BREAKDOWN! A Letter of Appeal to the Church and Media

A Statement by the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL)
November 24, 2005

The killings continue. And no solution is in sight.

Today, there is complete impunity in the Philippines. An average of one militant is killed every week. Seven lawyers have been killed since January this year while nine journalists have so far fallen from assassins' bullets. In many of these cases, no suspects were arrested nor witnesses found. There are no leads either according to authorities.

No decisive action is expected from authorities, especially the police and the military. In fact, many of them are suspects in many of these crimes. The public was shocked when members of the TMG were seen shooting point blank at fallen suspects. More shocking is the justification -the suspects were carjackers. Seven farmers on a highly publicized vigil in Leyte were recently massacred, on the basis of an alleged 'intelligence report' that they are NPAs. Nothing was heard of again of the massacre of a Muslim family in Sulu, no less condemnable than the deadly siege of Bicutan, with its unexplained high death toll. Julius Babao was nonchalantly labeled a terrorist coddler by Pres. Arroyo, with no semblance of serious proof for such charges. No apologies were offered either, after the charge was found to be completely devoid of evidence. All these in complete disregard of what is decent, fair and just. The international community will be shocked with how the already unjust rule of law in the Philippines has completely broken down as killings of activists, journalists, lawyers, priests and even elected local government officials continue unabated and unresolved.

The Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL) is alarmed with the impunity with which killers get away with it. The killings are different from ordinary crimes perpetrated by ordinary criminals or those that result from actual combat between government and rebel groups. The series of violent killings target unarmed victims exercising constitutional rights -freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of the press. Despite these and attacks against civil liberties, the government has remained unmoved, unconcerned and inert.

CODAL hopes that a concerted action by the people, including the church and the media will put a stop to the breakdown. We appeal to media editors and publishers to give 'extreme' media attention to the killings and force government to act decisively. We also ask media editors to devote their Sunday editorial on December 4, 2005 to condemn the killings and urge Pres. Gloria Arroyo to also condemn the killings and declare that any perpetrator arrested will be dealt with the full force of law. We also ask the bishops and church leaders to come out on the same Sunday a strong statement condemning the killings and the breakdown. We ask peoples' organizations to come out with strongly worded statements shaming the government into putting a stop to the killings. Maybe Pres. Arroyo will publicly come out and condemn these atrocities this time. It is only through a concerted effort by the people, the media and the church, that we will achieve some respite from the killings, put a stop to impunity and declare to the killers that they will not easily get away with it.