Amnesty International Report 2005 - Philippines

Covering events from January - December 2004

Peace talks between the government and armed groups – Muslim separatists in Mindanao and communist rebels – made some progress, although armed clashes continued. Human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial executions and "disappearances", were reported during military operations. Armed opposition groups were responsible for abuses, including killings and hostage-taking. Serious defects in the administration of justice, particularly the lack of effective investigations and fair trial safeguards, undermined the right of victims of human rights violations to redress. There were reports of the ill-treatment or torture of criminal suspects by police, and a series of unsolved "vigilante" killings of alleged criminals in Davao City. At least 88 death sentences were imposed. Despite a threat of a resumption of executions, none was carried out.

Background

President Arroyo received a six-year mandate after winning national elections in May. She announced that her policy priorities were to alleviate poverty, address unemployment and education, and reach an end to armed insurgencies by Muslim separatists and communist rebels with a just conclusion to the peace process.

Mindanao peace process

In March talks between the government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) resumed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A ceasefire agreement was periodically broken as MILF forces clashed with Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) units.

There were reports of breaches of international humanitarian law by both sides, including apparently indiscriminate use of force by AFP units and the use of "human shields" by MILF forces. The MILF leadership continued to deny assertions that the group maintained links with a regional "terrorist" network, Jemaah Islamiyah. In August the authorities dropped criminal charges against MILF leaders accused of involvement in "terrorist" bombings in Davao City in 2003.

In October, 60 military monitors from Malaysia and Brunei arrived in Mindanao to help oversee ceasefire arrangements and facilitate a resumption of peace negotiations.

Communist insurgency and peace process

In February peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) representing the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), resumed in Oslo, Norway. The two sides renewed commitments to address the root causes of the conflict by addressing social, economic and political reforms. They set up a Joint Monitoring Committee to examine complaints of human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law. As a confidence-building measure, the government pledged to expedite earlier agreements to release rebel prisoners. At least 27 prisoners were reported released. In August the NDF suspended talks, calling on the government to lobby for the removal of the NPA's designation as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization" by the USA and its allies.

NPA attacks on government targets and clashes between AFP and NPA units continued throughout 2004. Suspected NPA members were subjected to arbitrary arrest, "disappearance", torture and extrajudicial execution. Also at risk were members of legal leftist organizations.

• In February, Juvy Magsino, a human rights lawyer contesting local mayoral elections, and human rights activist Leyma Fortu were shot dead by unidentified assailants in Mindoro Oriental. The authorities claimed the attacks were related to electoral tensions. However, both women were affiliated with the left-wing political party Bayan Muna, whose members had suffered a series of attacks over recent years, allegedly carried out by "vigilantes" linked to a local AFP brigade.

The CPP-NPA committed human rights abuses including unlawful killings and hostage-taking.

• In January a mayor, a vice-mayor and three others were reported killed by NPA rebels in separate attacks believed to be linked to NPA extortion demands.

• In September NPA guerrillas reportedly kidnapped and killed the police chief of a town in Abra province after putting him on "trial" for rape and killing NPA members.

Impunity and the administration of justice

During unlawfully extended periods of "investigative" detention before the filing of charges, scores of suspects were tortured or ill-treated by Philippine National Police (PNP) officers or military personnel to extract confessions or information.

Despite an extensive array of institutional and procedural safeguards, suspected perpetrators of serious human rights violations were rarely brought to justice. Prolonged and frequently unfair trial proceedings placed excessive burdens on people seeking judicial remedies for human rights abuses. Victims from poor or marginalized communities, when faced with physical threats combined with "amicable" financial settlements, frequently abandoned attempts to seek redress.

Women and minors continued to be at risk of physical or sexual abuse and poor conditions in detention. Children were at times detained with adults in overcrowded facilities, exposing them to abuse by other prisoners.

Killing of suspected criminal suspects

High crime rates and a lack of confidence in criminal justice institutions meant there was little public opposition to killings of suspected criminals by PNP officers or by "vigilantes", some allegedly linked to local officials and the PNP.

• At least 100 alleged criminal suspects were shot dead in Davao City, reportedly by unidentified "vigilantes". The city's mayor made statements suggesting that extrajudicial executions were an effective means to combat criminality. The victims were often alleged drugs dealers and petty thieves, sometimes members of gangs or street children. PNP investigations remained ineffective and no prosecutions were known to have been launched by the end of 2004.

Violence against women

In January Congress enacted legislation criminalizing acts of violence against women and their children within intimate relationships. Despite this achievement, incidents of domestic violence remained endemic and women's groups continued to campaign for the effective implementation of legislation through adequately financed government monitoring programmes and training.

Death penalty

In January the Supreme Court, having examined new evidence, suspended the executions of convicted kidnappers Roberto Lara and Roderick Licayan and granted them a retrial. The two men were due to be the first prisoners to be executed since President Arroyo lifted a moratorium on the execution of convicted kidnappers and drugs traffickers in 2003.

Following President Arroyo's inauguration in July, there were reports that executions would again resume. However, the President granted a series of reprieves to those facing imminent execution. Bills calling for the repeal of death penalty legislation were filed before the new Congress. A total of 1,110 prisoners were on death row at the end of 2004.

At least 21 young offenders remained under sentence of death for offences committed when they were under the age of 18, even though the law makes clear that child offenders cannot be sentenced to death or executed. Seven were transferred off death row and their cases returned to the Supreme Court after lower courts reviewed evidence about their age. Fourteen other young offenders remained on death row pending a similar review.