controversial election in 2004 and banked on
military support.
“While we all hope the killings
will stop immediately, I am not optimistic in the short run,” said
Eugene Martin, a former deputy head of the US Embassy in Manila, and
now with the US Institute of Peace, an independent group established
and funded by Congress.
Martin said that US counterterrorism
cooperation and training opportunities the Philippine military
provided American forces “may limit pressure on the Arroyo
administration” to take action over the killings.
He said donor nations and
international financial institutions, which already had strong
anticorruption requirements for economic assistance, should link aid
to independent investigations of the killings to enhance resolution
of the cases.
Jonathan Farrar, the principal US
assistant secretary of state for human rights, said “there is no
tension and no contradiction” between improving the protection of
human rights in the Philippines and assisting Manila to combat
terrorist threats.
House Deputy Minority Leader and
Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo participate in the US Senate through
the popular video sharing website YouTube.
In two of his video messages,
Ocampo urged the global community to reject “lies” of the Arroyo
administration and investigate Oplan Bantay Laya, the
counterinsurgency program of the President.
Ocampo said the program has been
targeting armed and unarmed activists.
Ocampo, along with Communist
Party of the Philippines former chairman Jose Maria Sison and 52
others, was indicted on 15 counts of murder allegedly committed
during the purge of suspected spies and counter-revolutionaries
within the CPP-New People’s Army from 1984 to 1991.
Palace spokesman Ignacio Bunye
said Thursday that the Philippine government is not keen on
preventing Ocampo from testifying before the US Senate.
--AFP, ABS-CBN Interactive
and Sam Mediavilla
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