Solon slams gov't move to drop 625 disappearance cases from UN records

Albay Representative Edcel Lagman on Saturday slammed the Philippine government's move to drop more than 600 cases of involuntary disappearance from the records of a United Nations working group, claiming it will conceal the truth about the fate of victims and ensure the impunity of their violators.

Philippine officials recently met with the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance to ask for the delisting of 625 cases of involuntary disappearance on UN's list.

Lagman, who is also the Honorary Chairperson of the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND), said it will be a "double atrocity" for a victim to involuntarily disappear and his case delisted while a solution is still pending.

Lagman claimed the "sinister" initiative of the Presidential Human Rights Committee under the Office of the President is not disclosing to the public the victims and perpetrators involved in the cases sought to be delisted.

"The purging of the records does not have the prior knowledge of the Commission on Human Rights, concerned human rights groups, and the relatives of the victims," he said.

"The length of the disappearance is not a reason for the delisting because the act constituting enforced disappearance is a continuing offense and does not prescribe pursuant to R.A. No. 10353 or the 'Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012', the first statute of its kind in Asia," he added.

Furthermore, Lagman said the exemption or pardon of the violators is not addressed under R.A. No. 10368 or the "Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013," thus the payment of compensation to victims does not foreclose investigation, prosecution and conviction of their culprits. —Jamil Santos/LBG, GMA News