Canadian mission quoted in AF story

This is front page story on The Philippine Inquirer and ABS CBN News

Saturday, December 30, 2006


2006 worst year for rights since Marcos


Political murders in the Philippines reached their highest level in 2006 since the toppling of dictator Ferdinand Marcos more than 20 years ago, human-rights activists say.

More than 180 activists—including journalists, human-rights workers, leftwing politicians, trade unionists and lawyers—were assassinated this year for their criticism of those in power, they say.

“An average of three extrajudicial killings are occurring every week in the country,” a Canadian human-rights team concluded recently after a fact-finding mission to the Southeast Asian nation.

“A clear pattern of state-perpetrated politically motivated extrajudicial killings” was occurring in the country, the team said.

President Arroyo and her top aides have dismissed their report as propaganda to serve the country’s communist insurgents who have been fighting a Maoist war for four decades to seize power.

But local human-rights group Karapatan says it has recorded 185 such killings in 2006, the highest number since the regime of Marcos, renowned for his brutal suppression of critics and ousted in 1986.

The sheer number has alarmed the European Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Roman Catholic Church, all of which have called on Arroyo to take action to stop the bloodshed.

Archbishop Antonio Ledes ma, vice-president of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference in this largely Roman Catholic country, said action must be taken irrespective of who was behind them.

“In the past, there were allegations of killings from the left and the right but regardless of which end of the political spectrum is responsible, public authorities should be even-handed in trying to resolve them,” he told AFP.

Opposition Rep. Roilo Golez warned the “murderous year” was undermining democracy, in a nation with a history of coups and dictatorships.

The most high-profile murder came December 16 when Rep. Luis Bersamin Jr., an ally of Arroyo representing the northern province of Abra, was shot dead along with his security aide outside a church in a Manila suburb.

Police say they have a witness who has linked Abra Gov. Vicente Valera to the killing. Valera has denied responsibility, saying he and Bersamin were longtime allies.

Earlier senior government lawyer Nestor Ballacillo was shot dead along with his son also in a Manila suburb. Police said they had arrested a suspect.

In response to the bloodshed, Arroyo has ordered an increase in the visibility of police and for officers to work closer with communities.

She has also set up a special commission to determine who are behind the slayings which has yet to report its findings.

Military and police officials have blamed at least some of the deaths on an internal purge or factional fighting within the 7,100-strong Communist Party’s New People’s Army.

The military, whose officers have also been accused of some of the killings, claim the overall numbers are bloated.

For its part, the New People’s Army has admitted carrying out purges in the past but has largely denied it is behind the latest spate.

Blaming the communists and establishing a commission have failed to ease fears among many Filipinos about their own safety.
--AFP

Confronting the face of terror in the Philippines

Philippines’ notebook
Confronting the face of terror in the Philippines
By Ted Alcuitas
Dec. 11, 2006

(For five days from Nov. 16-20, Ted Alcuitas, a Filipino-Canadian journalist, traveled to the Central Luzon provinces of Nueva Ecija and Bulacan as part of a nine-member Canadian fact-finding mission to investigate the human rights situation in the Philippines. They sought out victims and families and documented their stories, often facing military harassment. He remains in the country to cover the ASEAN Summit in his home province and files this report.)


Cebu City , Philippines – As the Philippines’ premier southern city prepares for next week’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit, Cebuanos seem oblivious to the devastation of typhoon Reming’s deadly toll just a week ago which claimed more than 500 lives in Albay. Organizers must have been relieved that the typhoon spared the city that almost did not have its P515 M Peso (P40 - $1 Cdn.) convention center finished in time for the 12-nation summit that begins December 11th till the 14th.

The feverish pace of sprucing up the city includes bulldozing ‘squatters’ to make room for the controversial Cebu International Convention Center (CICC). They are shoved to the side of the behemoth structure and conveniently hidden behind a wall of earth so they cannot be seen by the 17 heads of state including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Each is given a can of paint so that they can paint the tin roofs of their shacks to sanitize the area. Vagrant children and even stray dogs are rounded up to make sure no wayward animals or humans stray unto the path of visiting dignitaries.

