In Philippines: Speech Of Professor Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur Of The United Nations Human Rights Council


I have spent the past ten days in the Philippines at the invitation of the Government in order to inquire into the phenomenon of extra-judicial executions.

I am very grateful to the Government for the unqualified cooperation extended to me. During my stay here I have met with virtually all of the relevant senior officials of Government.

They include the President, the Executive Secretary, the National Security Adviser, the Secretaries for Defence, Justice, DILG and the Peace Process.

I have also met with a significant number of members of Congress on different sides of the political spectrum, the Chief Justice, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Chair of the Human Rights Commission, the Ombudsman, the members of both sides of the Joint Monitoring Committee, and representatives of the MNLF and MILF.

Of particular relevance to my specific concerns, I also met with Task Force Usig, and with the Melo Commission, and I have received the complete dossier compiled by TF Usig, as well as the report of the Melo Commission, the and the responses to its findings by the AFP and by retired Maj-Gen Palparan.

I have also visited Baguio and Davao and met with the regional Human Rights Commission offices, local PNP and AFP commanders, and the Mayor of Davao, among others. Equally importantly, roughly half of my time here was devoted to meetings with representatives of civil society, in Manila, Baguio, andDavao. Through their extremely valuable contributions in the form of documentation and detailed testimony I have learned a great deal.

Let me begin by acknowledging several important elements.

The first is that the Government’s invitation to visit reflects a clear recognition of the gravity of the problem, a willingness to permit outside scrutiny, and a very welcome preparedness to engage on this issue.

The assurances that I received from the President, in particular, were very encouraging.
Second, I note that my visit takes place within the context of a counter-insurgency operation which takes place on a range of fronts, and I do not in any way underestimate the resulting challenges facing for the Government and the AFP.

Third, I wish to clarify that my formal role is to report to the UN Human Rights Council and to the Government on the situation I have found. I consider that the very fact of my visit has already begun the process of acting as a catalyst to deeper reflection on these issues both within the national and international settings.

Finally, I must emphasize that the present statement is only designed to give a general indication of some, but by no means all, of the issues to be addressed, and the recommendations put forward, in my final report.

I expect that will be available sometime within the next three months. Sources of information. The first major challenge for my mission was to obtain detailed and well supported information. I have been surprised by both the amount and the quality of information provided to me. Most key Government agencies are organized and systematic in much of their data collection and classification.

Similarly,Philippines civil society organizations are generally sophisticated and professional. I sought, and obtained, meetings across the entire political spectrum. I leave the Philippines with a wealth of information to be processed in the preparation of my final report.

But the question has still been posed as to whether the information provided to me by either all, or at least certain, local NGO groups can be considered reliable. The word ‘propaganda’ was used by many of my interlocutors.

What I took them to mean was that the overriding goal of the relevant groups in raising EJE questions was to gain political advantage in the context of a broader battle for public opinion and power, and that the HR dimensions were secondary at best.

Some went further to suggest that many of the cases were fabricated, or at least trumped up, to look more serious than they are. I consider it essential to respond to these concerns immediately.

First, there is inevitably a propaganda element in such allegations.

The aim is to win public sympathy and to discredit other actors. But the existence of a propaganda dimension does not, in itself, destroy the credibility of the information and allegations. I would insist, instead, on the need to apply several tests relating to credibility.
First, is it only NGOs from one part of the political spectrum who are making these allegations? The answer is clearly ‘no’.

Human rights groups in the Philippines range across the entire spectrum in terms of their political sympathies, but I met no groups who challenged the basic fact that large numbers of extra-judicial executions are taking place, even if they disagreed on precise figures.

Second, how compelling is the actual information presented? I found there was considerable variation ranging from submissions which were entirely credible and contextually aware all the way down to some which struck me as superficial and dubious.

But the great majority are closer to the top of that spectrum than to the bottom.

Third, has the information proved credible under ‘cross-examination’. My colleagues and I heard a large number of cases in depth and we probed the stories presented to us in order to ascertain their accuracy and the broader context.

As a result, I believe that I have gathered a huge amount of data and certainly much more than has been made available to any one of the major national inquiries.

My focus goes well beyond beyond that adopted by either TF Usig or the Melo Commission, both of which are concerned essentially with political and media killings. Those specific killings are, in many ways, a symptom of a much more extensive problem and we should not permit our focus to be limited artificially.

