From InterAksyon (Oct 8): DEFINE IMPUNITY | Only one soldier convicted of human rights abuse since 2001 - DND
In what an activist lawmaker described as “a manifestation of the deeply-seated culture of impunity in our country,” the Department of National Defense has said only a single soldier has been convicted in 97 human rights abuse cases filed since 2001.
In a letter to Kabataan party-list Representative Terry Ridon, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin reported that of 57 soldiers accused of extrajudicial killings, only one has been convicted, with five on trial, 22 still under investigation, four formally charged, the cases against 12 others archived, dismissed against 10, and three more acquitted. This makes for a conviction rate of 1.75 percent.
Of the 11 accused of torture, six are under investigation, the cases against two were archived, while three saw the charges dismissed. In 27 cases of enforced disappearance, 17 are under investigation, only one case is on trial, another soldier formally charged, four cases have been archived, and four soldiers found innocent.
Two soldiers have been charged in media killings.
“This is an incredulous report,” Ridon said. “This only shows that the (Armed Forces of the Philippines) is virtually protected from the claws of Philippine law. This is the very reason the AFP is so confident in committing rights violations, because they know that they will not be made accountable for their heinous crimes.”
“Such (a) low conviction rate is a manifestation of the deeply-seated culture of impunity in our country. Here in the Philippines, having a military badge is equivalent to a free pass on the commission of crimes,” he stressed, noting that the DND figures are in sharp contrast with statistics on human rights violation.
For extrajudicial killings alone, the human rights group Karapatan has documented 282 victims.
“Human rights violations will undoubtedly continue in the final months of the Aquino administration, especially when we have a situation wherein military aggressors and criminals are exempt from the rule of law,” Ridon said.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/118614/define-impunity--only-one-soldier-convicted-of-human-rights-abuse-since-2001---dnd
Nice propaganda move by Rep. Ridon. Ridon is a longtime CPP activist and Kabataan Partylist is a CPP-linked political front and a member of the MAKABAYAN coalition composed of some eleven CPP-associated political parties. The statistics on extrajudicial killings cited by Ridon are suspect as they come from the main CPP human rights front, KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights. Nonetheless, the point of the relative impunity of members of the Philippine military from conviction on human rights issues is well taken.
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