Extrajudicial punishment

On July 16-17, 2007, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., there will be a “National Summit on Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances” at the Manila Hotel, Roxas Blvd. Manila. The summit is sponsored by the Supreme Court to search for solutions to “the growing number of unexplained killings and enforced disappearances of civilian activists, media personnel, judges etc., and to provide inputs to the Court in enhancing existing rules and promulgating new ones, principally for more effective protection and enforcement of constitutional rights, including protection of witnesses”.

The Supreme Court’s initiative in organizing this summit can be considered as an official recognition of this problem besetting our society that has been repeatedly denied or downplayed by the government particularly the military. At least the Court has taken cognizance of the alarming incidents gnawing at the very foundation of democratic government under a rule of law. There is more wisdom in confronting the problem and nipping it in the bud instead of ignoring it or claiming that it is just politically blown out of proportion. Moreover coming from the highest court of the land, the move also assumes a higher level of credibility than any other one conducted by an ad hoc Commission specially created for the purpose by the Administration.

Extrajudicial killing is nothing more but the carrying out of the death penalty imposed on a person without passing through the necessary judicial process or beyond the pale of law. Enforced disappearance is just a method of implementing the said death penalty imposed in the same manner. It is resorted to in-order to ensure the successful execution of the penalty and the concealment of the executioners’ identity. A “disappearance” occurs where someone who is believed targeted for extrajudicial execution does not reappear alive. His ultimate fate is thereafter unknown or never fully confirmed. These acts can be categorized as murder, homicide or kidnapping with murder except that they are usually committed by either the State government or State authorities like the armed forces and police or by criminal outfits against leading political, trade union, dissident and/or social figures. The example of extrajudicial killings by the State authorities as cited in Wikipedia is that of Liberia under Charles Taylor. Extrajudicial killings by criminal outfits are best exemplified by the Italian Mafia.

This internet encyclopedia also says that extrajudicial killing is actually just a form of the more comprehensive extrajudicial punishment which is any physical punishment without the permission of the court or legal authority. Agents of a State may sometimes carry out this type of punishment upon concluding that a person is an imminent threat to security. The existence of extrajudicial punishment is considered proof that some governments will break their own laws if deemed necessary. If individuals or groups are deemed imminently threatening to national security, or simply undesirable to a government’s ability to govern even in times of comparative stability, they are targeted for punishment or killing extra-judicially by some regimes or their representatives.

But it is not only governments or their agents that resort to extrajudicial punishment. Non-governmental or non-state groups or individuals, including private persons, have also resorted to the different forms of extrajudicial punishment. In such cases, their actions are more properly called assassination, murder or vigilantism. Their motives usually vary, from creating instability in the government they want to replace, to meting out justice that they cannot obtain under our long drawn out, expensive and sometimes double standards of justice or purely out of personal vendetta.

Extrajudicial punishment by the State especially extrajudicial killings and disappearances are usually carried out swiftly and covertly by skilled secret security forces. It has to be done in this manner to avoid massive public outcry and even international criticism that would reflect badly on the State. But it can also be done openly by uniformed security forces. They usually kill their target under circumstances that make the killing appear as self defense by planting recently fired weapons near the body of the victim. Or they may fabricate evidence suggesting suicide. In such instances it is really hard to prove that the shooters acted wrongly especially because of the dangers inherent in any armed confrontation where police or soldiers who would strongly and genuinely prefer to take their target alive may still kill him allegedly to protect themselves or civilian bystanders (Please see Wikipedia on the internet).

Undoubtedly, extrajudicial punishments and killings/disappearances are happening in many parts of the world especially in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. It cannot also be denied that they are happening here. So many journalists, media men, left leaning activists and even judges have been gunned down in broad daylight all over the country. While their perpetrators have not been identified because the execution is carried out swiftly and covertly, other incidents have occurred showing the hand of the state security forces. We have the infamous Kuratong Baleleng massacre, the hacienda Luisita killings of labor leaders, the Ortigas Ave. shootout that killed scions of wealthy families suspected as carnappers, and the recent Jonas Burgos disappearance. But also implicated in many extrajudicial killings are non-governmental actors and groups. In the 1980, the NPAs had their death squads known as the Sparrow Units that were responsible for the killings of government officials, police and military members. In the south, we have the Abu Sayyaf that have perpetrated and sowed so much death and cruelty in their area of operation and the Muslim rebels.

Undoubtedly, these extrajudicial punishments violate basic human rights, more specifically, the right to due process of law, the right to be presumed innocent, the right against unreasonable arrests and seizures, and the right against cruel and unusual punishment.

Hence whatever may the motive of these extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, they can never be justified because they are without legal authority and violate human rights. But with the enactment of the Human Security Act of 2007 (R.A. 9372), it is hoped that extrajudicial punishment may be abated because the state authorities will be properly guided by the said law. Although there are still fears of possible human rights violations and its use as tools against administration critics, the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) can allay those fears.

Maybe after the scheduled summit, the rules that may be adopted by the Supreme Court can serve as the IRR.

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