It is of common knowledge nowadays, as well as a depressing fact that apart from leading the globe in

terms of graft and corruption, the Philippines is a world leader in extrajudicial killings. It is very rampant
and remain unsolved in the Philippines. While we consider ours a more human right friendly country, it
is very clear we have a human rights disaster in our midst.

Based on the research conducted on the country’s said issue, there are a total of 305 incidents of
extrajudicial killings in the country with 390 victims from 2001 to 2010. Only a total of 161 cases4 or 56%
of the incidents have been filed with the prosecutor.

The data gathered shows that 32 percent out of the total 390 victims of extrajudicial killings are officers
or members of activist groups such as Bayan Muna and Anakpawis.

Elected government officials comprise 15 percent of the victims of extrajudicial killings. Journalists
comprise 15 percent of the total number of victims. But in 2013 and 2014, the killings
of journalists
continued: local media reported at least 26 such killings since Aquino took office in 2010.
The trial of the Maguindanao Massacre case, in which 58 people—mostly journalists and
media workers—were killed in 2009 allegedly by the militia of the Ampatuan clan in the
southern Philippines.
Farmers and peasant workers comprise 10 percent of the total victims. Another distinct group of victims
are judges and lawyers which comprise a total of seven percent of the total victims. Some of the lawyers
are affiliated with activist groups.

Of the hundreds of extrajudicial killings committed in the Philippines, hardly any of the perpetrators
thereof are identified. Most of the identified assailants happen to be state actors. Either they are
members of the AFP; members of the police force; or public officers. Communist rebels are said to be
one of the perpetrators also.

Claiming to be a victim of extrajudicial killings himself, it was declared that President Aquino “will not
tolerate extrajudicial killings in his administration”.

“The crucial missing ingredient in addressing the Philippines’ human rights problems is a
lack of political will,” Kine said. “The Aquino administration needs to bring security
force personnel implicated in rights violations to justice to send the message that official
tolerance for such abuses is at an end.”