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Govt to form new task force on extrajudicial killings


The government will form a new task force that will review all reported and unresolved cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III said Friday. In his speech during the 62nd anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in Malacañang, Aquino said Justice Secretary Leila de Lima will sign a department order creating the task force. "Through the reviews, they will recommend measures for the effective and expeditious investigation and prosecution of the cases. Moreover, this task force has been mandated to speed up the resolution of cases with sufficient evidence and the necessary re-investigation to re-open cold files," Aquino said. The new body, to be created on Monday, will investigate cases of extrajudicial killings during the nine-year Arroyo administration, De Lima later told Justice reporters in an interview in Manila. In the same interview, De Lima said the task force will investigate cases of extrajudicial killings "from 2001 to 2009, during the past administration." "It does not violate the equal protection clause [of the 1987 Constitution]," said De Lima, in an apparent reference to the recent Supreme Court's decision that struck down Aquino's Executive Order No. 1 for being unconstitutional. The controversial EO created the Truth Commission that would have investigated alleged corruption scandals that plagued the administration of former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Based on the records of human rights group Karapatan, there were 1,991 victims of extrajudicial killings, 205 victims of enforced disappearance, 1,208 victims of torture, and hundreds of thousands displaced in rural areas due to military operations under the nine-year Arroyo administration. During her term, then President Arroyo formed Task Force Usig as well as the Melo Commission, headed by former Supreme Court Associate Justice and retiring Elections chair Jose Melo, to investigate extrajudicial killings. Among the Melo Commission's findings was that retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan and some military elements could be held liable for failing to prevent, punish or condemn the killing of political activists under the principle of command responsibility. But extrajudicial killings continued in the Aquino administration, with at least three activists — Bayan Muna Aklan coordinator Fernando Baldomero, Anakpawis leader Pascual Guevarra, and public school teacher and Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) member Mark Francisco — being murdered in the first few weeks of Aquino's term alone. Two provincial broadcasters, Jose Daguio in Kalinga and Miguel Belen in Camarines Sur, were killed during Aquino’s first week in office. In his speech, Aquino said a murder charge has been filed against two suspects in Belen's killing before the Regional Trial Court of Iriga City while Daguio's case has already been set for initial hearing. Aquino, the son of the late democracy icons senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. and former President Corazon Aquino, said he is committed to upholding human rights as his father was also a victim of human rights violations during the Marcos dictatorship. Aquino also ordered in his speech the withdrawal of charges against the so-called Morong 43, detained health workers accused of being communist rebels. "The people have clamored for a government that is trustworthy and transparent in its actions, and we are taking significant steps toward fulfilling that promise to them. Violators of human rights will be held accountable for their actions, and the state will protect, with unflagging commitment, the rights of all its citizens," he president. — RSJ/JV, GMANews.TV

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