The deaths of nine persons last March 7 in South Luzon provinces will be investigated by the inter-agency committee on extra-judicial killings (EJKs) led by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra on Thursday night, March 11, said there has been a determination that the killings fall under the jurisdiction of Administrative Order (AO) 35 that created the Inter-Agency Committee on Extra-Legal Killings, Enforced Disappearances, Torture and Other Grave Violations of the Right of Life, Liberty and Security of Persons.
“The DOJ will endorse the investigation to the AO 35 committee, as there is sufficient evidence that the victims were members of cause-oriented groups carrying out legitimate dissent,” Guevarra said.
AO 35 was issued in 2012 by then President Benigno “Noynoy” S. Aquino III.
Aside from the DOJ as lead agency, AO35 inter-agency committee is composed of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of National Defense (DND), Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Director of the National Bureau of Investigation, Chairperson of the Presidential Human Rights Committee, and the Presidential Advisers on Peace Process, and Political Affairs.
The committee is mandated to invite the chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) as observers.
Last Sunday, the police and the military conducted joint operations in serving search warrants at the offices and homes of persons with suspected links to communist groups in Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Batangas.
But the operations resulted in the death of nine persons and arrests of six others, including a 61-year-old paralegal of an advocacy group.
Immediately, Guevarra ordered an assessment whether the investigation of the killings would be under the jurisdiction of AO 35 inter-agency committee.
Justice Undersecretary Adrian Ferdinand S. Sugay had explained that the AO 35 inter-agency committee has a limited jurisdiction and covers only investigations on EJKs of members of cause-oriented groups or those who are engaged in legitimate dissent or opposition.
Among the cases under probe by AO 35 committee are the killings of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Randall Echanis and Karapatan member Zara Alvarez, both of whom were slain in August last year.