BY REINIR PADUA

A MILITANT student leader was shot dead Thursday night in Camarines Norte, adding to the growing number of victims of political killings.

Farly Alcanta, 22, of the League of Filipino Students, was shot in front of the gate of Camarines Norte State College at 9:45 p.m., according to Ruth Cervantes, information officer of the human rights group Karapatan.

Alcanta, of Barangay 1, Mercedes, Camarines Norte, was a graduating Economics student.

Karapatan lists Alcanta as the 834th victim of extrajudicial killings since 2001.

The killing occurred on the day Supreme Court Justice Reynato Puno announced he will establish special courts that will be tasked to resolve cases of political killings under the Arroyo administration.

The announcement followed Puno’s meeting with a United Nations team that is in the country to look into the extra-judicial killings.

Militants said the special courts would be swamped with cases of extra-judicial killings if the Arroyo administration would not stop its "national policy" of targeting activists.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), whose members were among the more than 800 victims listed by Karapatan, said the creation of special courts "will certainly not be enough to stop the murderous rampage of the state security forces."

"The policy… is reflected in pronouncements of top military and cabinet officials like AFP chief, the justice secretary and the national security adviser. This is something that the judiciary will be unable to stop. Only the executive can address this," Reyes said.

Militant groups have been pointing to the government’s Oplan Bantay Laya as the national policy behind the extra-judicial killings.

The groups have also been citing a military presentation titled "Knowing the Enemy" where several groups were tagged as communist fronts.

Reyes said the planned creation of special courts is an admission that previous judicial efforts were not enough to address the issue of human rights violations.

"We have sought justice with the justice system. We have always been denied by the Department of Justice. Not much has come out of the Ombudsman, too," he said.

Karapatan said Arroyo "should order a stop to the killings."

"How these courts will solve the cases of killings must be fully disclosed… If not, these courts could just end up like the other investigations ordered by GMA," Cervantes said.

The militant farmers’ group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said it is pinning its hopes on international courts because, it said, nothing will happen in the special courts.

"We would still prioritize the filing of cases before the United Nations, the Permanent People’s Tribunal and the International Criminal Court. They can continue with the special courts but we will have to see if it is really fair," said Carl Ala, KMP information officer.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the creation of special courts is a "solid step towards ending the culture of violence and violation of human rights by extremist elements."

He said the executive branch will work in tandem with the Supreme Court by deploying special investigators and special prosecutors.

"The special courts open a new window of cooperation from all affected parties and sectors and we are reiterating our call for the relatives of the victims, witnesses and even militant groups to take this venue in laying down the evidence and serve the high cause of justice," he said.

He added President Arroyo is determined to put a stop to all forms of politically motivated violence and put in place a strong democracy beside a strong economy.

The Melo Commission created by Arroyo in August last year to look into the killings submitted its report to the President on Jan. 30.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo, head of the commission, has said "elements in the military" were behind the fatal shooting of hundreds of Left-wing activists, community workers and farmers but said it was not the police of the Armed Forces.

Malacañang has refused to make the report public, saying it is incomplete because of the non-cooperation of victims and militant groups like Karapatan in the investigation of the Melo Commission.

Militant and other groups have submitted reports to the visiting UN team led by Philip Alston, special rapporteur of the UN Council on Human Rights on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. – With Jocelyn Montemayor