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on New Internationalist (NI) Issue 371,
September 2004 (Mao Cover)
|
Kapatiran Issue
No. 25/26, December 2005
THE
PHILIPPINES IN THE FIRING LINE
AMERICA'S "SECOND FRONT IN THE 'WAR ON
TERROR'"AND THE IMPACT ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
was installed as president in 2001 as a result of a
People Power uprising that ousted Joseph Estrada from
Malacanang. But not only did she fail to address the
issues that were raised during People Power 2, her regime
unleashed fascist attacks against the people and
continued to violate human rights and international
humanitarian law with impunity.
In less than three years, the Arroyo regime has committed
3,339 cases of human rights violation with 188,013
victims; 18,535 families; 81communities; and 540
households.. The type of violations and the corresponding
number of victims are broken down as follows:
HUMAN RIGHTS
VIOLATIONS UNDER ARROYO ADMINISTRATION
From Jan 21, 2001 - Sept 25, 2004
|
Types of Violation
|
Victims |
Violation of Right
to Life
|
No.of Cases
|
Indi- vidual
|
Family
|
House- hold
|
Com- munity
|
Org'n
|
Killing (summary execution,
Assassination, Massacre,
Death due to strafing,
indiscriminate firing and
bombing/shelling/aerial
bombardment) |
231
|
326
|
|
|
|
|
Frustrated Killing |
40
|
62
|
|
|
|
|
Enforced Disappearance |
36
|
56
|
1
|
|
|
|
Torture |
118
|
188
|
|
|
|
|
Physical Assault or Injuries |
153
|
1,297
|
1
|
|
|
|
Denial of Medical Attention |
26
|
29
|
|
|
|
|
Strafing, indiscriminate firing
and bombing/shelling/aerial
bombardment |
124
|
14,883
|
34
|
1
|
28
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Violation of Other Rights |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Illegal Arrest (Unlawful,
Arbitrary and Unjustified
Arrest) |
354
|
1,219
|
2
|
|
|
|
Arbitrary/Unlawful and
Unjustified Detention |
215
|
762
|
1
|
|
|
|
Incommunicado |
1
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
Violation of Rights of
Arrested or Detained Persons |
5
|
14
|
|
|
|
|
Illegal Search and Seizure |
234
|
6,115
|
49
|
120
|
13
|
|
Unlawful, Unjustified or
Arbitrary Subjecting to
Checkpoints
|
2
|
13
|
|
|
|
|
Coercion (Use of civilians in
police/military operations as
guide and/or as shield, forced
recruitment/conscription,
forced labor/involuntary
servitude, forced/fake
surrender) |
265
|
4,564
|
|
2
|
1
|
10
|
Threat/Harassment/Intimidation |
824
|
26,374
|
659
|
6
|
21
|
|
Inhumane, Cruel and/or
Degrading Treatment or
Punishment |
2
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
Forcible
Evacuation/Displacement |
163
|
113,215
|
15,187
|
340
|
25
|
|
Hamletting |
4
|
1,236
|
|
|
4
|
|
Forcible Reconcentration |
7
|
896
|
219
|
|
|
|
Demolition |
3
|
200
|
70
|
|
|
|
Food and other Economic
Blockades |
6
|
1,337
|
157
|
|
|
|
Restriction or Dispersal of
Mass Actions, Public
Assemblies, Gatherings |
2
|
130
|
|
|
|
|
Violation of Domicile |
75
|
791
|
11
|
134
|
|
|
Desecration of Place of
Worship or Offending
Religious Rites/Practices |
9
|
11
|
|
|
|
|
Denial of Decent Burial,
Refusal to Tender Remains
and Desecration of the
Remains |
9
|
17
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No. of Cases |
Indi- vidual |
Family |
House- hold |
Com- munity |
Mosque, Sch, Ofc |
Use of Schools, Medical,
Religious and Other Public
Places for Military Purposes
and Endangerment of Civilians |
1
|
400
|
1
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Violation Against Property |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Destruction of Properties |
115
|
12,069
|
716
|
71
|
22
|
3
|
Divestment of Properties |
155
|
8,975
|
595
|
70
|
13
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Violation of Sectoral or
Specific Rights |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rape or Sexual Abuse/
Sexual Harassment |
8
|
8
|
|
|
|
|
Assault/Breaking of Picket
Lines |
151
|
5,155
|
|
|
|
|
Violation of Rights of Hors
de Combat |
1
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
There
are 3,339 cases of human rights violation with
188,013 victims; 18,535
families; 81communities; and 540 households.
