These steps were not taken. AI noted that President Aquino said he had no plans to disband the paramilitary groups, which according to him, act as “force multipliers” for the military and police, including the CAFGUs, SCAA, CVO, police auxiliaries and barangay defense forces.
AI also mentioned the setting up of a national quick response hotline for families of victims of arbitrary or warrantless arrests and enforced disappearances to gain immediate recourse.
CMFR’s Melinda Quintos de Jesus said media groups have proposed to Malacañang a similar measure to address media killings, the formation of a quick response team (QRT) that will be dispatched to places where incidents occurred. “That’s what we’re waiting for. That’s not happening yet.” “We’re still waiting President Aquino for some dramatic action.”
Counterinsurgency
“What is the real root of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, especially of activists? It is the attitude of the military and police that membership in the CPP-NPA [Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army] is unlawful. I don’t see any improvement. That attitude still remains in the military and police,” lawyer Manuel Diokno said.
Diokno said that while the military and police established their human rights offices and underwent trainings on human rights, the problem is that they have not changed any of their fundamental practices from the time of martial law.
Baraan shared the same observation. “We know why these happen. The mentality of the military [that states] ‘They are Leftists and therefore, they are enemies.’”
“In the case of Fr. Tentorio, the reports are that he had been branded as leftist, that he’s an advocate against mining operations, he’s helping the masses. If you’re helping the masses, you are perceived as leftist,” Baraan said.
As early as April 2008, Philip Alston, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said in his report, ““[T]he military’s counterinsurgency strategy against the CPP/NPA/NDF increasingly focuses on dismantling civil society organizations that are purported to be ‘CPP front groups.’”
Alston pointed out that membership in the CPP is legal, and has been since 1992 when Congress repealed the Anti-Subversion Act.
In 2010, AI called on the Aquino administration to prevent the use of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism to justify human rights violations.
Human rights group Karapatan pointed out that the policy remains under the Aquino’s counterinsurgency program Oplan Bayanihan.
Baraan himself is not convinced that Aquino is doing enough. “Where state agents themselves are the perpetrators or violators, there is the perception that is created, rightly or wrongly, that the state is encouraging or inspiring human rights violations or pursuing it as a policy. That perception should be erased. The problem is, killings continue and that perception persists. It is not enough for Pnoy to say ‘I will not tolerate killings.’ He should say ‘There’s no place for extralegal killings under my administration,’” Baraan said.
Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Javier Colmenares said political will is necessary to prosecute crimes of extrajudicial killings.
In its July paper, Human Rights Watch noted that while the public rhetoric of senior military officers has changed somewhat since Aquino took office, the change in language “has not yet been reflected in action.”
“The problem of human rights violations is a systemic problem. It is engraved in a society which does not tolerate dissent. If that is the philosophy of government, that is weakening the institutions, that is weakening society,” Colmenares said.
“We have a democracy in name but not in fact,” Diokno said.
Colmenares said a piecemeal solution is not enough. “The solution should be comprehensive. It cannot be divorced from a social reform package.”
In a statement following Tentorio’s death, Bishop Broderick Pabillo, director of the National Secretariat for Social Action of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said, “…[w]e desire to see these killings stop rather than be consoled by the platitudes they [authorities] give in exchange for our grief.”
Meanwhile, thousands wept for Tentorio. His death has revitalized calls for justice in the land he so loved.
This article is a shorter version of the author’s output during the recently concluded 15th Graciano Lopez Jaena Community Journalism Workshop. The workshop was organized by the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communications in cooperation with the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and Southeast Asian Press Alliance. 
Dapat binanggit na second best story ito ng 15th Graciano Lopez Jaena Community Journalism Workshop ng UP College of Mass Communication.