Maj. Gen. Victor Ibrado, Armed Forces of the Philippines Central Command chief in the Visayas, yesterday maintained that it is not government and AFP policy to engage in extra judicial killings, following a United Nations special rapporteur's report on the issue.

The denial came amid demands from partylist solons for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to take action after Philip Alston, an Australian academic assigned by the UN Human Rights Council to look into extra-judicial killings in the Philippines , said in his report to the UN that the AFP had killed leftist activists as part of a campaign against communist insurgents.

But Ibrado said the report of Alston is not surprising because that is what he had been saying from the start.

“It is not government or AFP policy to kill leftist activists,” Ibrado stressed.

“If people have evidence and witnesses against anyone in my unit, we will deliver them to the police and the courts”, he said.

Ibrado said the troops under him are constantly reminded to uphold human rights. “Extra judicial killings will never help in solving the problem, we know that.”

“Extra judicial killings are not in any way part of our strategy or concept for counter insurgency,” he also said.

“We cannot condemn our people immediately once a complaint is made without witnesses and evidence, but we will facilitate investigations if needed,” Ibrado also said.

Representatives Satur Ocampo, Teddy Casiño, Crispin Beltran, Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan of Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and the Gabriela women's party said in a joint statement yesterday that the report of Alston is an affirmation of their long standing position that the intensified extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the country, since 2001 emanates from the highest level of state policy on counter-insurgency.

The Alston report, they said, zeroes in on the AFP Operational Plan Bantay Laya and the National Internal Security Plan approved by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the blueprint for counter-insurgency target research, casing and the resultant extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of civilians, mostly activists.

The Alston report is correct to highlight the AFP's continued state of denial on the extrajudicial killings, they claimed.

“The AFP's continuing state of denial is part and parcel of the administration's systematic cover up of its accountability on the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, rampant corruption, widespread electoral fraud, and other high crimes,” they also claimed.

In the wake of the Alston report, they said they are challenging the president to: immediately fire National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and AFP Chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr., who are primarily responsible for the counter-insurgency program;

Dismantle the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group and drop all bogus criminal cases against progressive legislators and other activists;

Scrap the Armed Forces of the Philippines ' National Internal Security Plan Bantay Laya 1 and 2;

Immediately issue a general order to the AFP to stop engaging in extrajudicial killings, report those who are involved and exact the maximum punishment under Philippine laws; and

Order the immediate surfacing of all desaparecidos.*CPG

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