|
Compiled
by KARAPATAN Alliance for the Advancement of
People's Rights
|
As of July 2004, there
are 248 political detainees all over the country.
Like its predecessors, the Arroyo regime committed these
violations in its attempts to defeat the CPP-NPA-NDF and
MILF, as part of its efforts to defend and promote the
interests of foreign monopoly capitalists, the comprador
bourgeoisie, and big landlords, and while trying to
suppress the mounting opposition to its rule and the ever
growing legal democratic movement.
Immediately after taking over from the Estrada
administration, the Arroyo regime embarked on a desperate
attempt to prop up the economy through loans while
pursuing the very same imperialist-dictated policies of
liberalization, deregulation, and privatization, which
led to the crisis. Around 63% of the current public debt
was contracted from 1997 onwards. It aggressively
promoted the labor export policy even to the extent of
sending OFWs in war-torn Iraq. It also leaned heavily on
the AFP and PNP for support in order to stabilize its
rule, suppress dissent, and wage war against all its
enemies, including the CPP-NPA-NDF, the MILF, and
restless elements within the AFP and PNP.
The Arroyo regime was so battered by the worsening
economic, political, and social crisis confronting the
semi-colonial, semi-feudal system that it was forced to
announce, in 2002, that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was not
running for president in the May 2004 elections. This
worsening crisis provides the context to the human rights
situation. While the so-called "war against
terrorism" and the pursuit of a "strong
republic" provide the particularity of the human
rights situation during the previous three years of the
Arroyo regime and which will probably define the
situation in the next six years.
The War on Terror
The Arroyo regime's war against terrorism is in support
of and an imitation of the war on terror being waged by
its U.S. imperialist master.
U.S. imperialism's war on terror was conceived in 1990 by
ultra-rightists within the administration of George W.
Bush, the father of the current U.S. president. The
U.S.SR had just fallen and the Cold War had ended.
Without any challenge to its political and military
power, U.S. imperialism sought to assert its hegemony in
order to further its interests over its economic
competitors. Richard Haas, a member of the National
Security Council and director of policy planning in the
U.S. State Department declared that it is necessary for
Americans to "reconceive their role from a
traditional nation-state to an imperial power". In
1992, then Defense Secretary Dick Cheney with Paul
Wolfowitz, now deputy secretary of defense, and I. Lewis
Libby, now Vice-President Cheney's chief of staff came up
with a top-secret blueprint for world domination called
the "Defense Policy Guideline" (DPG). The DPG
envisioned a world that is dominated by the unilateral
and pre-emptive Use of U.S. military power and the
preservation of Pax Americana that will remain
unchallenged throughout the 21st century. The plan was
further elaborated with the Project for a New American
Century under Bush Jr.'s administration.
In order to justify an increase in U.S. military presence
around the world after the end of the Cold War, Bush
Sr.'s administration came up with its "rogue
states" policy. The succeeding Clinton
administration followed this up with its list of
"terrorist states" namely, Iraq, Iran, Syria,
Sudan, Cuba, and North Korea. And Bush Jr. came up with
its "axis of evil". After the supposed
communist threat subsided with the end of the Cold War,
U.S. imperialism creatively raised the hype about the
threat of Islamic fundamentalism.
The plan was being implemented at a time when the world
was reeling from a crisis of overproduction. Until March
2000, the U.S. was able to maximize its politico-military
hegemony and its lead in high technology to rise above
the crisis affecting Europe and Japan, the two other
centers of capitalism. But in March, 2000, the "new
economy" bubble of the U.S. burst and it plunged
into a deep recession. The crisis impelled the U.S. to
aggressively pursue its drive for world domination. The
September 2001 attacks provided the pretext for the war
on terror.
