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