President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Wednesday put up of a P25-million fund to end political killings which militant groups have blamed on the government security forces. “Political violence has been a scourge in Philippine politics long before our administration,” Arroyo said. “We want to erase the legacy of political violence that haunted our nation for generations. We want to achieve a violence-free political culture in the Philippines once and for all.” She also urged lawmakers to donate P250,000 from their Countrywide Development Fund (CDF) or pork barrel to help raise the amount which will be used as rewards for information leading to the arrest of criminals and solve political killings. For the past few years, Arroyo's administration has been under fire from local and international human rights groups over the killing of activists and journalists. In a final report on the human rights situation in the Philippines in late 2007, UN special rapporteur Philip Alston concluded that the military had killed leftist activists as part of an intensified campaign against communist rebels. The military immediately said it welcomed P25m reward to solve political killings. In an interview, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said the reward system could help stop extra-judicial killings “once and for all.” “That's okay with us so that we can put a stop to these extra-judicial killings once and for all,” he said. The latest of the series of political killings was the murder of Rebelyn Pitao, daughter of a communist rebel leader, in Davao City. The military has denied it is into summary executions of suspected rebels and rebel supporters.
