A softer, kinder butcher

8/31/2006 03:01:00 PM

Will Palparan's retirement and subsequent replacement with a "softer" Central Luzon commander bring an end to the killings? Amando Doronila comments.

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"Toothless"

8/31/2006 02:56:00 PM

Critics argue that the Melo commission--set up by the government to investigate the killings--has "no power to rein in the military or to ensure that witnesses are protected".

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Another disppearance. Walang tigil talaga

8/31/2006 02:53:00 PM

Fisherman and leftist leader Napoleon Bautista was abducted along with his wife, who was later release by the kidnappers but only after she had been severely beat up, reports the PDI.

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Probers tag soldiers in Albay pastor’s murder

8/31/2006 09:23:00 AM

Members of the Melo fact-finding team uncover evidence pointing to a military chain of command in the murder of Isaias Sta. Rosa.

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Arrêt!

8/30/2006 09:36:00 AM

France calls on the Philippine government to act on political killings. It has also called on the governement to ratify the United Nations draft convention that makes causing a person to “disappear” a criminal act.

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    Democracy, according to the late Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, is "a question of human dignity, [a]nd human dignity is political freedom, the right to freely express opinion and the right to be allowed to criticise and form opinions."

    But exercising political freedom in the Philippines, which purports itself to be a democracy, can lead to death. Since Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency of the country in 2001, more than 800 Filipinos murdered in politically-motivated, extra-judicial, targeted killings. Since the 4th quarter of July 2005, one person has been killed every two days. The victims of these brazen acts of violence were all unarmed citizens: lawyers, judges, journalists, medical practitioners, members of cause-oriented groups, priests, church-workers, human rights advocates, laborers and farmers.

    It is widely believed—and the United Nations support this belief—that state security forces are complicit in these crimes.