A SPECIAL panel from the International Labor Organization (ILO) took notice of the spate of killings, threats and harassment of workers and union organizers in the Philippines and asked the government to stop human-rights violations.

The ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association, deplored the seriousness of extrajudicial killings of labor leaders and described the government’s actions to address them as “inadequate.”

“The committee assailed the gravity of the allegations made in this case and the fact that more than a decade after the filing of the last complaint on similar allegations, inadequate progress has been made by the government with regards to putting an end to killings, abductions, disappearances and other serious human-rights violations,” said the labor body in a statement.

ILO’s governing body also approved the committee’s 346th and 347th reports where it examined 30 out of 121 cases filed by different nations.

The statement said the committee drew special attention to labor violation cases coming from Cambodia, Colombia and the Philippines, because of their “serious and urgent nature.”

It asked the Philippine government to keep the ILO informed of the progress of investigations being carried out to solve the killings of union leaders and members. It also asked the Arroyo administration to create an independent judicial inquiry into the killings and “ensure full implementation” of the recommendations of the Melo Commission.

“It also requested the government to give adequate instructions to the law-enforcement authorities so as to eliminate the danger entailed by the use of excessive violence when controlling demonstrations,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) urged the government to apply the same zeal it is exerting in finding an abducted Italian priest to other victims of forced disappearance.

CBCP president Angel Lagdameo said while he is grateful that authorities are doing their best to find kidnapped Italian priest Fr. Giancarlo Bossi, who was abducted two Sundays ago in Zamboanga Sibugay, finding other victims of disappearance should also be considered a “serious matter.”

The bishops earlier called on the government to find Jonas Burgos, son of press freedom icon Jose Burgos, who was abducted on April 28.

At the same time, Party-list Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna called on the House of Representatives to jointly investigate with the Senate the alleged involvement of the military in the killings of activists.

“A joint congressional hearing will express the sense of both the Senate and the House that extrajudicial executions have no place in civilized society and that the masterminds and perpetrators, be they coming from state security forces or private groups, should be held accountable,” Ocampo said.

“Members of Congress should match the commitment of Senator-elect Antonio Trillanes IV and other senators to ferret out the truth about the ceaseless killings which of late claimed the life of one of our leaders in Bohol,” Ocampo added.

For his part, Casiño called on Malacañang and the Armed Forces top brass to fully cooperate with any legislative investigation.

Casiño said the joint investigation should center on how the military’s counterinsurgency program called Oplan Bantay Laya included activists on the military’s list of targets for military action, including neutralization and physical elimination.

As this developed, militant groups welcomed the plan to investigate the extrajudicial killings of activists and journalists.

The human-rights group Karapatan issued a statement on Trillanes’s proposal to investigate the extrajudicial killings.

Lauding Trillanes’s move to put the Arroyo administration to task for the extrajudicial killings, Karapatan secretary-general Marie Hilao-Enriquez welcomed the pronouncements made by top anti-Arroyo military officials who vowed to provide the detained senator-elect with evidence once the investigation begins.

The group specifically asked Trillanes to open safehouses and military camps and pinpoint secret places of detention to determine the fate of victims of enforced disappearances.  

“This will bring an end to the sufferings of relatives of hundreds of victims who continue to go through the pain of loss and uncertainty over the fate of their loved ones,” Enriquez added.

“Karapatan hopes that the investigation would bring more uniformed men and women who are in the know out of the woodwork to really bring the perpetrators to the bar of justice and ascertain the fate of those who were abducted and are missing up to now,” Enriquez added. --C. Jimenez, R. Acosta and J. Mayuga

A SPECIAL panel from the International Labor Organization (ILO) took notice of the spate of killings, threats and harassment of workers and union organizers in the Philippines and asked the government to stop human-rights violations.

SEN. Joker Arroyo has conceded the chairmanship of the powerful Senate blue-ribbon committee to reelected Sen. Panfilo Lacson, but insisted that Lacson must first produce proof to back charges linking President Gloria-Macapagal-Arroyo’s relatives and other personalities to the controversial Jose Pidal bank accounts.

THE Armed Forces admitted on Tuesday that the election of former Navy Lt. SG Antonio Trillanes IV to a public office has already absolved him of his military case.

THE National Police chief admitted on Tuesday that the recall of the 500 policemen assigned to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) will temporarily hurt the agency, but said that in the end, it would be beneficial to the country.

AT least 400 police trainees in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao will be deployed to assist poll officials in the holding of special elections in the area on Wednesday.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Police and military authorities are verifying reports that the remaining Abu Sayyaf leader wanted by both the US and Philippine governments has returned to the island province of Basilan.