Manila: Political killings have continued and the prosecution of accused security forces has not succeeded under the watch of President Benigno Aquino, a local paper said.
"Politically motivated killings have continued despite President Aquino's pledges to address the problem (before he became president in 2010)," the Star quoted the Human Rights Watch (HRW) 2012 report as saying.
"The administration of President Aquino has not fulfilled its promises of reform and made little progress in ending impunity for abuses by state security forces," Elaine Pearson, HRW's deputy Asia director said, adding, "After a year and a half in office, President Aquino should be delivering on his promise to end impunity for rights abuses. His administration will ultimately be measured by what it achieves, not by his stated intentions."
Seven killings and disappearances allegedly by military and paramilitary personnel occurred since June 2010, when Aquino became president, said Pearson.
Military officers were behind the disappearance of four leftist activists in 2006 and 2007, according to the Supreme Court last May 2010, and the National Commission on Human Rights said in a report in March 2010.
Despite that, the Aquino government "has not brought charges against the implicated officers; faced with this inaction, the families themselves have filed cases against the officers," Pearson complained.
On the whole, only seven out of hundreds of cases of political killings (since 2001) were successfully prosecuted, but none of the landmark prosecutions occurred in Aquino's time. Neither did these cases involve active duty military personnel, Pearson said.
At the same time, there were no evidences to support the statement of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo that the Aquino administration has successfully dismantled almost half of the private armies that proliferate in the southern island of Mindanao, Pearson said.
Private armies of local government officials who include active policemen and military personnel have been implicated in several political killings. But the Philippine government has largely failed to prosecute them even though strong evidence existed in many cases, said Pearson.
Since 2001, hundreds of leftist politicians, activists, clergymen, accused criminal, journalists, and lawyers have been killed or kidnapped.
When he ran for the presidency last May 2010, Aquino promised to end political killings, and to dismantle the private armies of politicians and landowners.