The TF Usig/Melo scope of inquiry is inappropriate for me for several reasons: (a) The approach is essentially reactive. It is not based on an original assessment of what is going on in the country at large, but rather on what a limited range of CSOs report.

As a result, the focus then is often shifted (unhelpfully) to the orientation of the CSO, the quality of the documentation in particular cases, etc.; (b) Many killings are not reported, or not pursued, and for good reason; and (c) A significant proportion of acknowledged cases of ‘disappearances’ involve individuals who have been killed but who are not reflected in the figures.

How many have been killed?The numbers game is especially unproductive, although a source of endless fascination. Is it 25, 100, or 800? I don’t have a figure. But I am certain that the number is high enough to be distressing. Even more importantly, numbers are not what count.

The impact of even a limited number of killings of the type alleged is corrosive in many ways. It intimidates vast numbers of civil society actors, it sends a message of vulnerability to all but the most well connected, and it severely undermines the political discourse which is central to a resolution of the problems confronting this country.

Permit me to make a brief comment on the term ‘unexplained killings’, which is used by officials and which I consider to be inapt and misleading.

It may be appropriate in the context of a judicial process but human rights inquiries are more broad-ranging and one does not have to wait for a court to secure a conviction before one can conclude that human rights violations are occurring.

The term ‘extrajudicial killings’ which has a long pedigree is far more accurate and should be used. It may help to specify the types of killing which are of particular concern in the Philippines.

Killings by military and police, and by the NPA or other groups, in course of counter-insurgency. To the extent that such killings take place in conformity with the rules of international humanitarian law they fall outside my mandate.

Killings not in the course of any armed engagement but in pursuit of a specific counter-insurgency operation in the field.

Killings, whether attributed to the military, the police, or private actors, of activists associated with leftist groups and usually deemed or assumed to be covertly assisting CPP-NPA-NDF.

Private actors include hired thugs in the pay of politicians, landowners, corporate interests, and others.

Vigilante, or death squad, killings· Killings of journalists and other media persons.‘Ordinary’ murders facilitated by the sense of impunity that exists.

The response of Government to the crisis of extra-judicial executions varies dramatically. There has been a welcome acknowledgment of the seriousness of the problem at the very top.

At the executive level the messages have been very mixed and often unsatisfactory. And at the operational level, the allegations have too often been met with a response of incredulity, mixed with offence.

When I have sought explanations of the killings I have received a range of answers. (i) The allegations are essentially propaganda. I have addressed this dimension already. (ii) The allegations are fabricated.

Much importance was attached to two persons who had been listed as killed, but who were presented to me alive. Two errors, in circumstances which might partly explain the mistakes, do very little to discredit the vast number of remaining allegations. (iii) The theory that the ‘correct, accurate, and truthful’ reason for the recent rise in killings lies in purges committed by the CPP/NPA.

This theory was relentlessly pushed by the AFP and many of my Government interlocutors. But we must distinguish the number of 1,227 cited by the military from the limited number of cases in which the CPP/NPA have acknowledged, indeed boasted, of killings.

While such cases have certainly occurred, even those most concerned about them, such as members of Akbayan, have suggested to me that they could not amount to even 10% of the total killings. The evidence offered by the military in support of this theory is especially unconvincing.
Human rights organizations have documented very few such cases.

The AFP relies instead on figures and trends relating to the purges of the late 1980s, and on an alleged CPP/NPA document captured in May 2006 describing Operation Bushfire.

In the absence of much stronger supporting evidence this particular document bears all the hallmarks of a fabrication and cannot be taken as evidence of anything other than disinformation. (iv) Some killings may have been attributable to the AFP, but they were committed by rogue elements. There is little doubt that some such killings have been committed.

The AFP needs to give us precise details and to indicate what investigations and prosecutions have been undertaken in response. But, in any event, the rogue elephant theory does not explain or even address the central questions with which we are concerned.

Some major challenges for the future (a) Acknowledgement by the AFP.

The AFP remains in a state of almost total denial (as its official response to the Melo Report amply demonstrates) of its need to respond effectively and authentically to the significant number of killings which have been convincingly attributed to them.