The city is teeming with soldiers in full battle gear supposedly to thwart any ‘terrorist’ plans to disrupt the meeting. Yet, not one of them was redeployed to help in rescuing or evacuating the people in the mudslides of Daraga, Albay, where people were left on their own to escape the devastation. The eerie images of people running for their lives reminds one of the same images in the Katrina hurricane a year ago when U.S. soldiers were conspicuously absent as they were busy fighting a war in Iraq and elsewhere but left their own citizens to drown in the floodwaters of New Orleans.

War of words

For now, there is a war of words between the government and militant groups converging on the city to have their own parallel meetings. When Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez vowed to throw militants to the sharks in the waters of Mactan Channel, fisherfolk who plans a ‘fluvial parade’ promptly corrected him by saying there are no sharks in the water where they fish. The real sharks according to the fisherfolk are in Malacanang with the U.S. as the great white shark and the IMF-World Bank as the loan shark.

‘Collateral damage’

In our brief incursions to the villages (barangays) where there were reported incidents of political killings, we encountered the face of terror among the people we met and talked to.


The terror of a father who survived a military attempt to kill him in front of his wife and 2-day old son and 2-year old daughter, because he was suspected as a communist sympathizer. He was shot in the neck with the bullet exiting to his side. After he fell, another shot was fired at his leg. Today, his traumatized daughter’s first words when asked about his father are: “Papa? Bing! Bing! Bing!”

The terror of a sister who can’t stop wailing as she narrated the bludgeoning of his brother by five soldiers as the wife and four children watched in horror.

The terror of a mother whose brother-in-law hanged himself after his best friend was killed by the military, repeatedly asking us why we are conducting an investigation and what would happen to her and her family when we leave. She pleaded not to take any pictures of her family.

The anguish of a father resting his head on his hands as he struggles to listen to his wife narrates the circumstances of the abduction, torture and disappearance of his young daughter by military elements.

The terror of a father who returns to his village to see for the first time the charred remains of his house after it was burned by the military because he is suspected as a member of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines who is waging a three-decades old war of national liberation with the government of the Philippines.

The terror of a young Catholic priest as he showed us the death threats on his life contained in a letter and a .38 caliber bullet thrown into the collection box.

These are the collateral damage in the global war on terror as played in the Philippines – the ‘second front’ in this deadly war. And President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is only too willing to oblige her U.S. master, closing her eyes to the searing images of terror and anguish as her military follows a deadly pattern of killings of the ‘enemies of the state’, never before seen in the Philippines –not even during the time of the infamous dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

And the country is not officially under martial law.

Her propagandists vilify and demonize the work of the human rights groups, singling the country’s largest alliance of human rights workers - Karapatan, who, despite losing more than 27 of its own workers to the killings, continue the thankless and risky job of documenting cases of human rights violations. Karapatan’s dedicated core of human rights workers are undaunted by the relentless attacks on their ranks, risking their own lives serving as our ‘security’ buffer as we tried to venture into forbidden territory during the course of our investigations.

Faced with this formidable ‘cordon sanitaire’, Karapatan turns to independent international bodies such as ours to pursue their work. Arroyo’s spin-doctors try to discredit the organization and deftly question Karapatan’s numbers. On Dec. 1 the alliance released its year end report and called 2006 the “worst year for human rights in the Philippines” since Arroyo took power in 2001. Their last count now approaches almost 800 political killings. The Canadian fact-finding mission is also labeled as ‘tools’ of Karapatan.

Yet, this writer came face to face with terror no amount of propaganda can dispute.
And more.
No civil rule
Unmistakably martial rule reigns in the barangays we visited. The military not only acts as judge and jury but also the executioner.

A young man we interviewed was arrested and tortured by the military for selling a stolen goat. He was paraded around town together with another accomplice, wearing a sandwich board tied around his neck proclaiming that he was a thief – the stolen animal reluctantly following them.
In another instance, we were told by the barangay captain (the highest civilian official in the local government unit) of an army lieutenant who was accused of conduct unbecoming an officer. He was ‘paddled’ by his superior in the town square in the presence of the villagers. Paddling means being hit in the back repeatedly by a 2x 4 until you bleed and fall to the ground.
In these two cases there were no due process – in the first case, crime is a police matter not a military prerogative. In the second case, military law should apply, not the medieval and barbaric beating of an accused.
In these far-flung villages, the military is the law. If you are labeled as a supporter of the NPA and do not report to them to ‘clear’ your name you automatically end up in the Order of Battle or OB.
Such were the case of the people whose relatives we interviewed – for failing to convince the military that they had nothing to do with the insurgents, they ended up in the OB and ultimately paid for their lives.
Innocent victims of the unrelenting war of terror now gripping this country of 85 million people most of whom escape the grinding poverty by working in 186 countries around the globe – ten million of them euphemistically called Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW).
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo calls them the ‘modern heroes’ . Their remittances of around $10 billion a year props up the moribund economy of the country.
Meanwhile, those who are left behind are killed with impunity while the government hosts a regional meeting and puts up a benign face to the world.

