Manila's dirty war

FROM THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD-TRIBUNE

By John Hall

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

A Philippine court has sentenced 14 members of Abu Sayyaf - a militant Muslim organization with ties to Al Qaeda - to life imprisonment for a series of kidnappings in 2001 that resulted in the deaths of two American and several Filipino hostages.

The verdict - along with the deaths of several Abu Sayyaf leaders - seems to justify the U.S. decision to provide support to the Philippine military as part of its global "War on Terror."
But there is a more sinister face to this U.S. ally - a widespread campaign of repression, intimidation, arbitrary detention, disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

Since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took office in 2001, an estimated 800 political opponents, human rights campaigners and members of groups and churches critical of her government have been assassinated. Many others have survived assassination attempts. In fact, legitimate opponents or her government are just as likely to be targeted as Muslim terrorists and Communist rebels.

John Hall is an associate professor of law and director of the Center for Global Trade and Development, Chapman University School of Law, Orange, California. He worked previously at Public Interest Law Center in Manila.

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