Sen.

Alan Peter Cayetano may have used a restrictive definition of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) not applied
nationally in the Philippines by watchdogs or the state body on human rights, nor internationally before an
assembly such as the United Nations. In a presentation during the Universal Periodic Review of the UN
Human Rights Council, Cayetano blasted the media for echoing alternative facts he claimed were
sourced from critics of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The senator also questioned critics of Duterte for using a different definition of EJKs compared to the past
administration. Administrative Order 35 signed by then President Benigno Aquino III defined EJKs as the
killing of the members or advocates of cause-oriented organizations like labor, environment or media
activists resulting in very low number of supposed EJKs in the past administration, he said. However, for
the current administration, a different definition is being used. EJK now refers to any death outside of
those caused by natural causes, accidents or those ordered by the courts. In a release prior to the UPR
of the Philippines, Cayetano said he is using the definition of EJKs stated in Administrative Order No. 35
(AO 35).

AO 35, signed in 2012, directs the creation of the Inter-Agency Committee (IAC) on extralegal killings,
enforced disappearances, torture and other grave violations of the right to life, liberty and security of
persons. The IAC, headed by the Department of Justice monitors cases of EJKs, enforced
disappearances, torture and other human rights violations. Other members of the IAC are the
departments of the Interior and Local Government, Defense, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the
Peace Process, Office of the Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs, Presidential Human Rights
Committee, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of
Investigation.

The order defines EJKs as killings wherein the victim was a member of, or affiliated with an organization,
to include political, environmental, agrarian, labor, or similar causes; or an advocate of above-named
causes; or a media practitioner or person(s) apparently mistaken or identified to be so. The order adds
that a perpetrator can either be a state agent or non-state agent who targeted a victim due to actual or
perceived membership, advocacy or profession, and that the circumstances of the attack must reveal a
deliberate intent to kill. Cayetano said killings outside the categories in AO 35 are considered either as
homicide or murder.