THE PHILIPPINES. MANILA URGED TO CLAMP DOWN ON EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS

the Philippine president must disband any group found responsible for killing hundreds of left-wing activists and journalists, even if it includes soldiers and police, Amnesty International said.
The London-based human rights watchdog lauded President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for ordering an investigation into the violence of recent years.
But it urged her to make "a public statement to make it crystal clear to all - including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and other security forces - that involvement in such killings will not be tolerated and that she will do everything in her power to combat impunity."
A week previously, the Philippine human rights group Karapatan said it had documented the killings of 73 leftist activists by suspected government forces or their agents so far in the year, and 152 in 2005. It said more than 140 left-wing activists had been abducted and remained missing since Arroyo took office in 2001, and almost 600 had been killed during the same period.
The government and military denied any involvement in the killings and abductions. Arroyo's spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the government was proud of its human rights record.