The war on terror is a ploy to justify U.S. wars of
aggression that are being launched to:
· Pump prime the U.S. economy by providing business to
the military industrial complex
· Control the sources of oil and other raw materials as
well as the markets for U.S. capital and products
· Increasing U.S. military presence round the world by a
new basing strategy whereby some permanent overseas bases
will be replaced or downgraded in favor of small
"forward operating bases" in many new
locations. Added to these are the "forward operating
locations" or prearranged but unmaintained staging
areas which can be occupied quickly by U.S. forces in a
conflict situation. Complementing these are the
semi-permanent basing arrangements through continuous.
joint military exercises as well as training of surrogate
troops.
· Break all resistance and opposition to imperialist
globalization
To quote Thomas Barnett, a Professor at the U.S. Naval
War College and an advisor to the Defense Department,
"If we map out U.S. military responses since the end
of the cold war, we find an overwhelming concentration of
activity in the regions of the world that are excluded
from globalization's growing Core-namely the Carribean
Rim, virtually all of Africa, the Balkans, the Caucasus.,
Central Asia, the Middle East and Southwest Asia, and
much of Southeast Asia. If a country is losing out to
globalization or rejecting much of the content flows
associated with its advance, there is a far greater
chance that the U.S. will end up sending forces at some
point. Conversely, if a country is largely functioning
within globalization, we tend not to have to send our
forces there to restore order to eradicate
threats
" In sum, it is always possible to fall
off this bandwagon called globalization. And when you do,
bloodshed will follow. If you are lucky, so will American
troops."
The Arroyo regime's war against terrorism is meant to
support the objectives of U.S. wars of aggression in
exchange for Aid, loans, and a share of the crumbs. U.S.
military aid increased ten-fold in 2001 compared to 2000.
By 2003, the country was the world's 4th biggest
recipient of Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and the
world's 2nd biggest and Asia's biggest recipient of the
International Military Exercise and Training Program
(IMET).
The 2003 FMF grants were in support of four mobility
systems, counter-terrorist modules mainly for three Light
Reaction Companies or Light Infantry Battalions,
engineering spares and a regional counter-terrorism
program. The IMET fund went to the U.S.-based training of
over 160 AFP personnel. Excess Defense Articles transfers
included: 15,000 M16 rifles, 33 ½ -ton trucks,
threeUH-1H helicopters, Humanitarian Assistance
Program/Excess Property, and a Cyclone Class Ship. In
October 2004, Bush further committed U.S.$ 25 million for
army engineering spares, 20 UH-1H refurbished helicopters
plus. 10 refurbished airframes for Use as spare parts,
and another U.S.$ 10 million in Presidential Draw down
Authority from existing U.S. military inventories.
The Strong Republic
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inherited a weak state. It came
to power by virtue of extra legal means, People Power 2,
which is beyond the normal processes of administration
change. The economy was plunging deeper into crisis
especially after the 1997 Southeast Asian financial
crisis. The economic crisis exacerbated the political
crisis that was not resolved with the ouster of Estrada.
In fact, the contradictions within the ruling class
further intensified resulting in threats of coup d' etat,
the massive gathering of Estrada forces at Edsa that
culminated in the siege of Malacanang, the Oakwood
mutiny, and the ATO tower takeover. Likewise, the legal
democratic movement became stronger especially after the
ouster of Estrada. Eventually, the Junk GMA movement
slowly gained ground. The revolutionary movement of the
CPP-NPA-NDF was advancing.
Instead of reorienting the policies of liberalization,
deregulation, and privatization, which plunged the
country deeper into crisis, the Arroyo regime fast
tracked the implementation of these policies. It showed
its total puppetry to U.S. imperialism by unabashedly
supporting the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Thus., it was imperative for the Arroyo regime to
"strengthen" the weak state to repress the
unrest of the masses who will bear the burden of the
deepening economic crisis. The strong republic was
conceived in order to preemptively strike any threat to
its rule, suppress dissent, and wage an all-out war
against the CPP-NPA-NDF and MILF.
