Extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances in the Philippines

Extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances in the Philippines refer to the illegal liquidations, unlawful or felonious killings and forced disappearances in the Philippines. These are forms of extrajudicial punishment, and include – extra-judicial executions, summary executions, arbitrary arrest and detentions, and failed prosecutions due to political activities of leading political, trades union, dissident and/or social figures, left-wing political parties, non-governmental organizations, political journalists, outspoken clergy, anti-mining activists, agricultural reform activists, members of legal political parties or organizations that the military claims are allied with the communist movement or suspected supporters of the NPA and its political wing, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)  by either the state government, state authorities like the armed forces and police (as in Liberia under Charles G. Taylor), or by criminal outfits such as the Italian Mafia.

Aside from the Philippines, extra-judicial killings, death squads and desaparecidos are most common in the Middle East (mostly in Palestine and Iraq), inter alia.

Former Philippine Senate President Jovito Salonga enumerated 3 main / current problems of the Philippines: poverty, graft and corruption in government and society, and increasing criminality including extra-judicial killings.

Nature
Philippine extra-judicial killings are politically-motivated murders committed by government officers, punished  by local and international law or convention. They include: assassinations; deaths due to strafing or indiscriminate firing; massacre; summary execution is done if the victim becomes passive before the moment of death (i.e. forcible abduction leading to death); assassination means forthwith or instant killing while massacre is akin to genocide or mass extermination; thus, killings occurred in many regions or places throughout the Philippines in different times - 136 killings in Southern Tagalog region were recorded by human rights group Karapatan from 2001 to May 19, 2006.

A forced disappearance (desaparecidos), on the other hand, as form of extrajudicial punishment is perpetrated by government officers, when any of its public officers abducts an individual, to vanish from public view, resulting to murder or plain sequestration. The victim is first kidnapped, then illegally detained in concentration camps, often tortured, and finally executed and the corpse hidden. In Spanish and Portuguese, "disappeared people" are called desaparecidos, a term which specifically refers to the mostly South American victims of state terrorism during the 1970s and the 1980s, in particular concerning Operation Condor. In the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, "Enforced disappearance" is defined in Article 2 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture as "the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law."

Even if Philippine Republic Act No. 7438 provides for the rights of persons arrested, detained, it does not punish acts of enforced disappearances. Thus, on August 27, Bayan Muna (People First), Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP), and Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) filed House Bill 2263 - “An act defining and penalizing the crime of enforced or involuntary disappearance.” Sen. Jinggoy Estrada  also filed last June 30, 2007, Senate Bill No. 7 - “An Act Penalizing the Commission of Acts of Torture and Involuntary Disappearance of Persons Arrested, Detained or Under Custodial Investigation, and Granting Jurisdiction to the Commission on Human Rights to Conduct Preliminary Investigation for Violation of the Custodial Rights of the Accused, Amending for this Purpose Sections 2, 3 and 4 of RA 7438, and for Other Purposes.”


 * For extrajudicial executions see also Assassination 

Marcos regime
In 1995 10,000 Filipinos won a U.S. class-suit against the Marcos estate. The charges were filed by victims or their surviving relatives for torture, execution and disappearances. Human rights groups placed the number of victims of extra-judicial killings under martial law at 1500 and over 800 abductions; Karapatan (a local human rights group's) records show 759 involuntarily disappeared (their bodies never found). Military historian Alfred McCoy in his book "Closer than Brothers: Manhood at the Philippine Military Academy" and in his speech "Dark Legacy" cites 3,257 extrajudicial killings, 35,000 torture victims, and 70,000 incarcerated during the Marcos years. The newspaper "Bulatlat" places the number of victims of arbitrary arrest and detention at 120,000. Alfred W. McCoy (b. 1945) is a historian and a Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned his B.A. from Columbia College, and his Ph.D in Southeastern Asian history from Yale University.

The New People's Army (NPA) groups known as "Sparrow Units" were active in the mid-1980s, killing government officials, police personnel, military members, and anyone else they targeted for elimination. They were also part of an NPA operation called "Agaw Armas" (Filipino for "Stealing Weapons"), where they raided government armories as well as stealing weapons from slain military and police personnel. A low level civil war with south Moslems, Al-Qaeda sympathizers and communist insurgents has led to a general break down of law and order. The Philippines government has promised to curb the killings, but is itself implicated in many of the killings.

