MANILA, Philippines—The administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has failed to institutionalize reforms recommended two years ago by the United Nations’ special rapporteur to put a stop to extrajudicial killings.

And the President’s statement that the Armed Forces should end the insurgency “once and for all” by 2010 remains the justification of military officials in tagging political and civil society organizations as fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).

These are some of the observations made by Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, summary or arbitrary executions, in a 16-page report dated April 29 and submitted to the UN Human Rights Council.

“Overall, the most important shortcoming has been the government’s failure to institutionalize or implement the many necessary reforms that have been identified,” Alston said.

“In the absence of such steps, the progress that has been made remains fragile and easily reversed,” he said, adding:

“The government’s formal actions in response to the special rapporteur’s recommendations have been symbolic, and lack the substantive and preventive dimensions necessary to end the culture of impunity.”

The report is a follow-up to Alston’s findings and recommendations published in April 2008, or more than a year after his February 2007 investigation of the killings and disappearances of activists and journalists largely blamed on state security forces.

Alston said the follow-up report was based on information provided by the Philippine government, on consultations with domestic and international civil society groups, and on publicly available reports and materials.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer obtained a soft copy of the report from the human rights group Karapatan, which said it would be taken up in the 11th session of the UN Human Rights Council on June 2-18.

Davao Death Squad

In his follow-up report, Alston took note of the rise in killings ascribed to the Davao Death Squad, and the failure of the local and national governments to end the culture of impunity.

He said Ms Arroyo should be more transparent on what “concrete steps have or have not been taken” by her administration and the AFP to end measures in the counterinsurgency campaign that had led to the execution of civilians.

“Moreover, forced disappearances and illegal detentions remain all too common, as does the bringing of trumped-up charges against Filipino activists and human rights abuse victims,” he said.

Also contrary to Alston’s recommendation, the government has yet to abolish the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group.

Alston said the group’s main purpose was to prosecute members of the CPP, “many of whom will not be reachable by legal processes.”

“The temptation to execute such individuals thus remains,” he said.

‘Deserving of credit’

But Alston said the government still “deserves credit” for enacting reforms that partially fulfilled his recommendations.

Particularly, he said, the government had sent a strong, albeit informal, message to the military, “which resulted in a significant decrease in the number of killings,” and had issued “strong policy statements” affirming its commitment against extrajudicial executions.

Alston noted that from the 220 reported deaths in 2006, the figures dropped to 94 in 2007 and 64 in 2008.

“[But] while current levels are significantly lower than before, they still remain a cause for great alarm, and reflect the failure to make the recommended structural reforms,” he said.

Alston also said the CPP, including its political wing, the National Democratic Front, and the NPA, had failed to stop its own killing of civilians with purported “blood debts” or “accountabilities to the people.”

Palparan

Nevertheless, Alston said, the principle of command responsibility had not been applied in the purported human rights violations by state agents.

He said one proof was the report that retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan—the alleged “berdugo” (butcher) of activists—was to be appointed to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. (Palparan is now a representative of the party-list group Bantay in Congress.)

He noted that the Witness Protection Program had not been improved since 2007—“one of the most significant causes of continued impunity in the Philippines.”

According to Alston, the government has not taken steps to implement policies that would allow a congressional oversight of the military and the police.

He said “a congressional oversight could be the entry point for much needed reforms” in the military and police, as well as “for generally promoting a human rights-based approach in the security sector.”

He noted that there had been only one successful government prosecution of a perpetrator of an extrajudicial killing, and no conviction at all of any member of the military for the killing of activists, even if an enlisted man had been arrested for the 2005 murder of activist Ricardo Ramos.

Disparity in numbers

Alston noted with curiosity that while the government had claimed that a long judicial process prevented it from prosecuting suspected killers of activists, the same did not appear to be an obstacle in the cases of slain journalists.

He said there remained a “great disparity” in the number of extrajudicial killings recorded by civil society and those acknowledged by the government. (As of March 2008, Karapatan recorded 882 killings since 2001; the police’s Task Force Usig counted only 146.)

He added that the Office of the Ombudsman had done little to respond to the killings, while the lack of resources continued to hamper the work of an otherwise “more vocal” Commission on Human Rights.

High court responsive

Alston also said the Supreme Court had been responsive to the recommendations, particularly in issuing the writs of amparo and habeas data.

But the writ of amparo “appears to remain underutilized, and even misunderstood in some courts,” while the writ of habeas data has been untested because of the financial costs it entails, he said.

“The Supreme Court should be encouraged to further develop the effectiveness of these measures of relief,” Alston said.

He said the high court had yet to use its “constitutional powers over the practice of law to impress upon prosecutors their duty to uphold and protect human rights and to provide reasoned decisions for probable cause determinations.”