Govt 'superbody' vs extra-judicial killings to convene in January

The government inter-agency committee on extra-judicial killings and other human rights abuses is set to convene for the first time on January 8 next year, barely a month after President Benigno Aquino III signed Republic Act 10350 or the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012. The top agenda of the committee is to conduct an inventory of cases of extra-judicial killings (EJK), enforced disappearances, torture and other grave human rights violations committed both by state and non-state actors. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the basis for their inventory would be the lists coming from both government sources, as well as non-government and international organizations. The inventory is being done to prioritize the investigation, reinvestigation, monitoring and prosecution of such cases. "The government is not shying away from accountabilities of its state actors who may have committed these violation during the Aquino administration. In fact, President Aquino's specific instructions were to prioritize violations that have occured in his term of office [since 2010]," said De Lima. "There is a recognized challenge of reconciling different data of such egregious human rights violations," she added. A technical working group (TWG) has been meeting since October and is now finalizing a list of EJK cases from 2001 to 2012 that will be formally endorsed to De Lima to the inter-agency body during its January 8 meeting. De Lima said these cases will be classified for prioritization, reinvestigation or monitoring by the committee. Among those invited to the January 8 meeting as resource persons are Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and Commission on Human Rights chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales. Their agencies have contributed to the list of EJK cases being finalized by the TWG. The inter-agency committee was created through Administrative Order No. 35 signed by Aquino in November. Apart from the Justice Department, other members agencies are the Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of National Defense, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Office of the Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs, Presidential Human Rights Committee, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, and the National Bureau of Investigation. Malacañang last week confirmed that Aquino has signed into law the bill that seeks to criminalize enforced disappearances. Republic Act No. 10350, or the “desaparecidos” law, is the first of its kind in Asia. Under the proposed law, enforced disappearances will be considered a distinct crime, separate from kidnapping, serious illegal detention or murder. The proposed law imposes lifetime imprisonment on persons directly involved in the crime of enforced disappearances. They are also barred from receiving any form of amnesty. In November, De Lima had already talked about proposing to the President the creation of the inter-agency committee, which she then called a "superbody against extrajudicial slays." "This would produce better results and higher prosecution rates for this type of cases. It has been a common demand and proposal to create such a committee not only in the US but also in other United Nations bodies," De Lima said. Currently, the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines each have their own human rights office. The DOJ, itself, has a special task force on extrajudicial killings headed by Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III. — Mark D. Merueñas/KBK, GMA News