POLICE, MELO COMMISSION UPDATES ON EXTRAJUDICIAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANILA 004811 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR DRL/IL MARK MITTELHAUSER E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/21/2011 TAGS: PHUM PINS MOPS KCRM RP SUBJECT: POLICE, MELO COMMISSION UPDATES ON EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS REF: A. MANILA 4464 ¶B. MANILA 4359 Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Mario Fernandez for reasons 1 .4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary. Philippine National Police (PNP) Task Force Usig Commander Avelino Razon provided a November 20 update to poloffs on investigations of extrajudicial killings of partylist activists and members of the media. These investigations have now led to the filing of charges in 67 cases, with arrests/surrenders in 23 cases, and convictions in two cases. General Razon also noted that TF Usig has assigned non-political motives to 129 of the 725 alleged cases of extrajudicial killings publicized by NGO Karapatan. General Razon reiterated the PNP belief that the murder of Tarlac Archbishop Alberto Ramento was not political in nature, and confirmed that the arrested suspects in the case have confessed. In a separate meeting, emboffs presented Melo Commission Counsel Rogelio Vinluan with a sample case on prosecuting military officers engaged in criminal conduct and offered further consultation on how civilian investigations of military criminal activity are conducted. End Summary. -------------- TASK FORCE USIG UPDATE ON EJKs -------------- ¶2. (U) Task Force Usig Commander (and Deputy PNP Chief for Administration) General Avelino "Sonny" Razon, Jr. updated poloffs on November 20 on TF Usig's progress on investigations of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) since his last briefing (ref a). Task Force Usig has filed charges in 67 cases, has arrests/surrenders in 23 cases, and secured convictions in two cases. General Razon also reiterated the PNP belief that the murder of Archbishop Alberto Ramento was not politically motivated (ref a) and confirmed that the four suspects arrested in the case have confessed to the killing. ¶3. (U) Task Force Usig is also addressing the public claims of NGO Karapatan that there has been at least 725 victims of EJKs since 2001. He noted that TF Usig has assigned non-political motives to 129 of the alleged 725 cases so far; and is still working through the remaining 475 cases on Karapatan's list. Razon confirmed that Karapatan still declines to cooperate with Task Force Usig despite their requests. ¶4. (U) The revised TF Usig statistics for the 2001-2006 period now show: Party List members/activists: -- 117 cases, with 40 so far in 2006; -- 45 cases have identified perpetrators or suspects; 28 are CPP/NPA-related, 17 are Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) or PNP-related; -- 46 cases have been filed in court, with arrests in nine cases and surrenders in one case, while suspects are still at large in 36 others; -- 71 cases are still under investigation; -- area with the highest number of EJKs is the Central Luzon region with 25 EJKs since 2001. Members of the media: -- 26 cases, with two so far in 2006; -- 11 cases have identified perpetrators or suspects: two are CPP/NPA-related, nine are AFP or PNP-related; -- 21 cases have been filed, with arrests in 13 of these cases, two cases under preliminary investigation, two cases with convicted suspects, two cases with surrendered suspects, and two cases with at-large suspects; -- five cases are still under investigation. ¶5. (U) Of the 725 party list/activist victims listed in Karapatan's statistics on EJKs from the 2001-2006 period: -- 110 victims are included in TF Usig's current list of cases of EJKs; -- 129 victims are excluded by TF Usig as cases of EJKs for reasons including: no political group affiliation/non political (46); membership in Abu Sayyaf (22); other motive (18); personal motive (14); land/agrarian dispute (12); legitimate encounter with government security forces (12); victim was government worker (9); victim was newsman (2); and victim is still alive (2); -- 475 remaining alleged victims of EJKs are still being validated by TF Usig. -------------- -------------- MANILA 00004811 002 OF 002 EMBASSY OFFERS FURTHER CONSULTATION TO MELO COMMISSION -------------- -------------- ¶6. (C) In a meeting on November 17, U.S. Department of Justice Attach and poloffs presented Commission counsel Rogelio Vinluan with a sample case on the prosecution of military officers engaged in criminal conduct. Emboffs offered further consultation on how civilian investigations of military criminal activity are conducted, including consultation with U.S. investigators themselves, specifically the Embassy's Naval Criminal Investigative Group. Vinluan expressed appreciation and will brief Melo Commission chair Jose A. Melo. He also noted that he will soon begin to draft the Melo Commission's final REPORT that will include their policy recommendations to President Arroyo on ways to cease military and police complicity in EJKs (ref b). Visit Embassy Manila's Classified website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/manila/index. cfm KENNEY