MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government formally moved for the delisting of more than 600 cases of enforced and involuntary disappearances that occurred from 1975 to 2012 during a meeting with a United Nations working group.
The Philippine delegation sought to delist 625 cases during a meeting with the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital of Sarajevo, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a release Friday.
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The said disappearances were mostly attributed to government forces.
AFP: Most cases caused by CPP-NPA 'purge'
Brig. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Armed Forces of the Philippines deputy chief of staff for operations, claimed that many of the cases took place at the height of the internal purging by the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army.
The process of clarifying these cases, DFA said, is supported by and runs parallel to mechanisms established by Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Law of 2012 and Administrative Order 35, which created the inter-agency committee on extra-legal killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other grave violations of the right to life, liberty and security of persons.
While it sought to delist cases of disappearances, the Philippine delegation assured the UN working group that the government would continue to assist families of the disappeared.
The Justice department said that 105 of the 625 cases had already been taken up and claims for reparation had been granted under the Human Rights Victims Recognition and Reparation Act of 2013.
That law created a board to evaluate and process claims of victims of human rights violations during the Marcos administration.
The WGEID is one of the panels overseen by the UN Human Rights Council, which aims to help relatives of disappeared persons ascertain the whereabouts of their disappeared family members.
The working group consists of five members that serve as experts "in their individual capacities, to examine questions relevant to enforced or involuntary disappearances of persons." — Gaea Katreena Cabico