Duterte to executive: Support police war...

PAGE A1 of cases of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the country.

In a statement issued on

Thursday, February 9, the Karapatan said their group held a meeting with Tidball-Binz’s team on Tuesday, February 7.

“Karapatan welcomes the recent unofficial visit of Dr. Morris Tidball-Binz and two experts on the Minnesota Protocol regarding trainings on investigations into ‘unlawful deaths.’ However, it isn’t solely the lack of capacity on forensic pathology or knowledge of international human rights norms that are affecting government investigations on cases of extrajudicial killings,” Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay said.

“It is a systemic problem driven by government policies such as those on the drug war and counterinsurgency programs –policies which have resulted in the mass murder of Filipinos, mostly from poor communities. As long as there is no acknowledgment of these impacts and as long as these policies remain, extrajudicial killings and a host of gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law will continue,” Palabay added.

Tidball-Binz and two other experts – Dr. Stephen Cordner, a professor of Forensic Medicine at Monash University, and lawyer Kingsley Abbott, director of Global Accountability and International

Justice at the International Commission of Jurists – on Thursday concluded their threeday visit in the country.

Tidball-Binz, Cordner and Abbott are experts on the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Deaths, a set of guidelines for investigating deaths that may have been caused by human rights violations such as extrajudicial killings, torture, or disappearances.

The team arrived in the Philippines last Tuesday upon the invitation of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla to aid the Department of Justice in its capacity building efforts and in its plan to install at least one forensic pathologist in each of the country’s 17 regions.

But apart from holding a capacity training for government doctors, Tidball-Binz’s team also conducted dialogues with stakeholders and various advocate groups.

During the dialogue, Karapatan said that government laws and policies such as Executive Order 70 creating the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the Anti-Terrorism Act, coupled with arbitrary and erroneous terrorist designation of peace consultants, human rights defenders and social movements, and the policy of “judicial harassment” and red-tagging serve as “prelude” to worse violations such as

persecution and extrajudicial killings.

“For years, the government has been supported by foreign institutions with millions of funds for supposed trainings on human rights, including those for forensic investigations, and yet, aside from the lack of improvement in the human rights situation in the country, there is blatant and brazen disregard for civil liberties and basic rights,” it claimed.

The group reiterated its call for an independent investigation by the UN Human Rights Council and an official investigation by UN Special Procedures into the reports of EJKs and other rights violations in the country, on top of the International Criminal Court’s resumption of investigations into the killings in connection with the drug war of the previous administration. Tidball-Binz’s team also held a dialogue with the Commission on Human Rights on Thursday though the details of the discussion are yet to be revealed to the media.

“Dr. Tidball-Binz is here in his capacity as a forensic expert not as a UN special rapporteur. But nevertheless, I think he will take this opportunity to conduct a series of engagements with stakeholders. Maybe that’s the reason why he also scheduled a visit in our office. The purpose of the meeting is for him to know what is the human rights situation on the ground. 

After his ordination in 1997, Celino was assigned as Parochial Vicar at St. Patrick Cathedral in El Paso and then at Our Lady of Peace in Alpine in Texas. He also served as the pastor of the former Santa Lucia Parish which is now St. John Paul 2nd Parish. In 2003, he obtained a licentiate in canon law at the Catholic University of America in Washington.

Celino is the third FilipinoAmerican priest to be named bishop in the U.S. The two others are Bishop Oscar Solis of Salt Lake City and Auxiliary Bishop Alejandro Aclan of Los Angeles City. n

Los Angeles County remains in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Protection’s (CDC) Low COVID-19 Community Level for the fourth consecutive week.

Currently, Los Angeles County’s Low Community Level included a seven-day case rate of 69 new cases per 100,000 people, stable from the week prior. The seven-day total for new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people is currently 7, with no change from last week. And the 7-day average of the proportion of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients is now 4%, the same as it was the week prior.

Because the new dominant strain has more potential to cause infection, Public Health officials are asking residents, especially those who are most vulnerable to severe outcomes, to consider using common-sense protections, such as getting the bivalent booster, testing before large gatherings, and seeking immediate treatment, if sick.

People over 50 and those with common health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, asthma, kidney or liver disease, or being overweight, are at greater risk of having severe illness or death from a COVID-19 infection. They and the people around them should take extra precautions to stay safe and healthy.

Bivalent boosters offer significant protection even against the newer COVID strains circulating now, including XBB.1.5. In Los Angeles County, unvaccinated people are more than six times more likely to be hospitalized and eight times more likely to die when compared to people who have received the updated bivalent booster.

The bivalent booster is free and available to adults and children ages 6 months or older two months after their last COVID-19 vaccine or booster.

Free vaccines, boosters, testing and treatment remain widely available throughout Los Angeles County. Visit a communitybased test to treat site or access telehealth services by calling 1-833-540-0473. Health services for homebound residents also are available.

For more information, visit

VaccinateLACounty.com.

“I extend my deepest sympathies to those who have lost a loved one to COVID-19. Please accept my condolences and wishes for comfort and healing,” said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.Ed., Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. “I continue to be encouraged by the COVID numbers we are seeing in LA County. Amidst the optimism, I know we all need to continue to support those who remain impacted by COVID-19, particularly residents who are older, immunocompromised, have disabilities, and those with many exposures during the course of their day. Care options, including free telehealth services, therapeutics, and vaccines are available and continued access remains our top priority.”

Public Health on Friday, Feb. 10 reported 22 additional deaths and 1,482 new positive cases. To date, the total number of deaths in L.A. County is 35,425. There are 689 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized. 