Certainly not a benign face but the face of terror!

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Philippines' Notebook

/Users/tedalcuitas/Desktop/Philippine_notebook_1.doc/Users/tedalcuitas/Desktop/3-year old Patricia May with his uncle. .jpg/Users/tedalcuitas/Desktop/Domus Dei.jpg/Users/tedalcuitas/Desktop/Bullet went through side and had to be opened to drain out blood.jpg/Users/tedalcuitas/Desktop/Shot through the neck and leg, father survives attack.jpg/Users/tedalcuitas/Desktop/Couple with 1-year old baby. Their house was burned down by military.jpg/Users/tedalcuitas/Desktop/Domus Dei -Refugee house. Forty one people including 17 children are housed in this temporary shelter provided by the church to escape military harassment..jpg/Users/tedalcuitas/Desktop/DSCN6720.JPG/Users/tedalcuitas/Desktop/Merryn, one of our team members holds son of couple whose house was b urned while mother looks on.jpg

Canadian Envoy tells Arroyo to listen to appeals

Canadian Envoy Tells Arroyo to Listen to Appeals on Killings


As members of a Canadian fact-finding mission are held by the military
The Canadian ambassador has asked President Arroyo to listen to international appeals for a stop to the political killings in the Philippines, reminding her that his country’s aid is tied to “good governance.”

By Bulatlat
Nov-Dec.2, 2006

Expressing concern over the reported spate of political killings in the Philippines, the Canadian ambassador to Manila has asked the Arroyo government to listen to international appeals of alarm.
Meeting a group of Canadians who recently joined a fact-finding mission in Luzon, Ambassador Peter Sutherland said at the embassy office in Makati Nov. 22 “When the international business community says something, she (President Arroyo) has to pay more attention."
In an interview with Bulatlat, a source from the fact-finding mission quoted Sutherland as saying Canada gives $13- $15 million a year in bilateral aid to the country but that close to $30 million would have been poured into the country if the direct business investments are included."Our aid is tied to promoting 'good governance' and support small businesses to become self-sufficient," the ambassador said.
FOR THE FATHER HE NEVER SAW: Maribel Valdez was just a few weeks away from giving birth when the Hacienda Luisita massacre took place, claiming among other victims her husband Jesse. The little boy with her, lighting a candle along with other relatives of Hacienda Luisita martyrs, is the two-year-old son Jesse never saw. PHOTO BY TED ALCUITAS
Earlier, the Canadian embassy together with lawyers from CODAL, a Philippine human rights law coalition, intervened with the military to release the Canadians and other members of a fact-finding mission who were detained at seven military checkpoints in the course of their investigation in Luzon.
Redirect aid
In a news briefing Nov. 21 in Quezon City, members of the Canadian fact-finding mission asked the Canadian government to re-direct its foreign aid from the Arroyo government to NGOs instead because of the Philippine president’s poor human rights record.
On Nov. 17, three Canadian members of the fact-finding mission were detained for more than 13 hours in seven military checkpoints as they went through their investigation."It was a harrowing experience for the whole delegation which consisted of three foreign delegates and over 20 members of local mass organizations,” said lawyer Luningning A. Imperial, who is six-month pregnant. "There were terrifying and tense moments as we negotiated with military officials to let us continue our investigation."Imperial, who headed the nine-member Canadian Human Rights Fact-Finding Mission to the Philippines, told reporters that some 1,000 soldiers most of them in full battle-gear, were involved in the operation to apparently frustrate the mission.
The mission broke up into three teams that went to three different regions of the country Nov. 16-20 where reported cases of human rights violations were rampant. Imperial's group went to Quezon province in Southern Tagalog. A second team went to Nueva Ecija and Bulacan provinces in Central Luzon while the third team visited Abra and Baguio, north of Manila.
"By the time we were allowed to leave, however, there was no more we could do and the mission had to be aborted for the safety and security of the members," said Alcuitas.Real truth
In the same press conference, Imperial lambasted the government for claiming it is open to the investigation of political killings yet it "is preventing independent groups like ours to find the real truth behind these killings."
Three family members who experienced military harassment also told how they were subjected to interrogation leading one of them to leave their home and seek refugee in a safe house.
Meanwhile, Marie Hilao-Enriquez, secretary general of the human rights alliance Karapatan, said if the President is serious in solving the killings “she should allow the United Nations Human Rights Rapporteur to come to the country to investigate."
"The experience of the Canadian delegation only confirms what we have been saying all along - that the Philippines is under martial law, albeit not officially," Hilao-Enriquez said.Karapatan has documented human rights violations since Arroyo came to power in 2001. Accounts say there are now 791 victims of political killings, over 100 enforced disappearances and cases of attempted murder.
Karapatan says its investigations point a finger at the Philippine military.The government, however, disputes Karapatan's figures and accuses the group as a Communist "front" along with other so-called leftist organizations. The tagging of these groups whose leaders are in the military's “Order of Battle" put them on a virtual death sentence.Arroyo has been under pressure from both local and international bodies including Amnesty International to put an end to the killings whom critics liken to Operation Phoenix during the Vietnam War.
Last week, the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce (JFC) in the Philippines called for a stop to the killings or risk losing aid and investment followed by a similar warning from U.S.-based apparel companies.Senate inquiry
The Canadian delegation also met with Sen. Jamby Madrigal, the administration's leading opposition critic, who promised to introduce a resolution calling for an inquiry into the detention and harassment of the fact-finding mission members.
"Being foreigners, you could have been arrested and worse, killed as 'terrorists' had the Anti-terrorism Bill been passed," she told the delegation. The bill is awaiting final amendments and possible passage in the Senate.The mission's report will be submitted to the Canadian and Philippine governments as well as other institutions. The Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights which sponsored the fact-finding mission will hold simultaneous events in various cities in Canada on Dec. 10 (International Human Rights Day) to highlight the findings of the mission. Bulatlat