Since 1975, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was deeply concerned in politics. Because of the armed conflict, the military continued its campaign versus the New People’s Army of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Since 1969 it aimed to establish a Marxist regime with armed Rebellion against the government. On top of all these chaos, left-wing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were/are critical of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration. The members who associated with the CPP and NPA had been targeted as victims in the spate of political killings. Human Rights Watch investigated extra-judicial murders in the Philippines in September 2007. 3 major investigation groups were commissioned and their final reports had been submitted and published: the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo government-appointed bodies: a) Task Force Usig created by her on August; as a special police body, it was assigned to solve 10 cases of killings; it claimed having solved 21 cases, by initiating court cases, but only 12 suspects were arrested; b) the Melo Commission (chaired by Supreme Court Associate Justice Jose Melo) with members National Bureau of Investigation Director Nestor Mantaring, Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño, Bishop Juan de dios Pueblos, and Nelia Torres Gonzales; its final report states: "There is no official or sanctioned policy on the part of the military or its civilian superiors to resort to what other countries euphemistically call “alternative procedures”—meaning illegal liquidations. However, there is certainly evidence pointing the finger of suspicion at some elements and personalities in the armed forces, in particular General Palparan, as responsible for an undetermined number of killings, by allowing, tolerating, and even encouraging the killings."(Melo Commission report, p. 53), and c) the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions (February 12 to 21, 2007) - Philip Alston met with government officials, civil society representatives, witnesses of extrajudicial killings, and the family members of victims. Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, is one of the foremost human rights thinkers. He is a Professor at NYU Law School, Director of the law school's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and also the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary executions. Recently, Alston was sent to Brazil to investigate the Complexo do Alemão massacre.

Malacañang's Peace Summit and Puno's Killings Summit

 * Because of the magnitude of Philippine killings and desaparecidos, 22nd Chief Justice Reynato Puno / Supreme Court of the Philippines called a National Consultative Summit on extra-judicial killings on July 16 and 17, 2007 at the Manila Hotel. Invited representatives from the 3 branches of the government participated (including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the PNP, CHR, media, academe, civil society and other stakeholders). On the other hand, the Malacañang-sponsored "Mindanao Peace and Security Summit" (July 8-10, 2007 at Cagayan de Oro City) concentrated on the anti-terror law, or the Human Security Act (HSA) of 2007, to make it more acceptable to the public. At the July 16 summit, Reynato Puno stated that he Commission on Human Rights reported the number of victims at 403 from 2001 to May 31, 2007, while Karapatan reported 863 deaths.


 * Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL), Philippines, a lawyers’ organization stated that since 2001, 26 lawyers and 10 judges were killed due to their professions; 755 civilians had been killed extra-judicially, while 359 survived attacks, but 184 persons were still missing.


 * Archbishop Deogracias Yniguez stated that on the CBCP / Catholic church's count, the number of victims of extra-judicial killings is 778, while survivors of "political assassinations" reached 370; 203 "massacre" were victims, 186, missing or involuntarily disappeared, 502, tortured, or illegally arrested. Yniguez denounced the government's implementation of its Oplan Bantay Laya I and II.

Promulgation of Writs of Amparo and Habeas Data
Because of the inefficacy and insufficiency of the Philippines Writ of Habeas Corpus, on September 25, 2007, Chief Justice Reynato Puno signed and released the Writ of Amparo: "This rule will provide the victims of extralegal killings and enforced disappearances the protection they need and the promise of vindication for their rights. This rule empowers our courts to issue reliefs that may be granted through judicial orders of protection, production, inspection and other relief to safeguard one's life and liberty The writ of amparo shall hold public authorities, those who took their oath to defend the constitution and enforce our laws, to a high standard of official conduct and hold them accountable to our people. The sovereign Filipino people should be assured that if their right to life and liberty is threatened or violated, they will find vindication in our courts of justice'." Puno explained the interim reliefs under amparo: temporary protection order (TPO), inspection order (IO), production order (PO), and witness protection order (WPO, RA 6981). As supplement to Amparo, on August 30 2007, Puno (at Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental) promised to release also the writ of habeas data (“you should have the idea” or “you should have the data”) another new legal remedy to solve the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. Puno explained that the writ of amparo denies to authorities defense of simple denial, and habeas data can find out what information is held by the officer, rectify or even the destroy erroneous data gathered. Brazil used the writ, followed by Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina and Ecuador.


 * On December 3, 2007, Reynato S. Puno stated that the writ released only 3 victims (including Luisito Bustamante, Davao City), since amparo was enforced on October 24: "I would like to think that after the enactment and effectivity (of the writ), the number of extrajudicial killings and disappearances have gone down."


