JUSTICE SECRETARY GONZALEZ ASSAILED
FOR DENIGRATING FINDINGS OF UN OFFICIAL

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today urged the Arroyo government to take forceful, concrete steps to prosecute perpetrators of extra-judicial killings of political activists and journalists, as identified by the Melo Commission and other investigative bodies, and to stop covering up for these heinous crimes.

Pimentel said the government is gaining nothing by sitting on the murder cases on the ground that the Melo Commission report is still incomplete and by denigrating the conclusion of United Nations rapporteur on human rights Philip Alston that the military is largely to blame for the extra-judicial killings.

He said it is unfortunate that Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez is trying to discredit Alstons investigation by coming up with a baseless and ridiculous insinuation that the UN representative was brainwashed by leaders of militant leftist groups into reaching a conclusion that would put the government and the military in a bad light.

If Professor Alston was brainwashed, Secretary Gonzalez is brain-dead. He continues to defend the indefensible: Perpetrators of extra-judicial killings should be stopped and punished by the Arroyo government, he said.

Pimentel said the Filipino people are grateful to Prof. Alston for taking the trouble to come to the country to conduct an impartial and objective inquiry into the extra-judicial killings and to help the government unearth the truth and unmask the culprits.

He said the set of measures ordered by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resolve the political and media killings and prevent the occurrence of the same, such as strengthening the Witness Protection Program and creation of special courts, are laudable.

However, he said that presidential directive to place the witnesses to the extra-judicial killings under the Witness Protection Program of the Department of Justice came too late.

Pimentel said had this specific step been taken upon the creation of the Melo Commission, the witnesses and relatives of the victims of summary executions would not have ignored the hearings conducted by the Commission.

On the Presidents order to release P25 million to the Commission on Human Rights to enable it to expand its probe of human rights violations, Pimentel maintained that the CHR, as an independent constitutional body, is capable of undertaking the probe of extra-judicial killings provided it is given sufficient funds.

There would have been no need for a Melo Commission if only the Arroyo government fully supported the CHR in its investigative functions especially in terms of funding, he said.