US group says Philippine death
squad killed 298
Philippine policemen stand guard in Manila on Wednesday.
(AFP)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published — Thursday 22 May 2014
MANILA: A US-based human rights group said
Wednesday that a “death squad” targeting criminal suspects in a southern Philippine city was organized by a former mayor and was
responsible for nearly 300 killings in recent years.
Human Rights Watch said in a report that it had documented
at least a dozen of the 298 killings from January 2007 to March 2013 based
largely on accounts of former hit men, witnesses, relatives of victims and
police officers in Tagum
City, the capital of
Davao del Norte province.
Former Mayor Rey Uy denied the allegations
and said they were based on testimony coerced and paid for by drug dealers and
illegal gamblers.
Human Rights Watch said President Benigno
Aquino III has largely ignored the killings.
Presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma
said Aquino had “affirmed the government's commitment to render justice to
victims of extrajudicial killings dating back to those that were perpetrated in
previous administrations.”
Coloma said cases that were dismissed by
prosecutors were ordered refiled by Aquino and that “interagency work to
complete case buildup that will meet the standards of judicial proof will be
pursued vigorously.”
Phelim Kine, Human Rights Watch's deputy
Asia director, said there was “compelling evidence” against Uy, who reportedly
called the targets — suspected drug dealers, petty criminals, street children
and others — “weeds” that had to be uprooted in a “perverse form of crime
control.” Death squad members who have quit were also targets, Kine said.
“The Tagum death squad's activities
imposed a fear-enforced silence in Tagum
City that allowed the
killers and their bosses to literally get away with murder,” Kine said in a
statement released by Human Rights Watch after it released its 71-page report.
The statement said Uy, his close aides and
police officers had “hired, equipped and paid for an operation that at its
height consisted of 14 hit men and accomplices” since his first term as mayor
in 1998. His son lost the election to succeed him after he stepped down in
2013.
Aquino has “failed to condemn local
anti-crime campaigns that promote or encourage the unauthorized use of force to
rid city streets of 'undesirables,'” the human rights group said.
The group said that according to a former
death squad member, hit men were paid 5,000 pesos ($110) for each killing. Uy
personally paid the hit men on at least two occasions, Human Rights Watch said.
Uy laughed off the claim. “Everybody knows
the house of the mayor, and they come soliciting help for this and that
problem. It is easy to point to the mayor,” he told The Associated Press.
He suggested that the killings were
“vengeance” from the victims of the criminals and rivalry between crime gangs.
“Certain individuals here coerced the
so-called witnesses, gave them money to make up stories,” he said.
“They don't want me to return to power
because if I come back, they will lose their businesses,” he said, adding that
he plans to run again in the next election.
Human Rights Watch said the death squad
also was responsible for the killing of a journalist, a judge, two police
officers, a tribal leader, local politicians and businessmen. Uy apparently was
unaware of these killings or was told by “handlers” of the gunmen that the
victims were involved in drugs to justify the attacks, it said.
Human Rights Watch
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Human Rights
Watch.
Note: George Soros is the
founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations,
a director emeritus at Refugees International,
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society, a benefactor for the Human Rights Watch,
and a benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Human Rights
Watch, the Harlem Children's Zone,
the International Rescue Committee, the Brookings Institution (think tank), Refugees
International, and the Committee for Economic
Development.
Maurice
R. Greenberg was a benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone,
the chairman & CEO for the American International
Group, Inc. (Bailout Company), is the founding chairman for the U.S.-Philippine Business Committee, an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, and his sons are Evan G. Greenberg & Jeffrey W. Greenberg.
Evan G.
Greenberg was the president of the American International
Group, Inc. (Bailout Company), is Maurice R.
Greenberg’s son, & Jeffrey W. Greenberg’s
brother, and an overseer at the International Rescue
Committee.
Jeffrey
W. Greenberg was the VP for the American International
Group, Inc. (Bailout Company), a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), is Maurice R. Greenberg’s
son & Evan G. Greenberg’s brother.
Michael
H. Armacost was the president of the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and a U.S.
ambassador for the Philippines.
Frank G.
Wisner was the vice chairman of external affairs at the American International Group, Inc. (Bailout Company), a U.S. ambassador for the Philippines,
and is a director emeritus at Refugees International.
Mark
Malloch-Brown was the vice chairman for Refugees
International, and is a co-chair for the International
Crisis Group.
Fidel V.
Ramos was a board member for the International Crisis Group,
the president of the Philippines, and is an advisory
board member for the Wheelchair Foundation.
George Soros
is a director emeritus at Refugees International,
a board member for the International Crisis Group,
the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations,
and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), and the Committee for Economic
Development.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Committee
for Economic Development.
Stuart
E. Eizenstat is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), a lobbyist
for the Philippines,
and was a trustee at the Committee for Economic
Development.
Stephen
W. Bosworth was a U.S.
ambassador for the Philippines, and is a trustee
at the Committee for Economic Development.
Donna S.
Morea was a trustee at the Committee for Economic
Development, and the EVP for the CGI Group
Inc.
CGI
Group Inc. was the Obamacare
contractor that developed Healthcare.gov web site.
Obamacare
is Barack Obama’s signature policy
initiative.
Catherine
B. Reynolds is a trustee at the Committee for Economic
Development, and an advisory board member for the Wheelchair Foundation.
Fidel V.
Ramos is an advisory board member for the Wheelchair
Foundation, and was the president of the Philippines.
Mikhail
Gorbachev is an advisory board member for the Wheelchair
Foundation, the founder of Green Cross International,
was the general secretary for the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union, and the president of the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Global
Green USA is a US
affiliate for Green Cross International.
Patricia
E. Mitchell is a board member for the Global Green USA,
and was a director at Human Rights Watch.
George Soros
was a benefactor for the Human Rights Watch.
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