Aquino won’t disband militias despite abuses
11/24/2010President Aquino claims he does not want a repeat of the gory Maguindanao massacre and has even asked the Supreme Court (SC) for a live televised trial so the nation can learn from past mistakes and not commit them again.
Yet Aquino rejected calls yesterday to disband state-funded militias such as the one allegedly used by a powerful family to carry out the country’s worst political massacre.
To this day, Aquino has not made public the Zeñarosa report on the country’s private armies, with even the militia serving as politicians’ private armies.
Human rights watchdogs say Aquino, who took office on June 30 this year, must also address the bigger picture of abolishing all private armies run by politicians across the country.
The government still funds and arms some of these militias to supplement the under-resourced military, and critics say Aquino has either been unwilling or unable to disband the militias..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101124hed1.html
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