UN probes extra-judicial killings in the Philippines

A 10-day visit by a United Nations investigator to the Philippines, starting Feb. 12, is being welcomed in some quarters as a chance to expose an alleged campaign to "exterminate left-wing activists" in that Southeast Asian nation. Days ahead of the visit by Philip Alston, UN 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 Feb. 8 in Salay, a town about 450 miles 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 UN official to look at the systematic pattern of killings," Harry Roque, professor of international and constitutional law at the University of Philippines, said over telephone from Manila. "The UN 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 Filipino human rights community that is charging the Arroyo government with permitting a climate of impunity. Concern that such violence may intensify is 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. "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 preoccupy 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 multinational companies. Victims over the past six years have included trade unionists, farmers' rights activists, people from indigenous communities, lawyers, journalists, human rights campaigners and religious activists. In October 2006, 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 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 Filipino army for the violations, a charge that has 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 Filipino army last year for being involved in this bloody campaign. In November, even multinational 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 [indigenous people] have lost many through this violent campaign," said Jo Villanueva, executive director of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, an environmental lobby in Manila. "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 Filipino government, a conflict that has resulted in over 40,000 deaths, including civilians, soldiers and rebels.