From October 2009 to April 2011, the European Union spent nearly €4 million on a project in the Philippines called the European Union-Philippines Justice Support Programme (EPJUST). The programme was meant to improve the Philippines's criminal justice and human-rights monitoring systems in order to put an end to extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances. It provided technical assistance, training and advice in such areas as forensic investigation and raising human-rights awareness among state security forces. The Philippine government has cited it as one of its achievements in the area of human rights. In its report for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the UN Human Rights Council, coming up on 29 May, the administration of President Benigno Aquino III said the EPJUST program was “a major opportunity to put an end to extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearance in the country”.
But more than a year after the programme was completed, the killings and disappearances continue. Although these have not occurred as often as during the worst years of the administration of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the toll of these abuses on many Filipinos remains tragic.
“Nothing is happening,” a relative of Rene Quirante told me recently. “We're growing tired of waiting for justice.” A left-wing activist, Quirante was beaten and shot dead by uniformed men on 1 October 2010 in the central Philippine province of Negros Oriental. An arrest warrant issued a year ago against one of the two suspects still has not been served, and the suspect has allegedly been seen in the company of soldiers.
Quirante is just one of hundreds of alleged left-wing activists, clergy, and journalists who have been gunned down in the Philippines since 2001; most of the killings were allegedly committed by state security forces.
Record on display
On 29 May, member states of the United Nations will have a chance to assess the Philippines' human-rights record at the Human Rights Council in Geneva through the UPR process. Last time around, in 2008, the Philippine government made vague commitments to improve its human-rights record. Four years on, the government appears to be merely restating the rhetoric.
In March, the Aquino administration submitted its report, saying the Philippines has delivered on its commitment “to completely eliminate torture and extra-judicial killings, and to intensify its efforts to carry out investigations and prosecutions on extra-judicial killings and punish those responsible”. It cited the EU-funded EPJUST project to improve the capacity of the criminal justice system. It also said it has been training state security forces on human rights.
Impunity persists
Aquino said in his inaugural speech in June 2010 that: “When we allow crimes to go unpunished, we give consent to their occurring over and over again.” But that seems to be simply an empty promise. Efforts to address impunity, EPJUST among them, have not translated into significant results.
Consider the facts. Since the first UPR in 2008, only four cases of extra-judicial killing were successfully prosecuted, and only one convicted the suspected mastermind behind the killing. And since Aquino took office two years ago, no one has been convicted of any extra-judicial killing or enforced disappearance.
The criminal justice system in the Philippines is broken. The police, the prosecutors and the courts do not work well together. Corruption worsens the problem; patronage makes it even worse. Those with power can pretty much buy their way out of trouble.
In some high-profile cases, there have been investigations and indictments. Arrest warrants have been issued. But police are often afraid or reluctant to execute warrants, and this has become the rule in cases of extra-judicial killings. In the few cases in which suspects had been identified or arrested, the police considered such cases “solved” even if formal charges were never brought. Compounding all this is the military's unwillingness to co-operate with civilian authorities on serious abuses implicating military personnel.
Extra-judicial killings have declined dramatically since the worst Arroyo years. While both the Arroyo and Aquino administrations have taken credit, the most important reason seems to have been concerted domestic and international pressure. But the killings continue. Human Rights Watch has documented at least seven of the killings and three of the enforced disappearances since Aquino took office; in all 10 cases, evidence strongly points to military involvement.
Distracting attention
As described in its 2012 UPR submission, the government has created “task forces”, “co-ordinating centres”, “monitoring mechanisms”, “monitoring bodies” – to give the impression that it is actually doing something to address these killings. But these merely deflect attention from the small number of prosecutions.
The government has made some human-rights reforms in the four years since its first UN review. It passed a law against torture in 2009, though no one has been convicted of torture. The Philippines ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 2011. It has been trying to make access to justice by the poor easier by eliminating court fees and through its ‘justice on wheels' programmes – buses turned into courtrooms that go to communities. The government has also been requiring human-rights components for development plans and policies.
But justice efforts are undermined by failures to address extra-judicial killings, torture and forced disappearances. These abuses deserve closer attention and firmer action. At the UPR, the Philippine government should make clear commitments – and follow through on them.
It needs to commit the justice department and police to pursue abuses by soldiers and police vigorously; ensure that arrest warrants against security personnel are enforced; and direct the military to comply with civilian investigative bodies.
The Aquino administration needs to communicate to civilian and military officials that they will answer for their failure to investigate allegations of abuse. Countries reviewing the Philippine government's compliance to its human-rights commitment – particularly those in the EU – should make it very clear that empty rhetoric is no substitute for justice. The real test of the government's commitment to end impunity that emboldens killers is to bring those responsible to justice.
Carlos H. Conde is an Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch based in Manila.