 * On December 17, 2007, Iloilo regional trial court Judge Narciso Aguilar granted a writ of amparo against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and 9 military and police officials to release Nilo Arado and Maria Luisa Posa-Dominado activists abducted on April 12.


 * On December 19, 2007, Dra. Edita Burgos petitioned the Philippine Court of Appeals to issue a writ of amparo against Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr and Army chief Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano regarding her son Jonas's abduction on April 28.


 * On December 27, 2007, the 2nd Division, Court of Appeals 30-page decision penned by Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin granted the writ of amparo filed by Reynaldo and Raymond Manalo, abducted activists.


 * ''For other legal remedies see also Writ of Amparo and Habeas Data (Philippines)

International criticism
On September 28, 2007, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) criticized the Writ of Amparo and Habeas Data (Philippines) for being insufficient: "Though it responds to practical areas it is still necessary that further action must be taken in addition to this. The legislative bodies, House of Representatives and Senate, should also initiate its own actions promptly and without delay. They must enact laws which ensure protection of rights—laws against torture and enforced disappearance and laws to afford adequate legal remedies to victims." AHRC objected since the writ failed to protect non-witnesses, even if they too face threats or risk to their lives.

Alston UN Report

 * Philip Alston submitted his final report on the killings; he found that the Armed Forces of the Philippines killed left-wing activists to get rid off communist insurgents: "the executions had “eliminated civil society leaders, including human rights defenders, trade unionists and land reform advocates, intimidated a vast number of civil society actors, and narrowed the country’s political discourse.” Alston denied for lack of merit the government's claim that killings were perpetrated by communists to exterminate spies and to make negative propaganda versus government. Alston, on February, 2007 stated that the military made alibis or denials on its role about 800 deaths of activists and journalists since 2001. Alston blamed “impunity” which caused the executions of journalists and leftist activists: “the priorities of the criminal justice system had been “distorted,” and had “increasingly focused on prosecuting civil society leaders rather than their killers.” But Alston noted the government's creation of -  special courts to try extra-judicial killings, the Melo Commission and the Philippine National Police’s Task Force Usig.  In the November U.N. Alston report - the killings in 2007 was only 68, huge drop from the 209 murdered in 2006. Karapatan published its report however, listing 830 victims of extra-judicial killings since 2001, under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. On March 1, 2007, the Supreme Court of the Philippines issued Administrative Order No. 25-2007, which created by designation 99 regional trial courts  to try  cases of killings and desaparecidos.

Failed Investigations and Prosecutions

 * The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Execution found that just on paper trails, cases are filed; but Alston officially concluded that “there is a passivity, bordering on an abdication of responsibility, which affects the way in which key institutions and actors approach their responsibilities in relation to such human rights concerns; prosecutors refused to take a role in gathering evidence, and instead being purely passive, waiting for the police to present them with a file; the Ombudsman’s office did almost nothing in recent years in this regard, failing to act in any of the 44 complaints alleging extra-judicial executions attributed to State agents submitted from 2002 to 2006." (“Preliminary note on the visit of the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, to the Philippines (12-21 February 2007),” A/HRC/4/20/Add.3, March 22, 2007, p. 4., etc.)

The Eric G. John and G. Eugene Martin Testimonies

 * On March 14, 2007, Eric G. John, Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs testified before the USA Senate Subcommittee on Foreign Relations at Washington, DC. John submitted his written statement: a) the increase in extrajudicial killings, b) the “Huk Rebellion” in the 1940s and 50s causing thousands of murdered victims; c) the communist New People’s Army (NPA), which was listed in the U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations campaigned to overthrow  the government since 1968; d) Extrajudicial killings by the security forces, the NPA, etc. during the Marcos regime, were less; and e) noted the report of UN Special Rapporteur Alston which submitted the Philippine Government’s recognition of the gravity of the problem, expresses concern about the views of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) regarding the problem,  but much had to be done.