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister expresses support for Ka Bel's case

Free Ka Bel Movement-Philippines
News Release November 26, 2006

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister expresses support for Ka Bel's case; says Canadian government involved in keeping Human Rights a priority in the Philippines

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter G, MacKay stated that his government is well aware of the developments in the human rights situation in the Philippines, including the case of detained Anakpawis Representative Crispin B. Beltran.

Free Ka Bel Movement (FKBM) spokesperson Dennis Maga said that the Canadian official sent Anakpawis and FKBM a letter dated September 25, 2006.

"I share your concerns about the uncertain political environment in the Philippines and the arrest of Congressman Beltran as well as others. The Government of Canada, through our Embassy in Manila, is in close and regular contact with many of the organizations that have been targeted in the recent increase in violence against several organizations, including Anakpawis," MacKay say.

The Canadian Foreign Affairs minister said that When Canadian officials meet with their Philippine counterparts, "We urge them to fully respect international human rights commitments such as the

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Philippines is a party. Our Embassy also continues to coordinate with a wide variety of partners, including non-governmental organizations,

civil society, other embassies and international organizations, and Philippine human rights officials to improve the situation in the country. The Philippines Justice Reform Initiatives Support Project, Local Government Support Project and McLuhan Prize for Investigative Journalism are only some of the ways in which Canada is involved to keep human rights as priority in the Philippines," he said.

"I can assure you that the Canadian government will continue to monitor human rights in the Philippines and will follow closely the developments of the Beltran case."

Maga said that the FKBM and Anakpawis Party-list continue to receive messages of support for Ka Bel and reassurances that they – foreign officials, church leaders and concerned citizens—are doing their share in campaigning for Ka Bel's release.

"We continue to reach out to as many groups and individuals as possible to unite and rally them behind the cause of Ka Bel's release. It's been nine months, but the Macapagal-Arroyo administration remains stubborn in its refusal to release Ka Bel despite the truth that it doesn't have any real case against him. It's already an international embarrassment that at this day and age when the Philippines is supposedly a country with democratic processes, a well-respected and renowned labor leader and people's legislator such as Ka Bel is being persecuted and made into a political detainee. This all the more focuses the spotlight on the Arroyo government's worsening tendencies of dictatorship," he concluded.#

HELP END POLITICAL PERSECUTION IN THE PHILIPPINES!
FREEDOM AND JUSTICE FOR REPRESENTATIVE CRISPIN BELTRAN!

