By EDMER F. PANESA
Sounding the alarm over the series of extra-judicial killings in the country, House Minority Leader Francis Escudero yesterday said the Arroyo government should do something to avert a complete breakdown in the nation’s law and order.
In a press conference, Escudero said President Arroyo should not ignore the concerns raised by the Amnesty International, the United States Embassy, and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines over the killings.
"Essentially, it’s a pressure on this government to do something about the killings and not simply turn its back on it," Escudero said.
The Sorsogon legislator said the House opposition bloc supports the joint resolution calling for the creation of an independent commission to look into the killings of activists, journalists, lawyers, farmers, workers, among others.
INDEPENDENT COMMISSION
In the same press conference, Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño, the principal author of Joint Resolution No. 17, said it should be the legislature and not the executive branch that should create an independent commission in order to erase any doubt that there would be a whitewash.
Other authors of the resolution include Reps. Satur Ocampo and Joel Virador of Bayan Muna, Crispin Beltran and Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis, and Liza Maza of Gabriela Women’s Party.
Ocampo appealed to the leadership of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. to also support the joint resolution and approve it before Congress adjourns this week.
"We believe that an independent commission, if given the power to summon security forces and other government agencies and produce the needed documents, magkakaroon ng pagkakataon para mabunyag ang katotohanan tungkol sa mga pagpatay," Ocampo said in the presence of members of KARAPATAN, an alliance of human rights groups in the Philippines.
Marie Enriquez, secretary general of KARAPATAN, said that from the time President Arroyo assumed office on January 20, 2001, there had been about 679 victims of political killings, 350 victims of frustrated killings and 168 persons were abducted and remain missing to this day.
Of the 679 civilians killed, 301 were activists and 378 have no political affiliations, Enriquez said.
Joint Resolution No. 17 proposed the creation of a nine-member commission, which will be co-chaired by a senator and a congressman to be chosen by the Senate President and House Speaker, respectively.
The commission would be mandated to obtain all necessary facts and information regarding the recent extra-judicial killings and series of abductions.
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