PIMENTEL CALLS FOR RELEASE OF MELO COMMISSION
REPORT ON EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today assailed the Arroyo government for refusing to reveal the complete findings and recommendations of the Melo Commission on the extra-judicial killings of leftist activists and journalists.

Pimentel said Palaces attitude to keep the report of the fact-finding Commission under wraps smacks of the administrations insensitivity to public sentiments and lack of transparency which it had so callously displayed before by preventing the public disclosure of the Mayuga report on the investigation of the involvement of some military generals in the rigging of the 2004 presidential election in Mindanao.

The investigation report of the Melo Commission is a public document and efforts of Malacañang to wrap it around a veil of secrecy can by no means be justified. Otherwise, this will only bolster the allegation that this administration is only trying to cover up the wave of political killings and to protect the perpetrators, he said.

The minority leader said the inability of the fact-finding Commission, chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo, to release the report to the public without Malacañang s permission further confirms the Commissions lack of independence and its subservience to the Palace.

He said while President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may have some reasons for directing the Melo Commission to continue investigating the extra-judicial killings, the government and law enforcement authorities should have now shifted their attention to the formal filing of criminal charges against the culprits and their prosecution in courts. Otherwise he said there will be no closure to these cases.

But how can these criminal cases be filed in court when Palace officials are now saying that the investigation of the extra-judicial killings is not yet complete? And that is the reason why the President has extended the operations of the Melo Commission and instructed justice authorities to conduct a deeper probe into the militarys involvement in these crimes, the lone senator from Mindanao said.

Pimentel also expressed disgust over the Presidents pathetic attempt to persuade the relatives of victims of extra-judicial killings and the witnesses to testify and present their evidence to the Melo Commission after they steadfastly boycotted its hearings because of their distrust for the fact-finding body.

He said that the President and her advisers are themselves to blame why the relatives of the victims and witnesses to the killings refused to appear before the Melo Commission.

When the Melo Commission was being organized last year, the militant leftist and human rights groups submitted their recommendations to strengthen the Commission and enhance its credibility. They presented the names of some nominees to the Commission. They also sought full government protection for witnesses, but all these suggestions fell on deaf ears, Pimentel said.

Pimentel said the Palace is now in a panic mood after realizing that what the Melo Commission has submitted was a half-baked report that relied mainly on the testimonies of the generals but silent on the version of the witnesses and relatives of the victims.

He said the government will find itself embarrassed when the report is presented to foreign observers, particularly those from the European Commission which is keeping tab of the investigation and demanding a stop to the extra-judicial killings.