Palace blasts Alston report before UN review

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines branded as "inaccurate, highly selective, and biased" the report of United Nations rapporteur Philip Alston on extra-judicial killings and other rights violations in the Philippines. Philippine permanent representative to Geneva Erlinda Basilio relayed to the 8th Session of the UN's Human Rights Council the Philippine government's "deep disappointment" over Alston's final report. "The Philippines finds that the report and the recommendations of Professor Alston are inaccurate, highly selective, and biased. The report neither provides a complete picture nor a fair assessment of the situation in the Philippines. Nevertheless, the Philippines remains committed to its state responsibility to resolve verifiable and legitimate cases of extrajudicial killings whoever may be the perpetrators, whether members of rebel groups or members of the military and police," she said before the session. But she said that despite Alston's report, the government would continue to investigate and prosecute human rights violations committed by men in uniform. On the other hand, militant rights groups who went to Geneva said Alston stood by his findings. In addressing the UN HRC, Basilio said that after a "careful" study by the Philippine government, the allegations of extra-judicial killings have been "exaggerated for political purposes." "Prof. Alston was unduly selective, readily accepting information from specific leftist groups while easily dismissing information provided not only by government agencies but also from other human rights defenders and government critics who do not fall under the persuasion of his favored group - the Communist Party of the Philippines/ New People's Army/ National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF)," she said. Basilio also noted Alston has criticized government officials for calling his favored group "Communist Terrorist Movement" and for "legitimizing a turn from negotiations to counter-insurgency." "We wish to remind Prof. Alston that his favored group is in the terrorist list of both the European Union and the United States. In fact, his favored group was the one that broke off peace negotiations; but, we would also like to ask Prof. Alston: Is counter-insurgency illegitimate under international law?" she said. Basilio likewise questioned Alston's "aversion for information coming from the government" such as the Philippine National Police's Task Force Usig. "Alston readily accepted information from supporters of rebel groups while casually dismissing information provided by the government," she said. "While Prof. Alston had no time to waste on documentations that would disprove the allegations, he had plenty of energy to go over documentations to support the allegations," she added. "To conclude, and for reasons stated in the foregoing, I wish to reiterate that my government's has a number of serious concerns on Prof. Alston's report and recommendations," she said. But the militant UPR Watch said in a statement from Geneva dated June 4 that Alston stood by his findings on the Philippine killings. "I am simply being faithful in playing my role as an honest broker," he said in the statement, which was posted on online news site Samar News (www.samarnews.com/news2008/jun/f1673.htm). He stood by his findings that so many of the cases remained unexplained, that only a few cases have been prosecuted and that there has been no conviction of military personnel involved so far. For its part, UPR Watch said its delegation was "astonished at the continuing denials, twisting of facts, unabashed name-calling and even ad hominem arguments of the Philippine Mission to the conclusions and observations of Prof. Alston." The delegation includes Fr. Rex Reyes of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, Marie Hilao Enriquez of Karapatan, lawyer Edre Olalia of NUPL, Edith Burgos of Desaparecidos, Donnie Mapanao of Migrante-Switzerland, Trisha Garvida of Karapatan and union leader Ed Cubelo. - GMANews.TV