Philippine leader wants political killings solved

MANILA, Aug 1 (Reuters) President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo today gave Philippine state prosecutors and national police a 10-week deadline to solve a spate of political murders, a day after gunmen killed two leftist activists and a photojournalist.

Arroyo, who survived attempts to unseat her last year, is facing eight new impeachment complaints that include allegations of human rights abuses related to the murders of nearly 700 activists since she took office in 2001.

Arroyo, who has denied police or military involvement in the killings, is expected to defeat the fresh impeachment complaints with the support of allies in the lower house of Congress.

''I am giving a 10-week deadline for the Department of Justice and the Philippine National Police to jail suspects in at least 10 media or leftist killings,'' Arroyo said during a meeting with her economic managers.

''I continue to condemn media and leftist killings in the strongest terms and I order law enforcement to dig deeper into the motives involved.'' Arroyo said some of the murders could have a personal motive but promised her government would uphold the rule of law after some foreign governments and groups raised concerns about rights conditions in the Philippines.

Leftist groups staged rallies in Manila today to protest against the killings of farmers, workers, students, professionals and journalists who had criticised the government and been linked to communist New People's Army rebels.

Last week, the head of the country's Commission on Human Rights said the Arroyo government could face sanctions for its failure to report rights abuses after soldiers and police officers were linked to some of the killings.

''The Philippines can be blacklisted by the UN if it fails to explain why it has not submitted the reports,'' Purificacion Quisumbing told reporters after a Hong Kong-based rights group sent an open letter to the police demanding an inquiry.

Avelino Razon, the deputy national police chief, said the murder yesterday of a photographer for a local tabloid was not work-related, suggesting Prudencio Melendrez was a victim of a vendetta killing.

''Based on our initial investigation, it could be related to a drug case involving his cousin, another photojournalist, who was killed in May,'' said Razon.

The National Union of Journalists in the Philippines said elendrez was the 46th journalist to be killed since Arroyo came to power. Most of the murders were related to investigations of graft, narcotics and other illegal activities.

REUTERS MQA PM1300