ASIA/PHILIPPINES - A mass media operator has been killed in Mindanao: "It is necessary to respect the rule of law"

General Santos City (Agenzia Fides) - Alfredo Velarde, "Brigada News" newspaper manger in Mindanao was killed yesterday in General Santos City by a killer who shot him at close range. Velrade, 45 years of age, managed the distribution of the newspaper, in a deeply-rooted and widespread publishing company in Mindanao, which also has a radio and a TV in the South of the Philippines. The reasons why the murder was carried out are unknown and that human rights groups have denounced it as "yet another extra-judicial killing in Mindanao. " 14 of among the 32 journalists and media operators killed in the massacre on November 23, 2009 linked to the clan "Ampatuan" were from General Santos. The list of unpunished killings in Mindanao includes lawyers, human rights activists, missionaries, religious, trade union leaders: among the latter, the PIME missionary Father Fausto Tentorio, killed on October 17.
The Jesuit Father Albert Alejo, Director of the Institute for "Dialogue in Mindanao" at the University of Davao, told Fides: "We live a very difficult time. We are very concerned because there is a serious lack of respect for the rule of law and the forces that should enforce it. It seems that the central government has forgotten about Mindanao and the situation is getting worse: corruption, crime impunity takes hold, peace and development move away". According to the Jesuit there are several factors that affect the situation: "The peace process with communist groups and Islamist insurgents has stalled and the government's approach seems only to be the military’s, there is a tendency to divide themselves into factions, both in the government, and in these groups, fragmentation does not help, a parallel economy is growing that finds benefits due to the high rate of conflict, and to the trafficking of weapons and other illegal trafficking".
The Movement "Justice for father Tentorio" reported the matter of the long trail of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines to public attention. In the past year, under the government of Benigno Aquino, there were at least 60. In eight years of Gloria Arroyo’s government, 1,118 unjustified executions were carried out. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 12/11/2011)