 * G. Eugene Martin, U.S. Institute of Peace Executive Director of the Philippine Facilitation Project, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and submitted to it the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) statement on the killings, a Joint Statement submitted by the World Council of Churches, the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development and the Asian Legal Resource Center (ALRC) to the 6th Human Rights Council. Martin stated that the Philippine government said that it implemented measures to stop the killings, but he submitted that the reforms made did not and will not resolve the killings. Mr. Alston's  March report stated that "the question of resources or technical expertise will partly resolve the killings but the strong risk is that these measures will treat only some of the symptoms of the crisis, and will fail to address meaningfully two of the most important underlying causes of a great many of the killings." (A/HRC/4/20/Add.3, March 22, 2007) Alston named 2 root causes of the killings a) 'vilification', 'labeling’, or guilt by association”  - "characterization of most groups on the left of the political spectrum as ‘front organizations’ for armed groups whose aim is to destroy democracy" making the groups "considered to be legitimate targets; and b) the 2nd cause is the Government’s counter-insurgency strategy's extent of facilitating killings of activists and others.  G. Eugene Martin specifically expanded the 2 causes of the violence and killings: a) weak political and social institutions, corrupt and ineffective judicial system, resulting to failure to obtain justice from corrupt Philippine courts; and b) the legacy of the Ferdinand Marcos regime; Martial law caused the corrupt system where soldiers, police, judges and prosecutors became principals of offenses like extralegal arrest, detention, incarceration, disappearances and killings (salvaging), all permitted or allowed. He traced the spate of violence and killings to political instability of  President Arroyo government; while she created the Independent Commission to Address Media and Activist Killings, Melo Commission, she had no capability  to end the killings, due to her political lameness because of the 2004 election controversy.

FIDH Report

 * 3 FIDH experts, Mr. Nabeel Rajab (Bahrain), Mr. Mouloud Boumghar (France) and Mr. Frédéric Ceuppens (Belgium), came to the Philippines on August 13 to 23, 2007. Their FIDH mission report stated that torture and ill-treatment was widespread versus suspected “terrorists”. The Filipino government is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the UN Convention against Torture (CAT).  The FIDH dismissed the Philippines government's claim doubts that mechanisms  were placed to stop the killings, as it questioned the efficiency of -  the corrupt judiciary, the government “Witness Protection Programme” ; also,  judges and lawyers were victims themselves of killings. It also found the Philippine anti-terrorism law ( “Human Security Act”) to result in more torture and extra-judicial killings as a fight against terrorism.

2008 US Department of State Report
On March 11, 2008, the US Department of State reported that "arbitrary, unlawful arrests and extrajudicial and political killings continued to be a major problem in the Philippines in 2007" (Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2007, Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor March 11, 2008). Washington stated that "many of these killings went unsolved and unpunished despite intensified efforts of the government to investigate and prosecute these cases."

Judicial corruption
On January 25, 2005, and on December 10, 2006, Philippines Social Weather Stations released the results of its 2 surveys on corruption in the judiciary; it published that: a) like 1995, 1/4 of lawyers said many/very many judges are corrupt. But (49%) stated that a judges received bribes, just 8% of lawyers admitted they reported the bribery, because they could not prove it. [Tables 8-9];  judges, however,  said, just 7% call many/very many judges as corrupt[Tables 10-11];b) "Judges see some corruption; proportions who said - many/very many corrupt judges or justices: 17% in reference to RTC judges, 14% to MTC judges, 12% to Court of Appeals justices, 4% i to Shari'a Court judges, 4% to Sandiganbayan justices and 2% in reference to Supreme Court justices [Table 15].

Recent Events

 * On February, 2007, The U.S. ambassador to the Philippines has broken her silence and called on Manila to end extrajudicial killings. On Feb. 27, U.S. ambassador Kristie Kenney U.S. ambassador to the Philippines alerted Mrs. Arroyo as she voiced her call to end these killings: "Let's beef up the human rights in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and make every effort to investigate, prosecute those responsible, [and] exonerate the innocent."


 * On August, 2007, the International Day of the Disappeared, Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) ranked the Philippines among the top eight countries in Asia where forced disappearances of activists are not just rampant but are done with impunity. Sri Lanka heads the list (statement posted on its website (www.ahrchk.net). The activists took part in the recent Human Rights School Session of the AHRC for 2007. The AHRC listed the other countries where forced disappearances take place with impunity: Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Philippines and parts of India.


 * On September, 2007, Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Karapatan secretary-general, formally petitioned the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to direct the Philippine government to stop the extrajudicial killings. She filed the report on 60 cases killings have been recorded by Karapatan from January to June, 2007, alone, with 17 cases of disappearances, 12  of torture and 113,  of illegal arrests.


 * On October 3, 2007 at Tarlac City, 69-year-old Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), or Philippine Independent Church, and a vocal critic of killings under the Arroyo government, was stabbed 7 times and killed.


