He said the high court's decision has far-reaching effects such that the administration now has a reason to invoke national security before acceding to the courts' demand for "confidential" matters.

Diokno said that the Court might have misapplied the case of Chavez v. Public Estates Authority, which recognized the confidentiality of presidential conversations, correspondences and discussions in closed-door Cabinet meetings.

He said that the context of privileged communication in the Chavez case does not involve national security, military or foreign relations.

"It would seem that it's the judiciary that blinked first on the executive privilege. Now every time there is effort to question human rights abuses and disappearances, government will just invoke national security and the Chavez decision. The facts of case are different," he told reporters.

Diokno said that executive privilege may not be invoked to conceal a crime and "must be balanced against the public interest in the fair administration of justice.

Diokno said this is particularly alarming in the wake of the rising number of political killings and enforced disappearances allegedly perpetrated by the military and police.

FLAG and the Human Rights Watch noted that on April 14, 2008, the Philippines will undergo the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the United Nations Human Rights Council, but in its compliance report, the government appeared to have failed to hold accountable those responsible for the killings and disappearances.

Maria Socorro Diokno, secretary general of HR Watch, said that since September 2001, hundreds of members of the left-wing political parties, activists, journalists and outspoken clergy have been killed or have been reported missing.

She said that even UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston found strong evidence of military involvement in many of these cases but the government maintained that it is addressing the issued by bringing the perpetrators to justice, and that the number of killings have dropped significantly in 2007.

"Of the hundreds of political killings since 2001, not a single military official has been convicted. The number of killings may be going down, but the number of disappeared have gone up. Unless (they) make sure that there is no policy that encourage these killings, months ahead, the killings will go up again," she said.

She said there were many inconsistencies with Philippine commitments and pledges to the UN, such that there were no concrete steps taken to ensure ratification and it did not pay heed to any of the key recommendations of Alston.

"The report remains silent on what steps, if any, government has taken to dispense with the minimum basic needs... The report also failed to admit, despite public announcements, that government is intent on seeking amendments to the Human Security Act precisely to delete those provisions that penalize law enforcement or security personnel for abuses," she said. - GMANews.TV