A child rights group cautiously welcomed the signing of a law punishing war crimes or RA 9851 last Friday and quickly added that President Arroyo must be the first to be tried with this newly enacted law, together with her butchers, the Ampatuans, Jovito Palparan, and other military perpetrators of human rights violations.

“Arroyo and her minions owe so much to the victims and orphans of massacres, extra-judicial killings and other human rights violations, and this war crimes law may serve as the gavel to break the climate of impunity," said Sophia Garduce spokesperson of SALINLAHI Alliance for Children's Concerns, a nationwide alliance of child rights organizations.

“We are thankful that the efforts of human rights groups and the international community to exert great pressure on the Arroyo government to enact such law paid off. Without such pressure, Mrs. Arroyo would have allowed these human rights violations to continue because her government benefits from these,” she said.

She cautioned, however, that such law might turn out to be another instrument to be used against the critics of the Arroyo administration. “We know the record of the Arroyo government of using double edged swords purportedly to run against unlawful elements but in reality, these are aimed at Filipino patriots and activists that she loves to label as terrorists,” Garduce said.

The child rights group urged the families of victims of human rights violations to charge under RA 8951 President Arroyo, the Ampatuans, Palparan and other military personnel who committed grave human rights violations against their loved ones such as extra-judicial killings, massacres, abductions for the last nine (9) years of Arroyo's implementation of Oplan-Bantay Laya. “We are not under any illusion that the government will use this same law to point a gun at its head. This law must be availed of to the maximum remedy it can offer by the victims and their families themselves. And, if all local remedies fail, let's seek the help of the international community once again and indict Arroyo and her minions who, by remaining free from accountability for their dastardly actions, mock democracy and teach our future generation lessons in moral bankruptcy.” ended Garduce. ###