State-sponsored killings?

Ernie Maceda on Palparan the Butcher:

Consistently, Malacañang absolves Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan of charges that he is behind the killings of activists and journalists. But the circumstantial evidence and the inaction by Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) authorities on the killings give a strong basis for public perception to the contrary.

Fact One — Killings and abductions of activists occur with greater frequency when he is assigned to an area as had happened in Mindoro, Samar and now Central Luzon.

Fact Two — The AFP never conducted a formal investigation of the charges starting with the Mindoro incidents when he was still a colonel. On the contrary, he was rewarded with juicy assignments. He headed the Philippine contingent to Iraq. He was promoted rapidly to brigadier general and then to major general.

Fact Three — Whenever a killing occurs, the local police should investigate. And when multiple and successive killings occur in a province, the provincial director and the regional director should take action. For five years, no such serious police investigations had taken place. To date, there is no result released by Task Force Usig of the PNP.

Fact Four — Whenever activists are invited for questioning, no family member, much less lawyers, is informed. Oftentimes they just disappear. This seems to be the case with the two UP woman students abducted in Hagonoy.

Fact Five — Local authorities, including Bulacan Gov. Josefina de la Cruz, have identified the leaders of the abducting groups as soldiers identified with Palparan.

Fact Six — GMA takes action to order an investigation only after 717 killings have occurred under her term, as reported by Amnesty International.

Fact Seven — Vigilante killings totaling more than 500 have occurred in the cities of Davao and Cebu.

The bottom line — The killings and abductions are continuing in spite of local and international outcries about the matter but GMA, Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Secretary Avelino Cruz, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, General Romeo Tolentino, General Palparan and company just don’t seem to care.

This makes a persuasive case that state- sponsored killings of political activists, principally Bayan Muna members have become a national policy as charged by the Batasan Six and Prof. Miriam Ferrer.

An Inquirer editorial raised the proper question when it said: “And with the number of ‘salvagings’ and assassinations rising quickly and arrests lagging, can the Left be blamed for suspecting that such extra-judicial executions are not only being tolerated but encouraged by an administration that has fallen hostage to the military?”

The bottom line — GMA as Commander-in-Chief cannot evade responsibility for these killings and abductions.

UPDATE: Read this too from Amando Doronila and the Inquirer editorial.