COMBATING EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLING: PROPOSAL FOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MANILA 004809

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP AND EAP/MTS
STATE ALSO FOR INL/AAE/SNYDER AND DRL/IL/MITTELHAUSER
JUSTICE FOR ICITAP/BARR
USPACOM ALSO FOR FPA HUSO AND J5
SECDEF/OSD/ISA/AP (TOOLAN/BAILEY)
JOINT STAFF/J5 (WILKES/ROBINSON/CLEMMONS)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV RP
SUBJECT: COMBATING EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLING: PROPOSAL FOR
HUMAN RIGHTS TRAINING

REF: MANILA 4539


1. THIS IS AN ACTION MESSAGE; SEE PARA. 9.


2. (SBU) The Philippine Government is working to investigate
a series of unsolved extra-judicial killings, which have
raised concerns both domestically and abroad because of
allegations of possible military or police involvement in
some cases. To address these questions, President Arroyo
established an independent commission chaired by former Chief
Justice Jose A. Melo to investigate and provide policy
recommendations on how to stop these killings and to prevent
any involvement by Philippine security forces. The
Government also established a special Philippine Police task
force, Task Force "Usig," to monitor and investigate the
killings themselves.


3. (SBU) Ambassador Kenney and Country Team members have
repeatedly emphasized to President Arroyo and senior
Philippine officials that extra-judicial killings are
unacceptable. Assistant Secretary for Political-Military
Affairs Hillen reinforced these points during his recent
meeting with Secretary of National Defense Cruz and Armed
Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Esperon.


4. (SBU) Our key diplomatic counterparts share our concern.
The EU has demarched the Department of Foreign Affairs on the
issue, while the French Charge d'Affaires and Canadian
Ambassador have, like Ambassador Kenney, made public
statements urging rapid investigation and remedial action.


5. (SBU) The Melo Commission is scheduled to complete its
hearings in December. We believe the issuance of the
commission's report, expected early next year, offers an
opportunity for the United States to make a public offer of
assistance to provide human rights investigatory training to
Philippine police and prosecutors. Canadian, Japanese, New
Zealand, and French counterparts have indicated strong
interest in joining a U.S.-led training effort. We believe a
week-long training course would publicly underline our
commitment to ending extra-judicial killing, and give
Philippine police and prosecutors more tools to do so.


6. (SBU) Our proposed training would target local Philippine
National Police investigators, National Bureau of
Investigation agents, and Department of Justice prosecutors
from each of the ten areas with the most reported killings.
The week-long seminar, which would specifically address
extra-judicial killings, would focus on investigating a crime
scene (including the identification, documentation,
exploitation, and preservation of evidence),avoiding
contamination of a crime scene (including setting up
structured policies),and building and successfully
prosecuting cases. Three investigators and one prosecutor
from each of the ten high-activity areas -- for a total of 40
trainees -- would attend the course, thereby providing
extensive interaction and cross-training between
investigators and prosecutors.


7. (SBU) Our Legal Attache, an FBI agent, would help
identify crime scene investigation trainers, while our
Judicial Attache, a seasoned DOJ prosecutor with extensive
practical experience in trying civil rights cases, would
coordinate prosecution training. Our resident Senior Law
Enforcement Advisor, a retired police officer with
significant training experience, has offered to provide
International Criminal Investigative and Training Assistance
Program support, including providing an additional trainer,
to help with the effort. The training, tentatively scheduled
for First Quarter 2007, would take place in Manila due to its
central location.


8. (SBU) The total cost of the proposed training is $45,186.
A summary of expenses follows:


MANILA 00004809 002 OF 002


a. Trainees $25,600

- Airfare $6,400 (40 trainees x $160 round trip)
- Lodging $14,400 (40 trainees x 6 nights x $60 per night)
- Meals $4,800 (40 trainees x 6 days x $ 20 per day)

b. Trainers $17,786

- Airfare $8,000 (2 trainers x $4,000 round trip)
- Lodging $1,778 (2 trainers x 7 nights x $127 per night)
- Perdiem $1,008 (2 trainers x 7 days x $72 per day)
- Salary $7,000 (2 trainers x 7 days x $500 per day)

c. Facilities $1,000

- Meeting Room $1,000 (5 days x $200 per day)

d. Materials $800

- Binders, paper, pens, copying $800 (40 trainees x $20
each)


9. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST: Embassy Manila requests $45,186
from INL and/or DRL to conduct a training course on
investigating and prosecuting extra-judicial killings.


Visit Embassy Manila's Classified website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/manila/index. cfm
KENNEY