The President needs to persuade the military that its reputation and effectiveness will be considerably enhanced, rather than undermined, by acknowledging the facts and taking genuine steps to investigate.

When the Chief of the AFP contents himself with telephoning Maj-Gen Palparan three times in order to satisfy himself that the persistent and extensive allegations against the General were entirely unfounded, rather than launching a thorough internal investigation, it is clear that there is still a very long way to go. (b)Moving beyond the Melo CommissionIt is not for me to evaluate the Melo Report.

That is for the people of the Philippines to do. The President showed good faith in responding to allegations by setting up an independent commission. But the political and other capital that should have followed is being slowly but surely drained away by the refusal to publish the report.

The justifications given are unconvincing. The report was never intended to be preliminary or interim. The need to get ‘leftists’ to testify is no reason to withhold a report which in some ways at least vindicates their claims.

And extending a Commission whose composition has never succeeded in winning full cooperation seems unlikely to cure the problems still perceived by those groups. Immediate release of the report is an essential first step. (c) The need to restore accountability.

The focus on TF Usig and Melo is insufficient. The enduring and much larger challenge is to restore the various accountability mechanisms that the Philippines Constitution and Congress have put in place over the years, too many of which have been systematically drained of their force in recent years.

I will go into detail in my final report, but suffice it to note for present purposes that Executive Order 464, and its replacement, Memorandum Circular 108, undermine significantly the capacity of Congress to hold the executive to account in any meaningful way. (d) Witness protection.

The vital flaw which undermines the utility of much of the judicial system is the problem of virtual impunity that prevails. This, in turn, is built upon the rampant problem of witness vulnerability.

The present message is that if you want to preserve your life expectancy, don’t act as a witness in a criminal prosecution for killing. Witnesses are systematically intimidated and harassed.

In a relatively poor society, in which there is heavy dependence on community and very limited real geographical mobility, witnesses are uniquely vulnerable when the forces accused of killings are all too often those, or are linked to those, who are charged with ensuring their security. The WPP is impressive – on paper.

In practice, however, it is deeply flawed and would seem only to be truly effective in a very limited number of cases. The result, as one expert suggested to me, is that 8 out of 10 strong cases, or 80% fail to move from the initial investigation to the actual prosecution stage. (e) Acceptance of the need to provide legitimate political space for leftist groupsAt the national level, there has been a definitive abandonment of President Ramos’ strategy of reconciliation.

This might be termed the Sinn Fein strategy. It involves the creation of an opening — the party-list system — for leftist groups to enter the democratic political system, while at the same time acknowledging that some of those groups remain very sympathetic to the armed struggle being waged by illegal groups (the IRA in the Irish case, or the NPA in the Philippines case). The goal is to provide an incentive for such groups to enter mainstream politics and to see that path as their best option.

Neither the party-list system nor the repeal of the Anti-Subversion Act has been reversed by Congress. But, the executive branch, openly and enthusiastically aided by the military, has worked resolutely to circumvent the spirit of these legislative decisions by trying to impede the work of the party-list groups and to put in question their right to operate freely.

The idea is not to destroy the NPA but to eliminate organizations that support many of its goals and do not actively disown its means. While non-violent in conception, there are cases in which it has, certainly at the local level, spilled over into decisions to extra-judicially execute those who cannot be reached by legal process. (f) Re-evaluate problematic aspects of counter-insurgency strategy.

The increase in extra-judicial executions in recent years is attributable, at least in part, to a shift in counterinsurgency strategy that occurred in some areas, reflecting the considerable regional variation in the strategies employed, especially with respect to the civilian population.

In some areas, an appeal to hearts-and-minds is combined with an attempt to vilify left-leaning organizations and to intimidate leaders of such organizations.

In some instances, such intimidation escalates into extra-judicial execution. This is a grave and serious problem and one which I intend to examine in detail in my final report.

The Philippines remains an example to all of us in terms of the peaceful ending of martial law by the People’s Revolution, and the adoption of a Constitution reflecting a powerful commitment to ensure respect for human rights.

The various measures ordered by the President in response to Melo constitute important first steps, but there is a huge amount that remains to be done.(Speech is made 21 Feb 2007 in Manila at the closing of Professor Alston investigation on summary killings in Philippines. The speech is available on this URL http://unphilippines.wordpress.com)

UN Probes Extra-judicial Killings in Philippines By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Feb 12 (IPS) - A 10-day visit by a United Nations investigator to the Philippines, starting Monday, is being welcomed in some quarters as a chance to expose an alleged campaign to ''exterminate left-wing activists'' in that South-east Asian nation.

