Monitors say Aquino failing on human rights

Relatives of the disappeared and human rights advocates call for justice and government action on their missing loved ones. RICHARD REYES/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—International human rights monitors said Thursday that President Benigno Aquino had failed to deliver on his campaign pledge to end a culture of impunity, a year into his rule.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in separate reports that political killings, abductions and torture, many of them blamed on the security forces, have continued since Aquino took office on June 30 last year.

In particular, they cited Aquino’s failure to curb traffic in unlicensed guns and his refusal to disband paramilitary forces that help the regular security forces, amid charges certain politicians used them as private armies.

“One year on… genuinely effective measures to investigate and prosecute those responsible for serious human rights violations by the military and police have fallen short,” New York-based Human Rights Watch said.

Despite evidence of military involvement in some of these cases, police investigations have stalled and they have failed to arrest suspects, it added.

Both watchdogs took note of reforms put in place by Aquino, such as improvements in the witness protection program and investigative procedures.

However, Aquino had failed to establish accountability among his own officers, said Aurora Parong, country director for London-based Amnesty.

“Aquino has shown that human rights are still not a priority for his administration,” Parong said in a statement.

Both groups said Aquino must disarm all “private armies”, even those that actually fight communist or Muslim insurgencies.

The powerful Ampatuan political clan allegedly used its private army in November 2009 to abduct and murder 57 people, including political opponents and a group of journalists, in Maguindanao.

While senior members of the clan are currently on trial over the killings — the country’s worst political massacre — more than 100 other suspects remain at large, Human Rights Watch said.