 * The December 11 2006 Philippines National Police’s Task Force Usig submitted 115 cases of “slain party list /militant members” since 2001, and 26 cases of “mediamen.” The Philippine Daily Inquirer published 299 killings from October 2001 and April 2007 (See e.g. Alcuin Papa, “3 US solons to PNP: Respect human rights,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, April 18, 2007)


 * The December, 2007 year end report of Karapatan (Alliance for the Advance of People’s Rights) noted only 68 extrajudicial killings vis-a-vis year 2006 209 victims. Karapatan also reported 16,307 human rights violations just for 2007 (which include killings to forcible displacement of communities). Therefore, aside from the 887 killings since 2001 under Mrs. Arroyo, Karapatan, just for 2007, underscored  35 victims of political killings; 26, of enforced or involuntary disappearance; 8, of abduction; 29, of torture; 129, of illegal arrest; 116, of illegal detention; 330, of threat, harassment and intimidation; 7,542, of forcible evacuation or displacement, 3,600, of “hamletting”, interalia. As only solution, it petitioned the resignation of Mrs. Arroyo. (with 356 left-wing activists murdered). The Philippines armed forces battled the Communists since 1969, with about 40,000 victims killed, and it had to ward off killings by Muslim radicals. However, Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor, head of Task Force on Political Violence contradicted Karapatan's submission only on the number of killings. PNP's Task Force Usig, according to Blancaflor noted only 141 cases, of which, only 114 are party list members or leftist activists.


 * On December 13, 2007, Philippine Human Rights Commissioner Dominador Calamba III, at the Philippine Working Group for an Asean Human Rights Mechanism forum denounced the failure of the government in its treaty reporting to the United Nations, due to "13 reports overdue." (reports due on implementation of international covenants signed by the Philippines to solve discrimination, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings). Calamba reported 383 killings filed with the CHR, of which 145 were extrajudicial or political in form.


 * On January 1, 2008, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) paid tribute to 171 journalists killed in 2007. Citing data published by International Federation of Journalists: Iraq was number one, with 65 deaths; in the Philippines, 6 journalists killed on 2007 were Hernani Pastolero (Sultan Kudarat), Carmelito Palacios (Nueva Ecija), Dodie Nunez (Cavite), Geruncio "Oscar" Mondejar (Mandaue), Vicente Sumalpong (Tawi-Tawi) and Fernando "Batman" Lintuan (Davao City); 54 journalists were murdered under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In 2006, INSI stated that the Philippines was the 2nd most dangerous country for journalists, next to Iraq, listing 15 work-related journalists murdered. On January 4, 2008, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Asia-Pacific director Jacqueline Park denounced the murders of broadcasters Fernando Lintuan in Davao City and former journalist Romelito Oval, Jr. It petitioned the Philippine government to fully investigate 2007 journalists' killings: "5 journalists as well as Oval were killed in the Philippines in 2007, which is shocking and reveals the extreme dangers that journalists face every day in trying to carry out their work. There will be no press freedom in the Philippines until this (situation) changes."


 * On January 4, 2008, Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran filed House Resolution 299 with the House of Representatives of the Philippines to investigate the murders and harassment of trade union / labor leaders in the Philippines. He cited the 2007 annual Survey of Trade Union Rights Violations of the International Trade Union Confederation: "33 of the total 144 cases of trade union killings worldwide happened in the Philippines; and 800 cases of beatings and torture of trade unionists in the country."


 * On January 9, 2008, PNP Task Force Usig announced that 3 policemen, 11 soldiers and 3 militiamen had been arrested or named suspects in killings of media men and militants since 2001. Director Jefferson P. Soriano submitted the report with the 17 names to PNP chief Avelino Razon. As of December 10, TF Usig prosecuted 113 killings cases of party-list members, leftist activists and 27 journalists.


