80 cases filed vs suspects in 141 political, media killings
Nikko Dizon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines — The authorities have filed a total of 80 cases against suspects in the murders of 141 political activists and journalists since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed office in 2001.
But most of the killings were blamed by the authorities on the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA).
The cases were filed by Task Force Usig, the ad hoc Philippine National Police (PNP) body created to investigate the slayings after the government came under fire for the spate of extrajudicial killings in the administration of Ms Arroyo.
In a statement, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sunday said that of the 141 cases handled by Task Force Usig, 113 involved the murder of political activists and party-list members while 28 cases involved journalists.
“Of this figure, 80 cases have already been filed against the suspects, six more are under investigation, 53 others are considered cold cases and one was dropped and closed,” Interior Assistant Secretary Danilo Valero said, quoting a report from Task Force Usig chief Director Jefferson Soriano.
Valero said the task force’s “commendable feat punctured the wild claim by leftist groups and their allied human rights advocacy groups that the government has not been running after the perpetrators and, worse, had sanctioned the murders.”
In his report, Soriano said that in the 113 political killings since 2001, 58 cases have been filed, five are still under investigation, 49 are considered cold cases with no development in the investigation more than a year after the crime was committed, and one case had been dropped and declared closed.
Of the 58 cases, Soriano said 25 were “perpetrated” by members of the CPP-NPA; seven involved soldiers and paramilitary elements; four, civilians with links to the military, 21, civilian, and police personnel.
As for the 28 media killings since 2001, Soriano said 22 had been filed in court, two were under investigation and four were considered cold cases.
Valero added that Task Force Usig had also investigated military units suspected of involvement in political murders.
These were the Philippine Army’s 8th Infantry Division for the death of activist Bienvenido Bajado in Borongan, Eastern Samar; the Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion for the killing of Leodegario Punzal, and the Military Intelligence Group for the murder of activists Carlito Doydoy, Ramon Regase, Marjorie Reynoso and Jonathan Benaro in Southern Mindanao.
Valero said, however, “the lack of witnesses hobbled follow-up investigations by the Usig probers assigned to these cases.”
Last week, the DILG and Task Force Usig claimed there was a significant drop in the number of unexplained killings handled by the ad hoc investigating body in 2007 to seven from the 41 cases in 2006.
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