EDITORIAL - Acknowledging a problem

In 2007, a special rapporteur of the United Nations said the Armed Forces of the Philippines was in “almost total denial” about the involvement of its members in extrajudicial killings. Philip Alston made the remark as the AFP insisted that most of the hundreds of left-leaning activists listed as human rights victims were killed in legitimate military counterinsurgency operations.

Alston, who spent two weeks in the country gathering information about the human rights situation, observed that there was no state-sponsored systematic violation of human rights. He also noted human rights violations committed by the communist New People’s Army. But he said the failure to catch and punish human rights violators in the AFP bred “virtual impunity.”

A focus of complaints at the time by human rights groups was Army general Jovito Palparan, dubbed The Butcher, who was the military commander when two students of the University of the Philippines went missing in Bulacan.

Palparan is now held without bail for the kidnapping, illegal detention, torture and disappearance of the two students. But even under the watch of President Aquino, AFP members continue to be accused of involvement in human rights violations, including torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. Military personnel are believed responsible for several murders of environmental activists and journalists since 2010.

The human rights situation, according to a recent report, has led to millions of dollars in reductions in US assistance to the Philippines. While improvements in the human rights situation have been noted under the Aquino administration, impunity persists because of the weakness in going after rights violators, according to the report. 

The AFP branded the report yesterday as a rehash of old issues. Alston observed nearly eight years ago that dealing with the problem starts with the acknowledgment of its existence. The advice is worth bearing in mind for the AFP.