‘Political killings set back RP freedom’

WASHINGTON — Freedom has suffered an ominous setback in the Philippines because of political killings specifically targeting left-wing political activists, US-based Freedom House said.

     In an annual comparative assessment of the state of political rights and civil liberties in 192 countries the non-governmental organization said a number of countries including the Philippines experienced negative changes in freedom in 2006 and described this as worrying.

     The Freedom in the World report released in Washington on Wednesday rated the Philippines as partly free.

    A partly free country is described as one which has limited respect for political rights and civil liberties.

    Partly free states frequently suffer from an environment of corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic and religious strife, and often a setting in which a single political party enjoys dominance despite the façade of limited pluralism, said the "Freedom in the World 2007" report.

    In last year’s report the Philippines was demoted from free to partly free "due to credible allegations of massive electoral fraud, corruption and the government’s intimidation of elements in the political opposition."

Freedom House, an independent NGO that supports the expansion of freedom in the world was founded in 1941 to support democratic values and oppose dictatorships of the far left and the far right.

In its report it said 2006 saw the emergence of a series of worrisome trends that together presented potentially serious threats to the stability of new democracies as well as obstacles to political reform in societies under authoritarian rule.

    Over the past few years hundreds of unsolved political killings have been reported in the Philippines. There are fears the number could rise in the run-up to the elections in May.

    The Philippine National Police recently formed task force "Usig," a special unit to investigate the spate of killings of activists and journalists in the country following a public outcry over the unsolved murders.