MANILA, Philippines — Rampant corruption continues because of government’s failure to implement laws that penalize corrupt officials even as it frequently denies access to information sought by public investigations into anomalies in government transactions.
This is the conclusion of the US Department of State in its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in 2008.
In the section on the Philippines, the report described the culture of corruption in government agencies and the judiciary as among the reasons violations of basic human rights persist in the country.
"The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption; however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and officials often engaged in corrupt practices with impunity," the report said.
"The law provides for the right to information on matters of public concern. However, denial of such information often occurred when the information related to an anomaly or irregularity in government transactions. Much government information was not available electronically and was difficult to retrieve."
On a brighter note, the report said a number of public officials were also prosecuted last year and the anti-graft court handed down a number of convictions.
Although the report covered incidents in 2008 while George W. Bush was still the US president, the report's general introduction referred to the policy of his successor, Barack Obama, on human rights, which warned corrupt and repressive governments.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed the report, which stressed that the "promotion of human rights is an essential piece of [US] foreign policy."
The State Department noted that extrajudicial killings by both state security forces and anti-government insurgents persisted even as their numbers dropped in 2008 due to reforms put in place amid domestic and international pressure on the government.
It also took note that violence against women, abuse of children, child prostitution, trafficking in persons, child labor, and ineffective enforcement of workers’ rights were "common".
The report said the use of child soldiers by the New People's Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, as well as the rebels' use of a "people's court" to execute "defendants" like government officials, soldiers, and policemen were a cause for concern.
The report stressed that "corruption was a problem throughout the criminal justice system."
It said the failure of the judiciary to act on majority of disappearances "contributed to a climate of impunity and undermined public confidence in the justice system."
The report added: "The judicial system suffered from corruption and inefficiency. Personal ties and sometimes bribery resulted in impunity for some wealthy or influential offenders and contributed to widespread skepticism that the judicial process could ensure due process and equal justice."
Widespread corruption, the State Department said, has led to the dismissal of a number of cases.
Nonetheless, it took note of the fact that Chief Justice Reynato Puno himself has made available the "writ of amparo" as a refuge for citizens in need of court protection as having contributed to the reduction in killings.
"The Supreme Court continued efforts to ensure speedier trials, sanction judicial malfeasance, increase judicial branch efficiency, and raise public confidence in the judiciary," the report said, noting that the high court dismissed an appellate court justice and disciplined four others for their involvement in a bribery scandal.
The US report also described the judiciary as "independent and impartial in civil matters."
"Complainants have access to local trial courts to seek damages for, or cessation of, human rights abuses," the report said.
The State Department cited statistics from the Commission on Human Rights, which investigated 173 new complaints of killings in 2008, 67 cases of which were classified as "politically motivated."
Statistics the report culled from the Philippine National Police’s Task Force Usig showed that there were only 146 cases of killings recorded since 2001, six of which occurred in 2008; 90 cases were filed in court, with only one conviction during the year.
The report also cited the human rights group, Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights), as saying there were 69 political killings last year.
Even as the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines conducted human rights training among its men, the State Department said that "human rights groups and the CHR noted little progress in implementing and enforcing some reforms."
"For example, cooperation and coordination between police and prosecutors continued to be a problem. Funding for the CHR and the government witness protection programs was considered inadequate," the report said.
The report said other human rights violations common in the country last year included:
• The use of excessive force and torture as part of arrest and detention process;
• The primitive conditions in jails and detention centers; and
• Sex tourism and trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation and forced labor.
Bayan (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, New Patriotic Alliance) secretary-general Renato Reyes, Jr. told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) that the State Department report merely "scratched the surface" with its "enumeration of events and issues."
Unlike the report of the United Nations rapporteur on human rights, Philip Alston, Reyes said the State Department report failed to provide an "in-depth analysis" of government policies that led to human rights violations.
Reyes also "wondered" why the State Department did not use Karapatan's data as its main source of information for its report when the organization has documented human rights violations.
Reyes noted that Karapatan is an affiliate of Bayan, which has consistently been anti-US.
"Despite these problems, one thing is clear though: Human rights violations persist. This includes killings, abductions, harassment, trumped up charges, et cetera. Even if the numbers appeared to decline, the abuses are still there," Reyes said.