The grip of the Arroyo regime to power was further
weakened as it had to resort to massive corruption and
fraud in order to legitimize its continued stay in
Malacanang. In the end, it failed to secure a fresh
mandate and its supposed "victory" further
exacerbated the political crisis and created doubts on
the credibility of elections as a process.
Implications on the Human Rights Situation
The war on terror and the strong republic had and will
have the following effects on the human rights situation:
1. increasing U.S. military presence and intervention
In 2000, the Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group and
soon after, the Mutual Defense Board was revived.
President Arroyo and U.S. President Bush approved a Joint
Defense Assessment (JDA) of the AFP including its
recommendations and implementation plan in October 2003.
The JDA identified ten key areas of intervention
including the critical security areas of planning,
training, doctrines development, and logistics
procurement. Although its projected objective is to
reform, enhance, and modernize the AFP, it is a means to
more strongly align the AFP with U.S. military doctrines,
strategies, techniques, needs, and practices.
Aside from the military aid and the IMET, considerable
influence is exerted by the U.S. through 13 regular
bilateral conferences and training. There are also the 18
joint military exercises held regularly.
A new series of joint training exercises in North
Cotabato started last July 26 and ended on August 14,
2004. North Cotabato was selected because of the reported
presence of the MILF, which is being accused of
collaborating with the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). There are
reports coming from KARAPATAN SOCSKSARGEN Region (South
Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani Provinces in
Mindanao) of the presence of US troops in Sarangani
province.
The closer ties between the U.S. and RP military is
laying the basis for direct U.S. military intervention in
the Philippines. The U.S. Special Operation Forces (SOF)
are already training the AFP in counter-terrorism
campaign planning, intelligence/operations fusion,
psychological operations, civil-military operations, and
field tactics. For example, the Force Reconnaissance
Companies involved in military operations were trained by
U.S. SOF.
Another manifestation of increasing U.S. direct
intervention in the Philippines is the terror listing by
the U.S. and the European Union of the CPP-NPA and of
NDFP consultant, Prof. Jose Maria Sison. This is part of
the efforts towards demonizing revolutionary forces, as
what was done to Islamic fundamentalist groups, and
pressuring them to surrender by blocking all political,
financial, and material support that may be given to
them.
2. intensifying all-out war against the CPP-NPA-NDF and
the MILF
Massive military deployment and operations were monitored
in Southern Tagalog (39 battalions, most especially
Mindoro (9 battalions), Cagayan Valley (5 battalions and
1 brigade), Western Mindanao (10 battalions), Socsargen
(10 battalions), Eastern Visayas (9 battalions), Southern
Mindanao (3 brigades), North Central Mindanao (3
brigades), Central Luzon (6 battalions), Bohol (4
battalions) and Cebu (2 battalions). A battalion of Scout
Rangers under the command of Col. Noel Buan, former POW,
intelligence officer, and one of the key officers
responsible for the massive militarization in Mindoro
Oriental, was recently deployed in Negros Occidental.
While the basic doctrine of Clear, Hold, Consolidate, and
Develop and the Triad Operations, which include
Intelligence, Operations, and Civilian-Military
Operations are being implemented (under the Oplan
Makabayan or Operation Plan Nationalist, the regime's
counter-insurgency program), certain adaptations and
adjustments in tactics were revealed. Common among the
reports is the employment of Reengineered Special
Operations Teams or RSOT, which was deployed under
another counter-insurgency plan, Oplan Bantay Laya, in
2003. Complementing the squad-size RSOT units are platoon
size mobile units in contiguous communities as well as
numerous small detachments.
Parallel to the RSOT operations are combat and security
operations employing company to battalion size
coordinated operations; establishment of an intelligence
network up to the barangay (village) level; and CAFGU/CAA
(paramilitary formations called Citizens Armed Force
Geographical Units/ Civilian Armed Auxilliary) formations
organized through forced conscription and the use of
psywar operations and open terror at the grassroots
level. Aside from this, AFP units that specialize in
counter guerrilla tactics, under the Special Operations
Command (SOCOM) such as Scout Rangers, Special Forces of
the PA, Force Reconnaissance teams of the PM, SEALS of
the PN, serve as standby forces for rapid deployment to
various areas.
