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Raissa Robles

Murders undermining efforts to lure foreign investors

The head of the influential European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines has renewed calls for the Arroyo government to crack down on the killings of leftists, saying they  are making it increasingly difficult to attract investment.

European figures  within and outside the Philippines have been leaders in the push against the killings.

Following the release of  two high-profile reports into the murders, the chamber's executive vice-president,  Henry Schumacher, said:  'We want to see that the culprits who did it are found and we want to see an end to the killings.'

In the first report, UN Human Rights Commissioner   rapporteur Philip Alston alleged that rogue military personnel were behind most of the killings. Rights groups say  more than  700 people have been murdered since 2001.

The government's own commission of inquiry, headed by retired Supreme Court justice Jose Melo, found there was circumstantial evidence linking the military to the deaths.

Mr Schumacher said: 'We are trying to get more investors to come in, but with the killings being reported every other day or so, selling the Philippines becomes more difficult.'

He said business chambers were trying to lure  investment,  particularly for service industries such as medical tourism and foreign retirement communities.

'But at the same time we have this negative news on extrajudicial killings. That undermines all our efforts,' complained Mr Schumacher, chief executive  of an international trade fair company.

'Basically, if you have nearly a thousand killings over a relatively short period of time and we don't see any effort to clear it up, that has a very negative impact on the image of the country  as a location for foreign investments.'  There is also plenty of diplomatic pressure coming from Europe. Alistair MacDonald,  the European Commission's chief envoy to the Philippines,   said: 'For us, the first and  most important thing is that the extrajudicial killings should be ended, that there should be no more.

'The second step is that all those killings which have already taken place should be thoroughly investigated, the perpetrators should be  brought to justice.'

Pressure is also coming from other areas. Yesterday, Asean diplomats - as well as envoys from India, Bangladesh and South Korea - were briefed by the military on the issue after the ambassadors requested the meeting.

Estimates of  leftists killed since Mrs Arroyo took office in 2001 vary from a low of 111 according to  police to a high of 724 according to the left-wing human rights group Karapatan. Amnesty International has tallied 244 deaths.

Mr MacDonald said human rights were 'a necessary concern' for the EU 'whether the abuses are taking place in Europe, the Philippines or in South America'.

Mr MacDonald's predecessor,  Jan de Kok, was the first foreign diplomat to publicly criticise the murders.

In August  last year, Mr de Kok dedicated the celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day to  slain  left-wing indigenous leader Alice Omengan-Claver. A foreign businessman, who did not want to be named, said that starting last year, EU countries had began pressuring Mrs Arroyo on the issue.

'You remember she went to Helsinki [last September]. She was confronted on the issue in an international forum. From that point she had to do something,' the businessman said.

But Mr  MacDonald denied this, saying: 'We don't exert pressure. We expressed our concern and we asked for information on what the government was doing.'

He said the EU had no hand in inviting Mr Alston, former dean of the law department at the European University Institute in Florence to investigate the situation.

'It was very much a decision of the government,' Mr MacDonald said.

The US government also joined debate on the killings this week and offered help in solving them.



Pressure builds on Arroyo over killing of leftists