Militant solons urge full disclosure of Melo panel report By Maila Ager, Thea Alberto INQUIRER.net Last updated 02:01pm (Mla time) 01/30/2007 MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) Dissatisfied by the piece-meal release of a report that had tagged a retired military officer for the killings of left-leaning activists, two lawmakers at the House of Representatives have urged Malacañang to release the whole document for public scrutiny. Retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo, head of the commission, said Monday that the report, citing command responsibility, had recommended that retired Major General Jovito Palparan and other commanders be held responsible for the extrajudicial killings in their respective areas during their tours of duty. Melo said holding military commanders responsible was one of the recommendations in the final report of the fact-finding commission formed in August 2006 by Arroyo to look into the political violence following a local and international outcry. The 89-page report was submitted to Arroyo last week. Melo declined to release the report, saying the President had the prerogative to make it public. “Bitin ang findings [The findings that were released were not enough],” Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo said in a phone interview. “They [the commission] invoked command responsibility but they should be clear kung hanggang saan ang [up to what level is the] command responsibility,” Ocampo said. Another Bayan Muna Representative, Teodoro Casiño, also questioned the report. “Why stop at the level of Palparan? Command responsibility goes higher than field commanders,” Casiño said in a text message. “In this case, the commander-in-chief herself who encouraged and praised Palparan for his atrocities should be made liable,” he said, referring to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Like Ocampo, Casiño said he was not satisfied by the report as it “merely scratches the surface and tells us what we already know.” He said the commission appeared to have considered the killings as mere individual acts rather than as a result of a deliberate policy. “We want full disclosure of the report,” Casiño stressed. Ocampo said the independent character of the Melo Commission would be rendered useless if Malacañang would not disclose the report to the public. “The report should be made public and subject it to public scrutiny,” he said. “They should identify who are responsible for the killings and cause their prosecution. Otherwise, Melo's statement based on the paper would fall short of expectations,” Ocampo pointed out. Meanwhile, Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes said, “The Melo Commission had it wrong when it said the killings were perpetrated by soldiers who are merely unchecked by their superiors." "The Melo Commission should know better," said Reyes, noting that they had evidence that the killings were offshoots of a national policy. “The responsibility for the killings goes all the way up to Malacañang and the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security," Reyes claimed. The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas [Movement of Filipino Peasants, KMP] maintains that the military has a go-signal from Arroyo to execute the murders. “We maintain that it is the whole Armed Forces of the Philippines [AFP] apparatus itself with the blessings of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Cabinet Oversight Committee for Internal Security (COCIS) is the mastermind behind the killings," said Danilo Ramos, KMP Secretary General in a statement. Local human rights group Karapatan has claimed that over 800 activists have been murdered since Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001 -- a tally contradicted by Task Force Usig, a police unit investigating the killings. Usig said only 117 have been killed, saying that many of these were from legitimate encounters against the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Usig also claimed that several militant groups such as Bayan and its allies were "legal front organizations" of the NPA. Copyright 2007 INQUIRER.net. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.