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Filipino left-wing group calls on US to stop military aid

"Millions of dollars of US taxpayers' money find their way to the military death squads ... With increasing military aid, we also witnessed an increase in human rights abuses over the same period."

Renato Reyes, Bayan secretary-general

The largest left-wing group in the Philippines yesterday asked US lawmakers to halt military assistance to the nation because of a series of killings of leftist activists.

The government has denied allegations by a UN human rights expert and its own fact-finding commission that soldiers were behind most of the extrajudicial killings of activists since 2001.

The left-wing umbrella organization Bayan called on the US Congress to withdraw millions of dollars in military aid to the Philippines because of the killings.

"Millions of dollars of US taxpayers' money find their way to the military death squads," Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes said.

"With increasing military aid, we also witnessed an increase in human rights abuses over the same period," he said.

A local human-rights group, Karapatan, says more than 800 activists have been killed, but police say they have recorded 116 murders.

Military officials have also accused activists of links to communist rebels, who have waged a 38-year-old rural-based insurgency.

The issue is to be discussed in two US congressional hearings tomorrow.

Local media reports said it was brought to the attention of lawmakers in Washington by Filipino-American and church groups that have been critical of the government in Manila.

The government said it would send representatives to make sure there was a"fair, objective and balanced inquiry."

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has condemned the killings, spokesman Ignacio Bunye said, adding that the government has "avowed to face this issue in the domestic and international arena with full transparency and resolve to uphold the rule of law."

The US is the Philippines' closest military ally and is providing crucial training and intelligence for Philippine military offensives against al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Washington also has been promoting reform in the 117,000-strong Philippine armed forces, which have been battling insurgents for decades.
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