 * Twin horrible deaths hapenned on / circa the same day last year, January 15, 2007, that the Supreme Court of the Philippines' (logo or seal) was mysteriously burned into halves by an almost one hour afternoon fire.  Despite different appeals by local and international groups, the spate of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines continued. On January 15, 2008, Reynato Puno condemned the murder of Judge Roberto Navidad, Regional Trial Court, Branch 32, Calbayog City, Samar, the 15th judge to be ambushed since July 20, 1999, the 14th under the Arroyo government. Just starting his engine, black Nissan Patrol SUV ( TPL-911), Natividad was shot in the face / left eye, at 7:10 p.m. Monday, by a lone gunman, 5’4" tall and medium-built, wearing black jacket, using a 45 caliber pistol. On Tuesday, Catholic missionary Rey Roda, Oblates of Marry Immaculate (OMI), 54, was shot dead at 8:30 p.m., when he resisted abduction attempt by unidentified 10 armed men in a chapel at ikud Tabawan village, South Ubian, Tawi-Tawi, South Ubian. In February 1997, another OMI leader, Bishop Benjamin de Jesus was shot dead in front of the Jolo cathedral. In 2006, the Asian Human Rights Commission stated that there had been 26 priests, pastors, and churchmen who were liquidate or were victims of violence under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration since 2001. This includes 3 priests who were reported killed just in 2007: Basilio Bautista of the Iglesia Filipina Reform Group, in Surigao del Sur, Indonesian priest Fransiskus Madhu, in Kalinga province, and Catholic priest Florante Rigonan, in Ilocos Norte.  On January 19, 2008, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (quoting from a letter of Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarciso Bertone), announced that Pope Benedict XVI "praised the courage of, and was saddened over the brutal and tragic killing of Fr. Reynaldo Roda in his ministry as head of Notre Dame School." The Pope wrote Jolo Bishop Angelito Lampon: "calls upon the perpetrators to renounce the ways of violence and to play their part in building a just and peaceful society, where all can live together in harmony."


 * On January 16, 2008, the New York-based international democracy watchdog Freedom House dropped or relegated the "freedom status" of the Philippines to partially free from a list of totally free countries. It based its Philippine status downgrade on the spate of political killings, "specifically targeting left-wing political activists in the country, freedom in the sloped downward."


 * On January 18, 2008, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), led by KMP chairman Rafael "Ka Paeng" Mariano (president of the Anakpawis), condemned the January 12 kidnapping and January 16 extrajudicial killing and torture of their farmer and local leader Teldo Rebamonte, 45, Masbate People’s Organization (who was supposed to join the commemoration of the Mendiola Massacre) in Barangay Nabasagan, Concepcion in Claveria, Burias Island, Masbate.


 * On January 23, Karapatan announced that the 2 latest victim of extra-judicial killings were: Tildo Rebamonte, 45, a Claveria, Masbate carpenter, who was gunned down on January 16, 4 days after he was allegedly kidnapped by the Philippine National Police’s Regional Mobile Group; and ex-political prisoner Ronald Sendrijas, 35, who was shot dead in Tagbilaran City, Bohol on January 17.


 * On January 23, 2008, (or in just 9 days after the murder of a priest) Pastor Felicisimo Catambis, 60, of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) in Catugan, Barangay (village) Balucawe, Leyte town was shot dead by a still unknown assailant.


 * On March 14, 2008, Filipino lawyer Edre Olalia (lead officer of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers and the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties) brought the Philippine case and appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), in its 7th Geneva session "to stop the extrajudicial killings and abductions in the Philippines". Philippines killings will be examined in the first UNHRC session, periodic review from April 7 to 18, along with those in 15 others of 192 member-countries.


 * Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in a statement at Canada's House of Commons, commended "the laudable role of the Supreme Court in the preservation of human rights and in the pursuit of justice." Canadian Ambassador Robert Desjanis sent the document to Chief Justice Reynato Puno "to underline the value that the government of Canada attaches to your efforts in this regard as well as to our continued collaboration in the Justice Reform Initiatives Support Project."


 * In the March, 2008 US Department of State, 2007 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the US found that extrajudicial and political killings, including those of journalists, by members of the military, police, Communist rebels and other terrorist groups / perpetrators continue to be a major problem in the Philippines. The report added that “despite intensified efforts by the Philippine government to investigate and prosecute these cases, many went unsolved and unpunished.”

Monitoring organizations

 * icaed.org, International campaign for UN Convention to protect all persons from enforced disappearance
 * Desaparecidos.org www.desaparecidos.org (in English & Spanish)
 * "The Commissar Vanishes" — Nikolai Yezhov airbrushed out of a picture with Stalin;
 * www.ic-mp.org,The International Commission on Missing Persons
 * www2.ohchr.org, Official Website
 * news.bbc.co.uk, BBC News Special on Special Rapporteurs
 * Amnesty International
 * Human Rights Watch
 * www.gmanews.tv, List of 15 JUDGES KILLED SINCE 1999
 * www.manilatimes.net, Manila Times List of 15 JUDGES KILLED SINCE 1999
 * I-TEAM REPORT - ‘Political killings not official but an unintended policy’