In my past blogs, I discussed the need to enforce the international law doctrine of command responsibility in the domestic legal system of the Philippines, because it is one of the best tools against the criminal and obnoxious human rights abuses, tortures, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances being committed by power-hungry government officials, trigger-happy military and police officers, and their soul-less underlings in the underworld. I am glad that the incumbent Speaker, despite all his faults and mistakes as the leader of our pork barrel-conscious lawmakers, has proposed last week a bill along this line. I am sure the President and her military and police sycophants will oppose the idea. I am not raising my hopes prematurely at this time. At any rate, let me reproduce the news item thereon verbatim.
Bill to place killings on execs’ shoulders
By Leila Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:19:00 07/26/2009
MANILA, Philippines—Speaker Prospero Nograles wants to have government officials punished for failing to check extrajudicial killings in their jurisdictions, noting that the officials were taking government money to maintain law and order.
Nograles has filed a bill that says any public officer, person in authority or his agent would be presumed administratively negligent, except in areas of conflict or combat zones, “if there is an increase in the number of extrajudicial killing or ‘salvaging’ in his area of responsibility, as determined by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), despite the continuous allocation and disbursement of peace and order and intelligence funds or similar allocations.”
The bill also seeks the preventive suspension of public officials or agents facing charges of failing to take action to prevent extrajudicial killings.
“The inaction, inability or unwillingness to solve extrajudicial killings by public officers despite the availability of peace and order and intelligence funds and other resources at their disposal, constitutes negligence or dereliction of duty to serve the people,” Nograles said in a statement.
He said that if public money was obtained for peace and order purposes, there should be satisfactory results not only in investigating the killings, but also in preventing them.
His bill also seeks to designate “salvaging” or extrajudicial killings by any public officer, person of authority or his agent as a heinous crime punishable by the maximum penalty prescribed by law.
“At present, the Philippines is one of the countries with the highest number of outstanding cases of extrajudicial killings still unsolved after many decades, with the perpetrators left unpunished,” he said.
Nograles’ hometown, Davao City, is one of the areas where “salvaging” has been rampant. The CHR is investigating the alleged existence of the group Davao Death Squad that carries out vigilante-style executions.
Nograles’ political rival, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, has denied the city government is involved in the operations of the group.
Nograles said that with the filing of his “antisalvaging” bill, there would be no need for the House of Representatives to investigate the summary executions in Davao City.
See:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20090726-217237/Bill-to-place-killings-on-execs-shoulders
