Aquino not content with PNP efforts vs private armies

President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday said he is not content with police efforts to crush private armed groups or private armies nationwide. On the first anniversary of a massacre largely blamed on the existence of private armed groups, Aquino said the Philippine National Police (PNP) should exert greater efforts in dismantling such organizations. “I’m not content. I want to see people arrested, I want to see arms confiscated, and I want to see people brought to jail," Aquino said at a press conference in Laguna. He, however, said police have achieved “some measure of success" as evidenced by the lower incidence of poll-related violence during the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections last October 25. Aquino said he has been asking for updates from the PNP leadership on the development of their efforts ever since he took over the presidency last June 30. Aquino made the statement on the anniversary of the November 23 massacre in Maguindanao where at least 57 people were killed by dozens of armed men believed to be members of the private army of the Ampatuan clan. Aquino and some of his close aides wore black arm bands in solidarity with the nationwide commemoration of what is considered as the worst politically motivated crime incident in the country. EO 546 Also in the day, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) asked Aquino to revoke an executive order issued by the previous administration legitimizing private armies. CHR chairperson Loretta “Etta" Rosales also asked the Aquino administration to order the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate local government executives, the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to find out if they have something to do with the continued existence of militiamen in the country. “The President should order the dissolution of all private armies.... We are requesting President Benigno Aquino III to act with all deliberate speed," Rosales said at a press conference in Quezon City. Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Executive Order 546 directing the PNP to give more active support to military operations by deputizing civilian volunteers in areas where rebel groups thrive. Rosales said the Aquino administration should also look into whether public funds were being used to directly or indirectly arm private armed groups, and if so, find the sources of these funds. She said there should be a “thorough review" of the operations undertaken by the paramilitary units activated supposedly as multiplier force for the government’s fight against rebel groups. The Alston report She noted the human rights report released by Special Rapporteur Phillip Alston in 2005, which mentioned, among others, that the Arroyo administration was in a state of “almost total denial" regarding extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. Arroyo, however, created late last year an independent commission – the Independent Commission Against Private Armies (ICAPA) under retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Monina Zeñarosa – tasked to dismantle private armies in the aftermath of the Maguindanao massacre. The panel ended its tour of duty on May 2010. Rosales, meanwhile, also appealed to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and other concerned agencies to set up a psychological recovery and social integration program for members of the militia groups. Likewise, traumatized families left behind by victims of the massacre and other extra-legal killings should be assisted for their psychological well-being, Rosales said. - KBK, GMANews.TV