"No justice just adds to the pain"

"When President Benigno Aquino III took office on June 30, 2010, he pledged to end serious human rights violations in the Philippines. One year later, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances by state security forces persist. The new government has done little to hold perpetrators to account for these and past serious abuses. This report details strong evidence of military involvement in the killings and enforced disappearances of several leftist activists since Aquino took office. Based on interviews with victims of abuses, family members and friends, eyewitnesses, police and military officials, and others, it reveals how police investigations have stalled, especially when evidence leads to the military, how arrest warrants against alleged perpetrators have not been executed, and how internal military investigations are near non-existent. The Justice Department's inadequate protection program for witnesses has also hindered the ability to bring perpetrators to justice. This report calls on the Philippine government to step up efforts to investigate and prosecute members of the security forces and government-backed militias implicated in extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. The government should also sanction investigators who fail to credibly investigate cases, order the military to cease targeted attacks on civilians, and stop blanket denials of military involvement in all cases"--P. [4] of cover.