Group wants PH human rights issue on agenda in Obama-Aquino meeting

President Barack Obama. ' Photo by ELTON LUGAY

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on US President Barack Obama to get President Benigno Aquino to bring to justice soldiers and policemen who have been implicated in rights abuses when they meet in the White House on Saturday.

“Obama needs to speak frankly with Aquino about addressing Philippine security forces’ abusive record,” John Sifton, HRW’s Asia advocacy director, said in a statement issued Thursday.

“Accountability for abuses is not only a matter of justice for victims, but vital for the Philippines’ future as a rights-respecting democracy,” Sifton said.

The HRW deplored the lack of accountability for perpetrators of rights abuses in the Philippines, including military and police officials.

The group noted the continued failure of the police and the military to arrest retired Major General Jovito Palparan Jr., who had been implicated in the disappearance of two University of the Philippines students.

Funds withheld

The HRW said the US Congress had withheld $2 million to $3 million a year in aid to the Philippines because of extrajudicial killings.

The funds would be released only when the US secretary of state could certify that the Philippine government was taking effective steps to prosecute those responsible for the killings, and could sustain the decline in the number of killings. The government must also strengthen institutions working to stop extrajudicial killings.

But the Philippines has not done enough to warrant the release of the funds, HRW said. The US Department of State did not grant a request of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs to certify compliance in May.

Sifton said Mr. Aquino should start taking steps to stop the killings and go after the killers.

“Rather than arguing, making promises, and offering excuses, President Aquino should focus on ending and prosecuting extrajudicial executions,” he said. “He should let actions do the talking.”

US military presence

The HRW said the US military’s growing presence in Asia should not stop Obama from talking about human rights issues in the Philippines.

The Philippines and the United States hold regular joint military exercises. US troops have also provided help in going after the Abu Sayyaf bandits in Basilan and Sulu.

In a recent periodic review in the United Nations Human Rights Council, the United States called on the Philippines to end impunity for extrajudicial killings and to take control of paramilitary forces that have been implicated in abuses.

The HRW said Mr. Obama should tell Mr. Aquino he was concerned about the use of paramilitary forces controlled by the military or local officials in the Philippines.

Campaign promise

The group recalled Mr. Aquino’s campaign promise to scrap an executive order that allowed the creation of private armies. Mr. Aquino has yet to deliver on that promise, the HRW said.

“Ending abuses entails real changes,” Sifton said. “Accountability in the long term means ensuring that security forces are professional, subject to regular command, and disciplined under the rule of law.”