Philippine human rights defenders express concern over continuing human rights violations in PH at the UN

Press Release
March 14, 2011

Philippine human rights defenders express concern over continuing human rights violations in Mindanao, file complaint on the murder of distinguished botanist Leonard Co with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings

GENEVA, Switzerland  –  The Ecumenical Voice for Peace and Human Rights in the Philippines (EcuVoice), an ecumenical delegation of Philippine human rights non-government organizations for the defense and promotion of human rights, today,  raised in the UN Human Rights Council the continuing human rights violations in the Philippines, particularly in Mindanao, and filed a complaint with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions – Mr. Christof Heyns – on the killing of world-renowned Filipino botanist Leonard Co, forester Sofronio Cortez, and farmer-guide Julio Borromeo.

“Of the 1,206 documented cases of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines under Mrs. Arroyo, 375 of these were from Mindanao. The brutal killing of Benjie Bayles, a member of my church and the torture and killing recently of B’laan chieftain Rudy Dejos and his son Rody Rick of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur show that extrajudicial killings continue under the prevailing climate of impunity in the country. We are worried because these incidents are continuing,” said Philippine Independent Church Bishop Felixberto Calang, also of Initiatives for Peace in Mindanao (InPeace Mindanao), in an oral statement read for him by Atty. Ephraim Cortez of the National Union of People’s Lawyers in the general debate on Item 3 at the 16th Sessions of the UN Human Rights Council.

Bishop Calang also expressed concern over the conduct of the prosecution of the accused in the Maguindanao massacre. He said that the relatives of the victims of the Maguindanao Massacre are “apprehensive of attempts to bribe witnesses and prosecutors in apparent moves to weaken the ongoing legal case against the powerful Ampatuan family…the victims’ families complain of the slow pace of the judicial processes while witnesses remain unprotected and some have already been killed,” asserted Calang.

EcuVoice also brought the complaint letter sent by Agham, an organization of advocates for science and technology for the people, on the killings of Leonardo Co, Cortez and Borromeo. The three were killed November 15, 2010 in Kananga, Leyte, Philippines, while conducting research on tree biodiversity for the Energy Development Corporation.

The complaint included submission of a report by an independent fact finding mission conducted 10 days following the incident. Based on extensive interviews and field investigations, the mission concluded that Co, Cortez and Borromeo were apparently shot by elements of the 19th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army.  The complaint urged Special Rapporteur Heyns to investigate the killing of Co, Cortez and Borromeo, up to and including all levels of the military command concerned with their shooting.  The killings of Co, Cortez and Borromeo were among the first 30 extrajudicial killings committed under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.