BY RAYMOND AFRICA
US SEN. Barbara Boxer yesterday rebuffed a
Philippine government offer to have top police and military
officials testify before a hearing of the foreign affairs
subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific Affairs which she heads on
the rash of extra-judicial killings.
"I don’t understand why you have to send
military and police to a hearing that a couple of senators are
holding to look at allegations of human rights abuses… We made
it very clear and to their credit they responded. They said they
will not send any military, they won’t send any police, and they
said they won’t send any intelligence agents," reports quoted
Boxer as saying.
PNP Deputy Director General Avelino Razon
Jr., head of Task Force Usig and head of the team, said they
were sent to Washington to serve as resource persons to
Ambassador Willy Gaa, who testified during the hearing.
But since they were not invited by the Boxer
panel, they did not show up at the hearing, Razon said.
He said he and CIDG chief Director Edgardo M.
Doromal went to the Capitol to pay a courtesy call on Sen.
Richard Lugar a day after arriving.
"Paano naman kami pupunta doon sa US Senate
inquiry eh hindi naman kami inimbita talaga doon?" Razon said in
a phone interview.
Razon said they will spend at last five days
in the US.
Aside from Razon and Doromal, the team is
composed of Col. Gaudencio Pangilinan, deputy chief of the
Intelligence Service of the AFP, and Col. Benedicto Jose, head
of the AFP Human Rights Office.
PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Samuel D. Pagdilao
Jr. said Razon called him up Thursday dawn (Manila time) to
clarify reports on the incident.
He said part of a text message sent by Razon
read: "We are not invited in the US Senate hearing to
testify. We are here to assist the Philippine Embassy by
providing them with more information about the slay cases in the
Philippines in my capacity as supervisor of Task Force Usig."
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Razon’s
team was sent to the US in case Boxer’s panel called for
resource persons.
"They were just on standby… They are already
there and as explained by Executive Secretary Ermita, they are
there to act as possible resource persons if and when their
assistance is asked. So I think, maybe, for the duration of the
probe they will be there," he said.
The US Senate panel is looking into
allegations that Philippine security forces were responsible for
a number of the extra-judicial killings.
The human rights group Karapatan said at
least 800 people have been victims of political killings since
President Arroyo assumed power in 2001, of which more than 200
happened last year alone.
TF Usig records show only 118 cases of slain activists,
journalists and some government officials since 2001. –
With Jocelyn Montemayor
