CHR raises alarm over arbitrary arrests of activists
CEBU CITY—The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has raised alarm over what it sees as a pattern of arbitrary arrests and the filing of criminal charges against political activists by the police and military.
CHR Chairperson Leila de Lima said the commission will this week issue an advisory to raise the attention of government agencies and institutions and the public on this practice.
“This is alarming because it shows a pattern of repression through a 'legal offensive,” De Lima told reporters at the sidelines of a seminar on human rights reporting sponsored by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility here.
The advisory will be issued to the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Department of Justice, Supreme Court, Congress and other agencies.
While the number of killings of activists have dropped, De Lima said the cases of arbitrary arrests and filing of non-bailable criminal cases against activists have increased.
She said those arrested “fit the profile of the usual victims of extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances.”
The most number of arbitrary detentions and filing of cases against activists were recorded in Southern Tagalog, Central Luzon and in areas in the Visayas.
In most cases, the activists are initially abducted and then surfaced two or three days after with an announcement from the police or military that the activists have been arrested, according to De Lima.
But in several cases referred to the agency by human rights groups and other non-government organizations, the “arrests” violated procedures because the arrests warrants were only secured after the activists were detained.
The detention of the activists also did not undergo preliminary investigation or no notice of the investigation was issued to the detainees, said De Lima.
She cited the arrests of 27 activists charged with frustrated murder and arson for the burning of a Globe cell site in Lemery, Batangas, on Aug. 2.
In some cases filed in court, De Lima said the hearings have been delayed through repetitive rescheduling of the arraignment and hearings which have resulted to the prolonged detention of the activists.
She said these arbitrary arrests have been carried out “under the cloak of judicial processes” which gives them an apparent legitimacy.
But she said the CHR will scrutinize these cases.
De Lima said during a speech at the seminar that the extra-judicial killings remain a concern despite the drop in the number of cases.
The CHR has recorded 151 cases of extra-judicial killings from 2007 to 2008. The most number of cases was recorded in Central Mindanao with 32 cases, followed by Southern Mindanao (30) and Eastern Visayas (21).
Almost all of the 197 victims were affiliated to activist groups and the killings were mostly attributed to the police and military, according to De Lima.
While not as rampant as activists, De Lima said the killings of journalists have remained unabated.
The CHR has recorded eight killings of journalists in 2008 and 77 since 1986 while the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) has recorded 92 slain journalists since 1986 and seven last year.