IBP seeks NBI probe of rights lawyer's killing in Nueva Vizcaya

Even as it condemned the incident, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines asked the National Bureau of Investigation late Tuesday to look into the killing of a human rights lawyer in Nueva Vizcaya. Radio dzRH reported late Tuesday that the IBP's provincial chapter is also drafting an open letter to President-elect Benigno Simeon Aquino III to solve the killing of Ernesto Salunat. The IBP said it wants the NBI to conduct a parallel investigation, as the Philippine National Police is already looking into the case. Police are presently exploring the theory that a land dispute case being handled by Salunat could be a motive behind the killing. For their part, militants urged Aquino to deal a "decisive blow" against impunity following the killing of Salunat. Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said Aquino can take the first step by going after outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her "goons in uniform." "The last few days of Arroyo’ reign has seen a rise in the number of extrajudicial killings, the frequency of which is reminiscent of 2006 and 2007. Killings are happening every week around the country. Three activists, three journalists and a human rights lawyer have been killed from May 19 up to the present," said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr., in an article posted on the Bayan website. Unidentified gunmen shot dead Salunat at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday in front of the municipal trial court in Solano town. Salunat sustained a gunshot wound in the neck. [See: Human rights lawyer shot dead in Nueva Vizcaya] Spate of killings Bayan noted Salunat’s death followed the killings of three journalists, as well as the murders of three activists including a union leader in Laguna and a human rights worker in Negros Occidental. "Impunity and extrajudicial killings will be the indelible legacy of the Arroyo regime. The incoming Aquino administration must face this problem head on, before there are any more deaths," Reyes said. Bayan claimed Mrs. Arroyo and her officials have masterminded, implemented and tolerated the systematic killings of activists over the last nine years. Government officials have since denied such allegations. The militant group blamed the rise in activist deaths on the government’s counter-insurgency policy that targets unarmed activists. Also, it blamed Mrs. Arroyo for the government’s failure to bring to justice the perpetrators of journalist killings and other human rights abuses. "We hope President Aquino would act swiftly after his inauguration because the killings are taking place every week," he added. Human rights group Karapatan has estimated the killings to number at more than 1,000 and with some 200 cases of enforced disappearances and numerous cases of torture and illegal arrests. — RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV