Page 2 of
2 Deadly dirty work in the
Philippines By Cher S Jimenez
US has on several occasions
directly supported the Philippine military's
pursuit of the armed communist militia, which has
been fighting the central government for more than
40 years, because of its alleged new united front
with certain guerrilla Muslim organizations.
In 2002 Arroyo announced an all-out war
against what she deemed internal security threats
including armed leftist groups, a master military
plan known locally as Oplan Bantay Laya, or
Operation Plan Defend Freedom.
That assault was scheduled to conclude last year,
but it was recently extended by her government
through 2010, when Arroyo's constitutionally
mandated term as president ends. Last year was
notably the bloodiest yet for extrajudicial
killings, with a total of 185 people, mostly
left-leaning activists, murdered without trial or
punishment for the perpetrators.
It was
also during this period that Arroyo made the
controversial Presidential Proclamation 1017,
granting exceptional unchecked powers to the
executive branch. Last February she activated that
order to place the country under a state of
emergency and allowed law-enforcement officials to
conduct warrantless arrests of alleged enemies of
the state, including some members of the political
opposition and journalists from critical media
outlets. It's notable now that Arroyo's crackdown
on civil liberties conspicuously coincided with a
spike in political killings.
State of
denial Even with the international
spotlight on Arroyo's rights record, Philippine
military and police officials continue to play
down the mounting death toll, claiming that there
have been no more than 100 political-related
killings over her government's six-year term. As
in the past, the government blames the NPA for
most of the killings, claiming the rebel group is
purging its own members or those who have
abandoned their ideological cause. But the pattern
of the killings seems to indicate that
left-leaning activists are often being targeted by
security forces the same as armed NPA rebels.
Rights organizations and reportedly the
Melo Commission have openly blamed particular
prominent members of the military - specifically
now-retired General Jovencito Palparan - for the
killings of social and political activists
sympathetic to the communist movement. According
to Karapatan's records, more than 100 of the
extrajudicial killings took place in Southern
Tagalog, Eastern Visayas and Central Luzon
regions, where Palparan had been assigned as a
battalion commander.
Palparan told the
Associated Press that "there was no evidence
against him or any of his men" after the Melo
Commission submitted its report to Arroyo. But
Palparan's case could soon put Arroyo's government
in a tricky spot. The recently retired Palparan
was praised by name during Arroyo's State of the
Nation address last June for his efforts in
helping to reduce the strength of the communist
insurgency. During the same nationally televised
address, she also lamented the upsurge in
unexplained extrajudicial killings.
Meanwhile, Armed Forces Chief of Staff
Hermogenes Esperon has said Palparan can no longer
be held accountable for any charges related to the
killings because his military service has ended.
Bishop Juan De Dios Pueblos, a member of the Melo
Commission, said that the fact his fact-finding
team's authority and findings had no legal binding
was apparent in the alleged "arrogant" way
Palparan answered question's from the commission's
members.
In the coming months, the UN and
potentially the EU will likely add a new, more
legalistic and potentially damning perspective to
the intensifying domestic debate about whether the
killings are a matter of central government policy
or the dirty work of a few wayward security
officials. Whether international probity will be
enough to stem the bloodletting and bring
high-level Philippine officials to account still
seems doubtful as the killings continue this year.
What does seem certain is that the Philippines'
international reputation as a respectable and
stable democracy will soon take another hit.
Cher S Jimenez is a Manila-based
journalist with the BusinessMirror newspaper. She
recently received a grant from the Ateneo de
Manila University to conduct investigative
journalism on illegal workers in the United Arab
Emirates.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
