Palace urged: Don’t brush aside EJK claims

The human rights advocate Karapatan appealed to Malacañang not to dismiss allegations that government forces have murdered peasants and indigenous people (IP) because it would only sink itself deeper into controversy.

In a statement, the group insisted the Palace’s blanket dismissal of the allegations raised by witnesses and the victims themselves and proven by physical evidence cannot prove that its security forces had nothing to do with extra-judicial killings (EJKs.)

“It should look into these documented cases substantiated with facts and testimonies, even firsthand witness testimonies identifying the state perpetrators of the political killings,” Karapatan added.

“It should initiate prosecution to hold the suspects accountable and must rescind the counter-insurgency program that has terrorized peasant and indigenous communities,” the human rights watchdog stressed.

Karapatan said the Duterte administration should address the thousands of complaints submitted to the Joint Monitoring Committee on the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (JMC-CARHRIHL).

“Our broken justice system and domestic institutions have failed the victims and their families. Only one conviction in a local court was attained in the 1,587 victims of political killings during the Arroyo, Aquino and the current Duterte regime,” Karapatan said.

“While it true that international institutions should not interfere with domestic affairs, any state is dutybound to uphold international human rights commitments and therefore is accountable to its peoples according to such commitments,” Karapatan concluded.