IPU to Senate, House: Adopt Alston resolution on killings
By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:29:00 05/08/2008
Filed Under: political killings, Human Rights
MANILA, Philippines -- The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has unanimously adopted a resolution calling on both the House of Representatives and the Senate to ensure a follow-up on the recommendations of a United Nations special envoy on resolving the extrajudicial killings and disappearances in the country.
The resolution filed by Bayan Muna Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño, Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran, Gabriela Women’s Partylist Representative Liza Maza and former congressmen Joel Virador and Rafael Mariano was adopted during the IPU’s Governing Council last April 18 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Copies of the resolution were released to media on Thursday by Ocampo’s office.
In his report on the country’s extrajudicial killings and disappearances, Professor Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, recommended, among others, the abolition of the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG); for the criminal justice system to refocus on the investigation and prosecution of perpetrators of extrajudicial killings and other serious crimes; and for the Supreme Court to exercise its “constitutional powers over the practice of law.”
The IPU resolution then called on authorities, particularly the House and the Senate, to ensure follow-up “on Alston’s recommendations.”
It also expressed its “deep” concern on various criminal cases still pending against the parliamentarians concerned, citing for instance, the multiple murder case filed against Ocampo in February 2007 and the obstruction of justice filed against Casiño in May 2007.
The two, along with the four others, were charged with rebellion for allegedly conspiring with the communist rebels in 2006 to topple the Arroyo administration. But their case was later dismissed by the Supreme Court.
The resolution expressed fears that all these proceedings might be part of an ongoing effort by the government through IALAG to remove the parliamentarians and their political parties from the democratic political process.
It also called on the House to exercise its oversight power and to monitor closely the proceedings in the cases in question in order to ensure due administration of justice.
The IPU remained confident, however, that in dealing with these cases, the prosecution and the judicial authorities would abide by their duty not to proceed with any case on the basis of political considerations.
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