Reinforcing the AFP, PNP, and CAA forces are "rebel
returnees", vigilante groups and para-military
groups like the CPLA, the RPA-ABB, and the RHB.
These resulted in a long list of documented cases of
killings, massacres, forcible abductions and
disappearances, forced evacuation and reconcentration,
fake surrenders, indiscriminate firing and bombings of
communities of peasants and indigenous peoples and
suspected guerrilla lairs and strongholds.
Karapatan-Southern Tagalog documented the most number of
human rights violation cases with a total of 1,268. The
Southern Mindanao Region documented 472 cases; Bicol -
379, Western Mindanao - 374, North Central Mindanao -
267, Cagayan Valley - 185, and the CARAGA region - 147
cases.
Meanwhile, captured members of the NPA rendered hors de
combat in legitimate clashes between the AFP and NPA
forces are maltreated, tortured and eventually killed.
These are clear and gross violations of international
humanitarian law embodied in international instruments as
well as the CARHRIHL signed by the GRP and NDFP in
August, 1998.
In Mindanao, 33 bombing incidents occurred under the
Arroyo administration. These incidents claimed 95 lives,
and caused injuries to 450 others. To date, not one of
these bombing incidents had been solved. Aside from these
"mysterious bombings, incidents of forcible
displacements affecting almost half a million Moros and
Christians were caused by military offensives in North
Cotabato, Lanao del Norte, Maguindanao, and the Zamboanga
Peninsula. Moro people in NCR were victims of racial
profiling, indiscriminate raids, random arrests, torture,
and extraction of forced confessions.
All regions monitored an increase in troop deployment and
military operations, and consequently, an increasing
trend in human rights violations. In Eastern Visayas,
four more battalions were added in 2004. Before 2001,
there were only 17 battalions in Southern Tagalog. The 22
new battalions were added only during the last three
years. Karapatan-Southern Mindanao recorded a 245%
increase in the number of human rights violations from
2002-2004 compared to 2001. In Bohol, the number of
recorded cases of human rights violations as of August
2004 had already surpassed the total number of cases
recorded during the whole year of 2003.
3. constriction of civil liberties
Repressive decrees and jurisprudence passed since the
days of Martial Law are still in force. In fact, some of
these are being used currently to justify the suppression
of dissent. The basis for the "no permit, no
rally" policy, which is being used to justify the
violent dispersal of mobilizations and protest actions
can be traced to Batas Pambansa 880 passed during Martial
Law. Violent dispersals of peaceful demonstrations were
recorded in Baguio, NCR, Cebu, and Iloilo.
General Order # 66 serves as the basis for setting-up
checkpoints. Warrantless arrests are being justified
through the Umil vs Ramos Supreme Court decision and
other jurisprudence.
Worse, repressive bills that were proposed during the
Ramos regime but were withdrawn because of protests are
being revived. Among the bills that have been recently
refiled in Congress are the Anti-Terrorism Bill and the
National Identification System. Likewise, proposals for
amending the 1987 Constitution are still pending. Among
the proposed amendments is the reformulation of
provisions that protect civil liberties.
4. intensifying exploitation and repression of the basic
masses
The Cordillera people are struggling against the
intensification of mining operations. Cebu will likewise
be subjected to mining operations. The biggest mining
corporation operating in the country, the Saggitarius
Mining, Inc., formerly Western Mining Corporation, has
been mining in an area that straddles four provinces. In
has displaced B'laan communities from their ancestral
domain. In Cagayan Valley, six major projects being
implemented by the government with the comprador
bourgeoisie and big landlords will encompass 179,000
hectares displacing approximately 635.400 individuals.
Two big landlords, Cojuangco and Lorenzo, have
plantations covering 30,000 hectares each in Socsargen.
