4 soldiers tagged in slay of Ynares aide
By Non Alquitran
The Philippine Star – www.philstar.com
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Manila, Philippines-Police are hunting down four Army soldiers tagged by a witness as those allegedly behind the killing last Saturday of a security aide of Rizal Gov. Casimiro Ynares III in Antipolo City.
Senior Superintendent Jonathan Miano, Rizal police director, identified the suspects as Cpl. Danilo Atencio, 36, and Privates First Class Edwin Rosaldo, 32, Ricky Galvez, 28, and Roy Ventura, 32, who all belong to the 16th Infantry Brigade of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division based in Barangay San Jose, Antipolo City.
Miano said the four were tagged by Delo Cahilig, 41, an agent of the Highway Patrol Group who was one of the two wounded in the shooting.
Cahilig told probers he was on his way to church at around 6 p.m. Saturday when he saw the suspects blocking the path of victim Johnny Saut, 28, assigned at the provincial security department.
Noynoy to PNP: Act swiftly on killings
By Aurea Calica
The Philippine Star – www.philstar.com
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino ordered Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa yesterday to act swiftly on unexplained killings, the latest of which have given his administration an unsettling start.
Mr. Aquino’s order to Verzosa came on the heels of the murders of a journalist and an activist barely a week after he assumed office last June 30.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the President has directed Verzosa to come up with ways to stop the killings and arrest their perpetrators.
Asked whether the murders were meant to embarrass the new administration, Lacierda said authorities would have to investigate the motives behind the killings.
It was under the previous Arroyo administration that political killings reached record numbers.
“The President said we don’t have a policy on (allowing) extrajudicial killings. We don’t tolerate that. That’s plain and simple,” Lacierda said.
Lacierda said Verzosa told the Palace that the PNP is looking carefully into each case because some media killings involved local issues.
“Based on their experience, the journalists being killed are (local) radio broadcasters,” he said.
“We will be coming up with ways to handle the extrajudicial killings, but certainly, the Aquino administration and President Aquino, being a victim of human rights abuses himself, does not tolerate and will not tolerate extrajudicial killings under his administration,” Lacierda said.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) condemned the killings and called for swifter prosecution and conviction of suspects.
“These killings are a grim reminder that the mere peaceful transition to a rights-committed President is not enough to address the problem of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines,” Commissioner Cecilia Quisumbing said.
“Impunity persists because of weak prosecution and lack of convictions,” she added.
“We discussed this at the UN Human Rights Council just three weeks ago with the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killing, Philip Alston,” she said.
Two killings – allegedly politically related – have been reported since President Aquino’s assumption into office on June 30.
“All leaders want to leave positive legacies, and Aquino has pledged to better the lot of ordinary Filipinos. Ending the killings and bringing under control the forces responsible for them would certainly be an achievement the Philippine people would long celebrate,” Roth said.
Radio commentator Jose Dagio was killed on Saturday night in Tabuk, Kalinga, and Fernando Baldomero, a councilor of Lezo town in Kalibo, Aklan and Bayan Muna coordinator, was gunned down in Iloilo City Monday.
“We urge President Aquino to unequivocally declare that killings of dissidents, activists and media are against the Aquino government policy, and second, instruct the military and the police to pro-actively stop such practices by ‘rogues in uniform’ and go after the violators, even those within their own ranks,” Quisumbing said.
Quisumbing said state prosecutors, the National Bureau of Investigation, and the PNP should closely coordinate with one another during investigation and prosecution of cases of political killings as stipulated in Administrative Order 181.
“Courts are not following the 2007 order of the Supreme Court for 30-day continuous trial,” she said.
“Shouldn’t that be grounds for disciplinary measures?”
The CHR also urged the 15th Congress to quickly work on a bill defining extrajudicial killings in accordance with international treaties and imposing heavier penalties.
The SC, non-government organizations, and even foreign governments have been discussing ways of improving the Witness Protection Program as well as the conviction rate.
“When I talked to various prosecutors, we noticed that the length of time to assess the qualifications of persons who want to enter the program is about three to four months. Too long for someone who has threats on his life,” Quisumbing observed.
Be quick, P-Noy urged
A New York-based human rights watchdog, meanwhile, called on Mr. Aquino to immediately put an end to political killings, saying his “legacy as president may very well hinge on his success at ending this bloodshed and bringing those responsible to account.”
“During his campaign, Aquino offered lofty rhetoric about the importance of justice, ending the killings, and abolishing private armies, but so far he has not articulated specific steps to combat these problems,” Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth said.
“Unless he moves swiftly with clear and effective policies, he risks replicating the deeply troubling records of his predecessors,” Roth said.
He said “death squads” in Davao City continue to hunt and kill petty criminals while powerful local politicians eliminate their opponents and troublesome journalists with impunity.
“Successive governments in Manila have, at best, failed to combat the killings,” Roth pointed out.
Roth said the massacre of 57 people – including journalists and lawyers – in November 2009 in Maguindanao allegedly by members of the prominent Ampatuan clan proved that the culture of impunity remained despite the drop in the number of killings in 2007 and 2008 after much international pressure and condemnation from human rights groups.
He said the President should make clear to the police that they are required to vigorously pursue cases involving government officials or law enforcers or be investigated themselves.
He also advised Mr. Aquino to create an independent, accessible, and properly funded WPP.
“Witnesses make or break a case in the Philippines, where their testimony is often the only evidence that links a suspect to the crime. Yet, in a country where witnesses in political cases are often at great personal risk, the government does painfully little to protect them,” he said.
He cited the June 14 murder of a key witness to the Maguindanao massacre, who had a pending application for inclusion in the WPP.
Silent on private armies
Roth also said Mr. Aquino has displayed an “unduly narrow understanding” of the problem with private armies.
“When I met with him in April, he told me that his promise to abolish private armies did not extend to disbanding paramilitary forces that fall outside police or military chains of command, contending they are needed as ‘force multipliers’,” he said.
“A promise to abolish private armies is empty if it excludes addressing the government forces that fall outside police or military chains of command,” he said.
To prevent mayors and governors from using soldiers and police for their personal interests, Roth said Mr. Aquino should submit a priority bill to Congress making security forces answerable only to the military or police chain of command rather than to local officials.
Communist purge
The Armed Forces of the Philippines, for its part, said the killing of an activist in Aklan last Monday may have been a communist purge.
“We all know that in the leftist organization, purging from within has always been instituted or is a strategy of the underground armed organization. From time to time, they institute this so only the military or the police and the government would be blamed,” AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta said.
“It (Aklan murder) can be purging. We (AFP) are possible suspects but do not forget that on the other side, purging continues to be a strategy to tell their members that we should be feared, we are armed, we are fighting for a cause and we can kill you anytime,” Mabanta said.
He vehemently denied the military’s involvement in the murder of the Bayan Muna coordinator.
“Certainly, we are not involved (in the killing). In the forefront of the policies of the present dispensation is adherence to human rights. (AFP chief) Gen. (Ricardo) David is always emphatic about human rights being given paramount importance,” he said.
“When there are killings of moderates or anti-government activists, one of those blamed is the military... What we will do is we will offer and give any service that the PNP or the court warrants,” he said.
Militant groups Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and Karapatan condemned the killings.
Karapatan noted that the murder of Baldomero happened after David announced his goal to end the insurgency in the next two to three years.
Karapatan has claimed that more than 900 activists have been killed in the last nine years. With Rhodina Villanueva, Alexis Romero, Pia Lee-Brago
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