MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippine military went on the defensive on Thursday after a U.N. investigator said soldiers appeared to be behind many extra-judicial killings and ahead of the release of a damning report into the murders.
Armed forces chief General Hermogenes Esperon shot back at Philip Alston, the U.N's special rapporteur on extra-judicial executions, who said on Wednesday the military was in a state of "almost total denial" about dealing with those responsible for the murders.