Radio Interview with the Canadian Human Rights Fact-Finding Mission to the Philippines

On Wedneday, November 22, 2006, Jennifer Efting, a Canadian delegate on the mission was interviewed live from Manila, Philippines on Wake-Up with Co-op in Vancouver, B.C.

Click here to hear the recorded interview.

Canadians detained by military in Southern Luzon

Canadians detained by military in Southern Luzon
By Ted Alcuitas


Quezon City, Philippines - Three Canadian members of a human rights fact-finding mission were detained for more than 13 hours in seven military checkpoints as they went through their investigation.

"It was a harrowing experience for the whole delegation which consisted of the three foreign delegates and over 20 members of local mass organizations, says lawyer Luningning Alcuitas-Imperial who is six months pregnant. "There were terrifyng and tense moments as we negotiated with military officials to let us continue our investigation.."

Imperial, who heads the nine-member Canadian Human Rights Fact-Finding Mission to the Philippines says they estimated some 1,000 military personnel most in full battle-gear, were involved in the operation to frustrate the mission. The mission fanned out to three different regions of the country from Nov. 16-20 where reported cases of human rights violations were rampant. Imperial's group went to Quezon province in the Southern Tagalog region. A second team went to the Central Region went to Nueva Ecija annd Bulacan while the third team visited Abra and Baguio.The mission was conducted from Nov. 16 to 20.

The Canadian Embassy in Manila as well lawyers of CODAL, a Philippine human rights law coalition,ntervened with the military to release the detained Canadians and members of their team. "By the time we were allowed to leave however, there was no more we could do and the mission had to be aborted for the safety and security of the members, " says Alcuitas.

In a press conference on Tuesday in Quezon City, Imperial lambasted the government for its pronouncements of openess to the investigation of political killings yet "prevents independent groups like ours to find the real truth behind these killings." Three family members of military harassment also spoke during the press conference and related how they were subjected to interrogation leading one of them to leave their home and seek refugee in a safe house. Imperial called for a "redirection" of Canada's foreign aid to non-governmental groups.

"If the President is serious in solving these killings she should allow the United Nations Human Rights Rapporteur to come to the country to investigate." says Marie Hilao-Enriquez of the human rights alliance Karapatan. "The experience of the Canadian delegation only confirms what we have been saying all along- that the Philippines is under martial law, albeit not officially."

Karapatan has documented human rights violations since Arroyo came to power in 2001 and reports that there are now 783 (?) cases of political killings, over 100 forced disappearances and cases of attempted murder. The alliance says their investigations all point a finger at the Philippine military.

The government however, disputes Karapatan's figures and accuses the group as a Communist "front" along with other so-called leftist organizations. The tagging of these groups whose leaders are in the 'military's Order of Battle" put them on a virtual death sentence.

Arroyo has been under pressure both from local and international bodies including Amnesty International to put an end to the killings whom critics liken to Operation Phoenix during the Vietnam War. Last week, the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce (JFC) in the Philippines called for a stop to the killings or risk losing aid and investment followed by a similar warning from U.S.-based apparel companies.

"When the international business community says something, she (President Arroyo) has to pay more attention," Canadian Ambassador Peter Sutherland told mission members in a meeting at the embassy office in Makati on Wednesday. Sutherland told the members Canada gives $13- $15 year in bilateral aid to the country but that close to $30 million would have been poured into the country if the direct business investments are included.

"Our aid is tied to promoting 'good governance' and support small businesses become self-sufficient," he adds.

The Canadian delegation also meet with Senator Jamby Madrigal, the adminsitration's leading critic, who promised to introduce a resolution calling for an inquiry into the detention and harassment of the fact-finding mission members. " Being foreigners, you could have been arrested and worse,killed as 'terrorists' had the Anti-terrorism Bill been passed," she told the delegation. The Bill is awaiting final amendments and possible passage in the Senate.

