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Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines: Strategies to End the Violence Hearing

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Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines: Strategies to End the Violence Hearing S. HRG. 110–290 EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES: STRATEGIES TO END THE VIOLENCE HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MARCH 14, 2007 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 40–811 PDF WASHINGTON : 2008 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:01 Feb 21, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 PHILIPPINES.TXT sforel1 PsN: sforel1 COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware, Chairman CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota BARBARA BOXER, California BOB CORKER, Tennessee BILL NELSON, Florida JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire BARACK OBAMA, Illinois GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JIM DEMINT, South Carolina ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia JIM WEBB, Virginia DAVID VITTER, Louisiana ANTONY J. BLINKEN, Staff Director KENNETH A. MYERS, JR., Republican Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS BARBARA BOXER, California, Chairman JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia BARACK OBAMA, Illinois DAVID VITTER, Louisiana JIM WEBB, Virginia CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:01 Feb 21, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 PHILIPPINES.TXT sforel1 PsN: sforel1 CONTENTS Page Boxer, Hon. Barbara, U.S. Senator from California, opening statement ............ 1 Farrar, Jonathan D., Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democ- racy, Human Rights and Labor, Department of State, Washington, DC ........ 8 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 10 Hilao-Enriquez, Marie, secretary general, Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights in the Philippines (KARAPATAN), Quezon City, Phil- ippines ................................................................................................................... 38 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 40 John, Eric G., Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Department of State, Washington, DC ................................................. 4 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 6 Response to question submitted by Senator Lugar ....................................... 57 Kumar, T., advocacy director for Asia and the Pacific, Amnesty International, USA, Washington, DC ......................................................................................... 18 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 20 Martin, G. Eugene, executive director, Philippine Facilitation Project, U.S. Institute of Peace, Washington, DC ................................................................... 29 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 31 Murkowski, Hon. Lisa, U.S. Senator from Alaska, opening statement .............. 3 Pascua, Bishop Eliezer, general secretary, the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines ......................................................... 34 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 35 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD Alston, Professor Phillip, Special Rapporteur of the U.N. Human Rights Council on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions—Summary Re- port, Manila, February 21, 2007 ......................................................................... 53 Gaa, Hon. Willy C., Philippine Ambassador to the United States, prepared statement .............................................................................................................. 51 Responses of Eric John and Jonathan Farrar to questions submitted by Sen- ator Norm Coleman ............................................................................................. 58 (III) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:01 Feb 21, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 PHILIPPINES.TXT sforel1 PsN: sforel1 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:01 Feb 21, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 PHILIPPINES.TXT sforel1 PsN: sforel1 EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS IN THE PHILIP- PINES: STRATEGIES TO END THE VIOLENCE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2007 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:35 p.m., in room SD–419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Barbara Boxer (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Boxer, Webb, and Murkowski. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BARBARA BOXER, U.S. SENATOR FROM CALIFORNIA Senator BOXER. Good afternoon, everybody. I’m Senator Barbara Boxer and I am the Chair of the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs. I’m very pleased to be here, chairing my first hear- ing. I know there are many people interested in this. I’m sure you know the rules of the committee are that we want everyone to be respectful of all the witnesses and that means that we don’t have any yelling or screaming or clapping or booing or hissing or cheering. And I’m very, very pleased that we are having today’s hearing. It’s very important. We’re going to run a very tight ship here. We’re going to keep our witnesses to 5 minutes. And when you’re about there, I will tell you to summarize. And we will, of course, place your entire statement in the record, and we will accept—we may well send you some questions if time runs out, because we need to stop at 5 to 4. So we’ll be getting a lot accomplished here in a relatively short period of time. I do expect Senator Murkowski to join us shortly. And when she does, I will turn to her at the appropriate time for her opening statement, if she has one. Well, I’m sure most of you know that today the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee meets to investigate reports of extra- judicial killings in the Philippines, and examine strategies to help end the violence there. The people of the United States and the Philippines enjoy a very close relationship and friendship that is deeply valued on both sides. Our nations have a strong bond that’s supported and celebrated by 3 million Americans of Philippine an- cestry that live in the United States today. And I am proud to say that more than 1 million Filipino-Americans have made California their home. (1) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:01 Feb 21, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 PHILIPPINES.TXT sforel1 PsN: sforel1 2 I, myself, visited the Philippines while I was a member of the House of Representatives. It was just after Marcos was overthrown and Cory Aquino became the leader. It was a very exciting time. It was 1986. So I, myself, feel very strong ties to the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of the people of the Philippines and of all their family members that I represent in California. During World War II, 100,000 soldiers from the Philippine Com- monwealth Army fought along side United States and allied forces in the Pacific. Today United States military forces are working with the Philippine Armed Forces to combat Abu Sayyaf, an Islamist terrorist organization responsible for many acts of vio- lence, including the beheading of one of my constituents in 2001. Maintaining strong bilateral ties is very important to both our nations. And it’s in that spirit that we address extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. And before I forget to do it, I want to place into the record the statement submitted by the Philippine Ambassador to the United States, Willy Gaa. So, we will place that in the record. Over the past 6 years, hundreds of such killings have taken place throughout the Philippines. Those targeted have included journal- ists, religious leaders, political figures, human rights activists, and union leaders. For too long the Government of the Philippines has not taken sufficient action, in my opinion, to address extrajudicial killings and bring those responsible to justice. Last August, pressure from international human rights groups, foreign governments, and political leaders forced the government of President Arroyo to launch an investigation into the killings that was headed by retired Supreme Court Justice, Jose Melo. The Melo Commission Report, which was made public last month, found that the killings of activists appear to be part of, ‘‘an orchestrated plan,’’ and that the Philippine National Police has made little progress in investigating or prosecuting cases. Last month, after a 10-day fact-finding mission to the Philip- pines, Phillip Alston, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Summary or Arbitrary Executions, released a statement in which he said the Philippine Armed Forces were, ‘‘In a state of almost total denial,’’ on the need to address, ‘‘the significant number of killings which
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