Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Negros lauded former Bacolod Bishop Camilo Gregorio for declining membership in a presidential commission formed to look into the killings of activists and journalists.

Bayan-Negros secretary-general Felipe Levy Gelle Jr., in a statement, said that it is good that Gregorio did not allow himself to be used by a sham commission that would specialize in cover-ups and deodorizing the human rights record of the Arroyo administration.

"The presence of Department of Injustice in the Melo Commission raises doubts on its credibility. The DOJ have become the tool of oppression and repression against the perceived and known critics and oppositors of the Arroyo government," the Bayan statement said.

"The creation of the Melo Commission seems to be a propaganda ploy to institute a damage control to recover from the negative publicity it received from the stinging Amnesty International Report and the European Union," it added.

Several incidents have pointed to the soldiers' involvement in political killings and the existence of the AFP's death squads, Bayan said.

More than the creation of an independent commission with prosecutory powers, the Arroyo government should immediately relieve military and police officers in whose areas where massive political killings have occurred much like the "One Strike" policy in jueteng and illegal gambling, Bayan said.* -

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