Drilon to GMA: Act on extrajudicial killings

Senate President Franklin Drilon challenged President Arroyo yesterday to take a direct hand in stopping what he described as "alarmingly increasing incidents of extra-judicial killings involving journalists and political activists in the country."

In a statement, Drilon said the wanton killings of journalists and militant activists, especially in the countryside, continued to project an image of political instability and lawlessness in the Philippines to the international media.

If these killings remain unresolved, Drilon noted, the Philippines would never be able to achieve political stability and attract foreign investors to support the government’s claim that the country was on its way to economic recovery.

"These incidents, which have attracted the concern of the international community, indicate that the Philippines was becoming a lawless and unstable society, where the rule of law is being disregarded with impunity," said Drilon.

The Senate chief cited the fatal shooting of another journalist, George Benaojan, in Talisay, Cebu, last Dec. 1, and the killing of a woman activist, Cathy Alcantara, in Bataan last Dec. 5.

According to the International Federation of Journalists, the killing of Benaojan brought to 10 the number of journalists killed in the Philippines this year.

Alcantara, secretary-general of the Kilusan para sa Demokrasya in Bataan, was also among scores of political and social activists killed in recent months and years.

Drilon lamented that the killings of activists and journalists show that the Philippine National Police and other law-enforcement agencies of the government have failed to maintain law and order, while the justice department has failed to bring the perpetrators to justice as shown by the failure of the government to arrest and convict those responsible for the extra-judicial violence.