Over recent years the number of killings of political and community activists in the Philippines, predominantly those associated with legal leftist or left-orientated groups, have continued to increase. In the first six months of 2006 alone at least 51 killings took place, compared to the 66 collated by Amnesty International in the whole of 2005.
The killings, mostly carried out by unidentified men often wearing face masks who shoot the victims before escaping on motorcycles, have rarely led to the arrest, prosecution and punishment of those responsible.
The methodology of the attacks, including prior death threats and patterns of surveillance by persons reportedly linked to the security forces, the leftist profile of the victims and climate of impunity which, in practice, shields the perpetrators from prosecution, has led Amnesty International to conclude that the attacks are not an unconnected series of criminal murders but constitute a politically-motivated pattern of killings. The organization remains gravely concerned that members of the security forces may have been directly involved in the killings, or else have tolerated, acquiesced to, or been complicit in them.
Full report at:
http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA350092006?open&of=ENG-2AS