Bloated extrajudicial killing figure of Karapatan seen as part of revolutionary effort to topple government

By Ronron
March 8, 2007

The number of extrajudicial killings presented by civilian human rights groups Karapatan is seen by a Defense official as part of the communist movement’s efforts to topple the legitimate government.

In an interview Thursday at his office, Defense Undersecretary and spokesman Ernesto Carolina compared the data-gathering efforts of Karapatan with the Plaza Miranda bombing in Manila City in the early 1970’s, which was perpetrated by the New People’s Army (NPA) but attributed initially to the dictatorial rule of then President Ferdinand Marcos.

“In a communist insurgency, their mission is to topple the government. So they would capitalize on anything just to have a revolutionary situation and make the country look bad,” Carolina told reporters.

Karapatan has reported 835 extrajudicial killings since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo rose to power in 2001, perpetrated mostly by alleged government law enforcers and security forces.

But Carolina countered said figure, saying the Philippine National Police (PNP) Task Force USIG only recognized 113 of those cases as legitimate extrajudicial killings. Those excluded were cases of suicide, legitimate encounters and the killing of Abu Sayyaf members at Camp Bagong Diwa, among others, he said.

“This is a clear evidence that they (communist) are really like that – they want to create a revolutionary situation, resort to violence exemplified by the Plaza Miranda bombing,” Carolina said.

A further assessment by the newly-created Human Rights Office of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), under Lt. Col. Benedicto Jose, revealed only 94 of those cases probably may have been carried out by security forces, said Carolina.

“We are willing to look at that one by one. These are cases that maybe, we should investigate because, probably, security forces are involved (as suspects),” Carolina said.

He said by doing so shows the government, particularly the military, is serious in addressing the problem, contrary to the findings of the Alston Mission and the Melo Commission, and recently, the assessment of the US State Department.

The AFP, said Carolina, was also directed to review its doctrine of command responsibility that resulted in the issuance of a comprehensive set of guidelines on human rights protection.

The AFP has earlier admitted to investigating six extrajudicial killing cases, one of which resulted in the dismissal from the service of the accused soldier. But it maintained that the acts were done by the suspects on their own, and not sanctioned by the military leadership./DMS