Days ahead of the visit by Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extra-judicial killings, another victim was added to a grisly death toll of over 800 people since 2001 when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo began her term in office.

Dalmacio Gandinao, provincial chairman of a left-wing farmers' movement, was gunned down on Thursday night in Salay, a town 750 km southeast of Manila.

He was having dinner at home with his wife and grandchildren when the assassins struck before getting away in a van.‘'We want the U.N. official to look at the systematic pattern of killings,'' Harry Roque, professor of international and constitutional law at the University of Philippines, told IPS over telephone from Manila.

‘'The U.N. human rights mechanism must be put into full use here to shame the Philippines.''The special rapporteur should also meet the countless people who have been threatened for their ‘'anti-capitalist'' views, added Roque, who has himself received six death threats for being part of the Philippines human rights community that is charging the Arroyo government with permitting a climate of impunity.

Concern that such violence may intensify is also growing, as the country heads for general elections in May for the 250-member House of Representatives, half of the 24-member Senate and hundreds of officials to fill the posts of mayors and governors.

In late January, a mayor of a town in central Philippines was killed by a gunman and in December a congressman was shot dead while standing at the entrance of a church in Manila.‘'The climate of impunity will not go away with the elections approaching,'' Red Constantino, managing director of the Foundation for Nationalist Studies, a Manila-based think tank, said in an IPS interview.

‘'I wouldn't be surprised if these killings increase because of the climate of impunity.''Human rights groups are hoping, however, that the killing of politicians will not pre-occupy Alston's agenda, since such political murders, they say, are different from the violent campaign being directed at individuals challenging the agenda of the government or of some multi-national companies.

Victims over the past six years have included trade unionists, farmers' rights activists, people from indigenous communities, lawyers, journalists, human rights campaigners and men of religion.

In October last year Bishop Alberto Ramento, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Bishops of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and a vocal critic of the Arroyo administration was murdered in his house in Tarlac.

The findings of the Australia-born Alston are expected to add to the damaging conclusions arrived at in January by a special commission appointed by Arroyo to investigate into the murder of the left-wing activists. A small group of soldiers was behind the death of the activists, said Jose Melo, a retired Supreme Court judge, who headed the commission.

The complete report, which is yet to be made public, does not fault the entire Philippines army for the violations, a charge that had dogged it as the murder of left-wing activists piled up. According to ‘Karapatan', a human rights group with which Ramento was closely associated, over 360 of the more than 800 people killed were left-wing activists.

Arroyo's decision to appoint the commission came after Manila faced pressure from international groups to investigate the murders. The global rights lobby Amnesty International is among them, accusing sections of the Philippines army last year for being involved in this bloody campaign.

In November, even multi-national companies in the Philippines joined ranks with those concerned about the escalation in extra-judicial killings. In January, the European Union urged Manila to take strong measures against the murders that are bad for the ‘'reputation of this country.''

Manila has also been criticized by environmentalists who have produced reports recently revealing that a number of people from indigenous communities in the northern Cordillera mountain ranges were among those killed for protesting against plans to expand the mining industry in their midst.

Alston is due to visit indigenous communities in some of the mountainous area during his mission.‘'He should take time to listen to their testimonies, for they (indigenous people) have lost many through this violent campaign,'' Jo Villanueva, executive director of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Centre, an environmental lobby in Manila, told IPS.

‘'The victims were those who had been leading community resistance against encroachment by the mining companies.''The attacks on left-wing activists have lent an added dimension to the decades- long battle Manila's troops have been locked in with the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines.

December marked 38 years since the NPA launched a guerrilla war against the Philippines government, a conflict that has resulted in over 40,000 deaths, including civilians, soldiers and rebels. (IPS, repost)

Photo: Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema and UNESCO Commissioner Bai Sandra Sema

Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema and wife, Bai Sandra Sema, UNESCO Commissioner, meet with Filipino children during the recent celebration of the 14th National Children Month held at the People Palace City Hall in Cotabato City in Maguindanao province in South RP. (Mindanao Examiner/Mark Navales)