GMA welcomes EU, US help on killings

President Arroyo welcomed yesterday offers by the European Union and the United States to help solve a spate of political murders.

Speaking at a gathering of Asian newspaper publishers, Mrs. Arroyo said she welcomes a US offer to deploy forensics and other experts to help authorities solve the more than 800 murders of activists, journalists, church workers and members of the judiciary in the past six years.

"We have a sorry history in our nation of political violence," she said. "We aim to break this cycle of violence once and for all. We welcome the fielding of an EU team... to help our law enforcers get to the roots of this crime."

Mrs. Arroyo said she had "no tolerance for human rights violations" and directly blamed the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) for the deaths.

"It must be said that the CPP and their armed insurgents must also put down their arms and cease their mindless murders," she said.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the government is prepared to work with "legitimate" institutions here and abroad to address the issue of unexplained killings.

The government welcomes the forthcoming visit of an assessment team from the European Union to determine the type of assistance for the Philippines to address unexplained killings, he added.

Bunye said the government has no comment on the statement of Dutch Ambassador Robert Vornis branding the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) in The Hague as a "kangaroo court."

"We are prepared to work with legitimate institutions and well-meaning allies in the international community on this issue as we welcome the participation of the UN Commission on Human Rights as well as the US Government to help the Philippines in the fight versus wrong and the quest for impartial justice," he said.

"We believe that a more balanced view of the Philippine human rights situation is crystallizing and we acknowledge the fair statement of Cardinal (Gaudencio) Rosales as we welcome the fielding of a team from the EU to help our law enforcers get to the root of these crimes.

"We are a full fledged democracy adhering to constitutional governance, the rule of law, political transparency."

Speaking before reporters the other day, Rosales said the New People’s Army should stop the killings in the same way that the members of the Armed Forces should also stop extrajudicial killings.

Rosales also criticized the US government for investigating the killings in the Philippines when the US itself has been guilty of killing people in Iraq.

Representatives Salacnib Baterina of Ilocos Sur and Edwin Uy of Isabela said the statement of Vornis disowning the PPT was a "double slap on the face of PPT and militant groups."

"They were clearly humiliated by Vornis’ act of calling the PPT a kangaroo court," the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

Baterina said the action of Vornis means that even the Dutch government is disowning the PPT.

"That is tantamount to saying that the PPT is an inutile group good only for the militants’ propaganda purposes," he said.

Baterina said the PPT was no different from the so-called people’s court created by opposition-allied civil society groups, headed by former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, that found President Arroyo guilty of all charges under the junked impeachment complaints.

"Their common objective is to embarrass the President before the court of public opinion," he said.

"If they are really serious about the charges against the President, then they should have brought these to the proper legal forum which is the court."

Uy, a lawyer, said the PPT and militant groups should stop their forum shopping for a guilty verdict against Mrs. Arroyo after the Dutch government dismissed the PPT’s lack of legal authority.

"Without a legal mandate, the PPT has no command nor power to speak of," he said.

"Their verdict is only good for black propaganda purposes. After which, it is relegated to the trash can of history. Our piece of advice to militants is that next time, seek justice via the criminal courts if they are sincere in their advocacy instead of wasting their time on hao shiao (spurious) groups like the PPT."

Meanwhile, the government downplayed yesterday the report of United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston on the unexplained killings and human rights situation in the Philippines.

At a press conference yesterday, Cecilia Quisumbing, presidential human rights committee executive director, said Alston is not a UN official but an expert in his field who was hired "like a consultant."

"What he says does not represent what the UN said," she said. "It’s his findings and for the UNHRC to make a decision on what he said, it’s very unlikely that the report will result in any sanctions against the Philippines."

Quisumbing said Alston wrote a preliminary report/note about what he had seen and found when he led last month a fact-finding mission on cases of unexplained killings in the country.

"We got a draft and an inter-agency meeting was held," she said. "Different agencies gave inputs. What I gave you are hints, leaks."

Quisumbing said sanctions imposed by the UNHRC are left for very dire situations like the genocide in Sudan and Iraq that took years of discussions.

"He’s only going to reflect some of our comments and correction of facts," she said.

"Most likely a letter from the Philippine government is not likely to change his mind based on analysis of what he had seen here. The Philippine government’s role is to make sure he has facts that are correct. We can’t control his analysis."

Although the government was allowed to look at Alston’s report on the Philippines and submit comments based on the inputs of various government agencies, it is not likely to result in revision of the entire report, she added.

Quisumbing said Alston also recommended in his preliminary report/note the taking of an active role by the Office of the Ombudsman and the Supreme Court to encourage prosecutors to be active human rights protectors.

The government is very confident that assistance and aid to the Philippines is not in any danger despite the hearings conducted by the US Senate on the killings and sending of a team of experts to the country, she added.

On the other hand, Commission on Human Rights Chairwoman Purificacion Quisumbing urged the government to act swiftly on cases of human rights violations.

"The CHR will continue to monitor the actions that the RP government will take on this data, including follow up prosecutions and cases already filed," she said. –Marvin Sy, Pia Lee-Brago, Katherine Adraneda, Delon Porcalla, AFP