A/HRC/4/41 page 71 mislead the investigation. A communication dated 8 November 2006 regarding efforts undertaken by the Government to implement the recommendations made following the visit to the Philippines by the Working Group in 1991 was received too late for review, and will be considered at the next session of the Working Group for inclusion in the 2007 report. Information from sources 338. No information was received from sources regarding outstanding cases. Request for a visit 339. Following a decision of the Working Group at its seventy-eighth session, a request for a visit was sent to the Government of the Philippines on 24 May 2006. The Working Group has not yet received a reply. Summary of the situation prior to the period under review 340. The majority of the reported cases of disappearance occurred throughout the country in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the context of the Government’s anti-insurgency campaign. Alleged victims included farmers, students, social and health workers, members of Church groups, lawyers, journalists and economists. Since 1980, many reported cases of disappearance concerned young men living in rural and urban areas who participated in legally constituted organizations which, according to the military authorities, were fronts for the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA). 341. Disappearances have continued to occur since the 1990s, mainly in the context of military operations against the NPA, the Moro National Liberation Front, the Mindanao Islamic Liberation Front, the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Units and the Civilian Volunteer Organizations. 342. The Working Group visited the Philippines in 1991. The main recommendation to the Government was that the National Police should be severed from the Army and that the Government should introduce legislation to narrow the powers of arrest. It was also recommended that the Philippines Commission on Human Rights be empowered to make unannounced spot checks at places of detention, as well as improve protection of witnesses and overhaul the law and practice of habeas corpus (see E/CN.4/1991/20/Add.1, para. 168). Total cases transmitted, clarified and outstanding 343. In the past and during the period under review, the Working Group has transmitted 758 cases to the Government; of those, 33 cases have been clarified on the basis of information provided by the source, 124 cases have been clarified on the basis of information provided by the Government and 601 cases remain outstanding. Observations 344. The Working Group reminds the Government of its obligation under article 13 of the Declaration to make every effort to clarify the 601 outstanding cases.