From the Office of Rep. Crispin Beltran

South Wing Room 602 House of Representatives

Constitution Hills 1126 Quezon City, Philippines 

Reference: Rep.Crispin Beltran (+63)9278711080

Ina Alleco R. Silverio, chief of staff  931.6615, 09195065269 

 

News Release   Wednesday  January 31, 2007

 

GMA going to use Melo Commission report as proof that she acted on extra-judicial killings; Palparan, the military being absolved of responsibility and criminal liability for deaths

 

Anakpawis Representative and political detainee Crispin Beltran today said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's generic and almost scripted response to the Melo Commission's report was expected, "But it's obvious that she still wants to keep up the pretense that she is giving full importance to the issue of extra-judicial killings by asking the European Union's assistance in further investigating the matter. She has completely ignored the report of the Nobel Prize winning international human rights institution Amnesty International on the killings; if the EU lays down the exact same findings and conclusions, that the extra-judicial killings of human rights advocates and political activists are a state policy, will Macapagal-Arroyo respect the EU's findings?"

 

"Where's the report? We want to see it and analyze in full. Macapagal-Arroyo is clearly going to use the report and flaunt it in the international community as proof that she has acted on the extra-judicial killings. It's a report that none of the families of the victims support or laud," he pointed out. 

 

Beltran said that Pres. Arroyo's  silence on the issues of command responsibility and the Melo Commission's conclusion that Major Gen. Jovito Palparan is behind the killings exposes her true approach to the matter. "She is deliberately ignoring the Commission's most important finding, that Palparan is responsible for the killings. By doing this, she once more absolves Palparan and puts him under the cloak of her protection. By protecting Palparan, she also saves herself because both of them are the masterminds of the bloody campaign against political activists and human rights workers. She has no genuine intention to give justice to the victims of extra-judicial killings and to go after the perpetrators. Over 800 have been killed since her term began, and none of the killers have been brought to justice."

 

Beltran said that Macapagal-Arroyo's orders to the Department of Justice and the Department of National Defense (DND) to coordinate with the Commission on Human Rights was also for show. He said that Sec. Raul Gonzales himself admires Palparan and wanted him to work at thee DOJ. "Sec. Gonzalez is one of Palparan's biggest fans, and next to National Security adviser Norberto Gonzales, is the most virulently anti-human rights bureaucrat under Macapagal-Arroyo."

"The DND, and the DOJ aim to shield Palparan and the Armed Forces of the Philippines from criminal charges and liability for the killings. AFP chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon himself has already said that the military cannot and will not go after Palparan because the latter is already retired and out of the service. The machinery that Macapagal-Arroyo is mobilizing to supposedly act on the issue of extra-judicial killings is oriented towards protecting the killers and ensuring that the investigations never end in the conviction of the perpetrators."

 

"Her hypocrisy in declaring that she upholds human rights and abhors human rights violations is most contemptible. If Macapagal-Arroyo were sincere in putting a stop to the political killings, she would have publicly ordered the scrapping of the AFP's Oplan Bantay Laya I and II, and thrown Palparan behind bars long ago. She has consistently refused to give up Palparan and instead held him up as an example to the rest of the AFP – a model killing machine. How does she sleep at night knowing full well that she condones and supports the brutal killing of activists, journalists and human rights advocates? It is most certain that the international human rights community can see through her double talk and her hypocrisy. Her administration's attack against Amnesty International has already cemented her government's true character as anti-human rights," he said. #