E/CN.4/1991/17 page 71 article XVI, Section 6 of the Constitution providing that the State shall establish and maintain one police force which shall be national in scope and civilian in character, to be administered and controlled by a national police commission, would be complied with. 220. The far from stable situation in the country has seriously impeded the Government's confessed policy to restore completely respect for human rights. According to a number of non-governmental organizations which are well-established in Philippine society, the Government's policy, by giving priority to the military suppression of the insurgency, has re-introduced the occurrence of illegal arrests, torture, extra-legal executions, disappearances and forced evacuations of whole village communities. Such non—governmental organizations are on the other hand often portrayed as front organizations of the prohibited NDF. Such accusations and counter-accusations can freely be made in the open Philippine society, although human rights-oriented groups claim that they have been subject to harassment. The Special Rapporteur was informed that since 1986 six human rights lawyers have been killed, which is more than during the entire Marcos regime. The fact that human rights violations occur on a relatively large scale seems also to be borne out by the report of a Committee of the Congress and the Senate (named the Tanada Committee after its Chairman Senator Wigberto Tanada). This Committee made an extensive tour throughout the country and came to the following conclusions: "1. Human Rights continue to be violated despite the fact that human rights violations committed by military, police and other government—supported organizations are not in pursuit of any government policy. 2. The 'total war policy', now referred to as the 'total approach' strategy and operationalized through the AFPs (Armed Forces of the Philippines) Three Tiered Defense System for Internal Security, is considered a major factor contributing to the continuing human rights violations." 221. The independent Commission on Human Rights has received up until 31 August 1989 more than 2,500 complaints about human rights violations, the majority of which were directed against the military. The armed forces filed 421 human rights complaints against the CCP/NPA with the Commission in the period 1986 to 31 August 1989. The Tanada Committee, however, found that "the investigation of many complaints of human rights violations and the prosecution of many offenders are found to proceed at a very slow pace despite the availability of witnesses and the existence of the appropriate mechanisms and institutions of government. Thus, a number of victims of human rights violations and their families no longer filed their complaints with the Commission on Human Rights, the Fiscal's Office or the Military, as many of them expressed lack of trust and confidence in these agencies' ability to respond immediately and effectively to their complaints". 222. During his consultations the Special Rapporteur was also repeatedly told that many victims of human rights violations did not file complaints since the procedure was excessively slow and hardly ever led to punishment of the alleged perpetrators. The Commission on Human Rights provided the Special Rapporteur with statistical data about the number of cases in which those responsible for abuse were charged. Some 276 cases had been filed by