By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

MANILA, Philippines – According to a report released by the Interior Department, the number of extrajudicial killings of activists and journalists has decreased by eighty-three percent from the previous year. The Philippine National Police recorded seven killings in 2007, compared with forty-one in 2006. The Interior Department stressed that the sharp decrease “underlines the Arroyo government’s strong commitment to human rights and its firm resolve to put an end to these unexplained killings.”

The killings have been suspected to the work of the Arroyo administration in order to silence critics and leftists. The Human Right Watch has described the extrajudicial killings as a “dirty war” against leftists and journalists.

Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, said the Filipino authorities “are much more interested in discussing numbers, but we really have not seen one of the most important developments we’re waiting for, and that’s the prosecution of senior members of the military.”   Richardson added that the lack of prosecution demonstrates that the “culture of impunity” has not changed at all.

The culture of impunity is quite apparent in Bicol, Philippines. In Bicol, there have been 157 cases of extrajudicial killings since 2001, and none have been solved. Sonia Sta. Rosa, widow of murdered activist pastor Isaias Sta. Rosa, said, “I cannot trust government agencies to pursue justice for us. Of course, they will not cook themselves in their own oil. We do not know who to turn to now.” Sta. Rosa’s case was one of two that made it to the court system, but it was junked anew by the Albay Prosecutor’s Office.

Victim’s families have other recourses for their cases with the United Nations Tribunal and Joint Monitoring Committee of the government and the communist-led National Democratic front. However, the other venues have been criticized for giving “orchestrated and planned results.”

The Philippine government has charged persons in twenty-two cases thus far. Most of those accused are former members of the Communist New People’s Army, while only one soldier was charged. The Philippine government has contended the Communists were behind the murders. United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings, Philip Alston, had earlier stated the claim is “unconvincing.”

Several human right groups like Karapatan, Promotion of Church People’s Response, and Hustisya-Bikol have sponsored the first series of meetings to be held across the country to unite victim’s families and basic sectors in order to achieve justice.

For more information, please see:

Inquirer – Extrajudicial Killings Victims’ Kin Losing Hope – 14 January 2008

International Herald Tribune – Killing Activists and Journalists Drops in Philippines – 14 January 2008

The New York Times – Philippines: Decline in Killings – 15 January 2008