By Marvyn N. Benaning | Correspondent
OF the 97 cases of human-rights violation filed against members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) since 2001, only one soldier has been convicted by the courts, data from the Department of National Defense (DND) showed.
In a letter to Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon of Kabataan, Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin reported that of 57 soldiers accused of extrajudicial killings, (EJK) only one was convicted, with 22 still under investigation; four were formally charged; the cases against 12 soldiers were archived; five are under trial; charges against 10 were dismissed; and three were acquitted.
The conviction rate is a universally low 1.75 percent, the data showed.
Of the 11 accused of torture, six are under investigation, the cases against two were archived, while three went scot-free as their cases were dismissed.
The conviction for this category of human-rights violation is zero.
Of the 27 charged with enforced disappearance, 17 are under investigation, a case was filed against a trooper, the cases against four were archived, one is undergoing trial and four soldiers were found to be innocent, for a zero-conviction rate.
Only two soldiers were accused of killing journalists, with one still undergoing trial while another one was convicted.
“This is an incredulous report. This only shows that the AFP is virtually protected from the claws of Philippine law. This is the very reason the AFP is so confident in committing rights violations, because they know that they will not be made accountable for their heinous crimes,” Ridon said ahead of grilling DND officials during the House plenary session.
“Such low conviction rate is a manifestation of the deeply seated culture of impunity in our country. Here in the Philippines, having a military badge is equivalent to a free pass on the commission of crimes,” he said.
The lawmaker noted that the low conviction rates stand in sharp contrast with human-rights violation statistics.
Human-rights group Karapatan has documented 282 victims of EJK as of August 2015.
“Human-rights violations will undoubtedly continue in the final months of the Aquino administration, especially when we have a situation where military aggressors and criminals are exempt from the rule of law,” Ridon said.