The mission's final report will be submitted to the Canadian and Philippine governments as well as other institutions. The Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights who sponsored the fact-finding mission, will hold simultaneous events in various cities in Canada on December 10 (International Human Rights Day) to highlight the findings of the mission.


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Soldiers held local activists

http://www.straight.com/article/soldiers-held-local-activists
Georgia Straight
News Features
By Charlie Smith
Publish Date: November 23, 2006

Three Canadian human-rights activists claim they were detained for several hours by the Philippines Army. Trade-union activist Jennifer Efting and lawyer Luningning Alcuitas-Imperial, both residents of Vancouver, and former Vancouver resident Cecilia Diocson, a nurse, are part of a 32-member Canadian team “investigating reports of human rights violations” in the Philippines.

Efting, best known locally as an organizer with the Bus Riders Union, told the Georgia Straight that the three women were detained for a total of 13 hours over a two-day period on November 16 and 17. She said that machine gun–bearing military officials stopped the trio from entering the town of San Narciso, south of Manila.

The women were then hauled off to a police station, Efting claimed.

“We were never held in a cell, but we were held in their offices and prevented from leaving,” Efting said in a phone interview from the Philippines four days after they were released. “We were threatened with arrest.”

Efting claimed that the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is relying on the military to conduct a “campaign of repression and terror against progressive movements in the Philippines”. Amnesty International, the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations, and the Manila-based Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) have all raised serious concerns about human-rights abuses and “extrajudicial killings” in the Philippines.

Efting said that the Canadians are very worried about what might happen to their hosts: human-rights activists with Karapatan, which has claimed that more than 700 activists have been murdered since 2001. Amnesty International has reported that 51 activists were killed in the first eight-and-a-half months of 2006.

“These aren’t random attacks,” Efting said. “They are attacks on labour leaders. They are attacks on people fighting for human rights. They are attacks on women’s organizations.”

She added that she felt nervous seeing so many men with M16 rifles walking around, particularly because some of them refused to provide their names. “They were wearing scarves over their faces and they were wearing their guns over their name tags,” she said. “We really have to ask, ‘Why weren’t we allowed into that town?’ If there aren’t any human-rights violations going on, there should be freedom for human-rights observers to go in and see that as the truth.”

The treatment of the Canadian human¬-rights activists has generated media coverage in the Philippines Daily Inquirer, one of the country’s leading English-language newspapers, as well as in the New York Times. Efting claimed that the reception they received demonstrates that the Philippines is sliding into fascism.

Alcuitas-Imperial is seven months pregnant, according to her sister Hetty, who remained in Vancouver. Hetty Alcuitas told the Straight that the activists will write a report after they complete their investigation. She added that her father, Ted Alcuitas, a retired newspaper publisher living in Vancouver, is also part of the fact-finding mission.

“They’re going to lobby the [Canadian] government to suspend relations and all aid to the Philippines,” Alcuitas said.

She added that a “civil war” has been under way for more than 30 years between the government and the New People’s Army, which is the armed wing of the Communist party of the Philippines. Alcuitas explained that this is why the human-rights activists encountered so many military personnel in the area. “The Arroyo government has a counterinsurgency plan,” she said.

Officials with the Philippines Consulate in Vancouver did not return a call from the Straight by deadline.

Palace slams Canadian rights team

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=34184

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
Reporter INQ7.net
Posted date: November 22, 2006

MALACAÑANG on Wednesday denounced a team of Canadians who are in the country to look into political killings as “propaganda tools of the revolutionary left."

"These pseudo investigations on so-called extrajudicial killings are not sanctioned by the Canadian government with whom we maintain strong and time-honored ties," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in a statement.

Bunye said the "self-proclaimed" mission "appear to be mere propaganda tools of the revolutionary left rather than impartial instruments of truth and justice."

"We deplore the arrogance of certain self-serving groups to turn this issue into a diplomatic matter," he said, reacting to the team’s announcement that they would ask their government to redirect $22 million in aid from the "militarist" Arroyo administration to communities.

The Canadian activists arrived in the Philippines last week to investigate what it described as the "alarming deterioration of human rights" in the country.

The nine-member fact-finding team is composed of lawyers, trade unionists, community leaders and human rights advocates.

The human rights organization Karapatan has documented 764 deaths of activists since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed office in 2001.

Bunye reiterated that the government is determined to solve the killings and that the President has been in touch with the diplomatic community on this issue.