The inter-agency committee on extrajudicial killings (EJKs) is looking for ways to hasten its investigations.
Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra, who heads the committee, said on Sunday, Dec. 19, the move was taken up and agreed upon during the committee’s meeting last Wednesday, Dec. 15.
“We reviewed the status of pending cases, including alleged violations of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and discussed ways of getting the investigation of these cases move faster,” Guevarra said.
He also said that during the meeting the committee discussed the “projects for inclusion in the three-year Philippines-UN (United Nations) joint program on the protection and promotion of human rights, which will roll out very soon.”
Last November, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) submitted to the committee 1,500 incidents of alleged violations of IHL reportedly committed by communist terrorist groups.
“The review is being conducted initially in the Visayas and Bicol regions where many of the violations were committed allegedly by communist terrorist groups,” Guevarra said.
The committee was created under Administrative Order No. 35. It is known as the AO 35 Inter-Agency Committee on Extra-Legal Killings, Enforced Disappearances, Torture and Other Grave Violations of the Right to Life, Liberty and Security of Persons.
Aside from Guevarra, the members of the committee are the chairperson of the Presidential Human Rights Committee (PHRCP), secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), secretary of the Department of National Defense (DND), and the Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs (PAPA).