Land grabbing cases were reported in Negros Occidental.
In Northern Leyte, where most big landlords in the
province are concentrated, peasants involved in land
struggles are arrested en masse resulting in the most
number of political prisoners, 35, in the whole of
Eastern Visayas. Cases of criminalization of agrarian
cases were documented in Cebu, Negros Occidental, and
North Central Mindanao. The AFP is positioned in areas
where there are CADC (Certificate Of Ancesral Domain
Claims), CBFMA (Community-Based Forestry Management
Areas), IFMA (Integrated Forestry Management Areas),
logging and mining areas. Bohol is being militarized not
only because of the alleged presence of the NPA but also
because it is the site of various government projects
such as a Palm Oil plantation, regional airport,
circumferential project, Bohol Irrigation Project II and
the Leyte-Bohol Interconnection project. While the most
militarized areas in Negros Oriental are in Guihulngan
because of land struggles. These point to the trend
towards an increase in agrarian and land-grabbing issues
especially as land and crop conversion schemes are
fast-tracked and agricultural and fisheries modernization
programs are intensified.
Documented cases of violation of workers rights have
increased in the span of three years under GMA. The
practice of union busting is prevalent in most companies.
The workers of Nestle have been on strike since Feb 2002.
Legitimate unions at SM, PT&T, LRT, Cosmos Bottling,
Meralco, Nestle-Magnolia, Sulpicio Lines, Philippine
Rabbit, Bombo Radyo, PNOC, among others were repressed
and militant workers terminated and replaced by
contractual workers. Workers from IBM, a federation of
unions of the Cojuangco group of companies, are
experiencing various forms of harassments such as
withholding of union dues.
The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights documented 91
cases (involving 1,857 workers) of attacks on
picketlines, arrest of union leaders and termination of
workers participating in strikes. Violent dispersals of
picketlines were also reported in Southern Tagalog and
Cebu.
Military and local police forces are regularly employed
to harass, violently disperse and arbitrary arrest union
members. Arrested workers are charged with common crimes
such as assault on persons of authority, robbery,
destruction of property, etc.
Demolition of urban poor communities were reported in
almost all regions with urban centers such as Baguio, the
National Capital Region or NCR, Iloilo, and Misamis
Oriental, Southern Mindanao Region, and Pagadian City.
Around 600,000 families are expected to be displaced as
their houses will be demolished because of the national
railway project.
5. further attacks on the legal democratic movement
Harassments of NGOs, People's Orgnizations (PO's), and
other progressive groups and individuals became rampant
during the three years of the Arroyo regime. Four cases
of raids of offices and harassments of members of
legitimate organizations were reported by the Cordillera
region. Five POs experienced harassments in North Central
Mindanao. KMP and Anakbayan officers and organizers were
harassed in Southern Mindanao. Other cases of harassments
were reported in Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, North
Central Mindanao, and Caraga region.
Cases of campus repression were documented in NCR and
Southern Mindanao. Even church people were not spared
from harassments and repression. MSM sisters in an IP
community in Socsargen were accused by the military of
aiding NPA guerillas and were told to leave the area. Six
journalists were killed in 2004 alone.
Worse are the killings of members of legitimate
organizations. Since 2001, 44 members of Bayan Muna,
eight members of Anakpawis, and four organizers of Anak
ng Bayan were murdered. Two more organizers of Anak ng
Bayan were abducted. And an officer of Anakpawis in
Quezon, Tata Pido, was shot. Luckily he survived.
Fourteen (14) KARAPATAN human rights workers were killed.
The number of human rights workers killed during the
Arroyo regime surpassed even during the period of Martial
law. Fewer human rights workers were killed then. It was
not even clear whether they were killed or abducted
because of their human rights work or their other
involvements. During the Aquino regime, human rights
workers were harassed but short of being physically
attacked. One TFDP worker was shot at by a CAFGU member
during a fact-finding mission but this was the only case.
Thus, the brutal killing of Eden Marcellana, Karapatan
Secretary General for Southern Tagalog in April 2003
followed by the twin killings of an active human rights
lawyer, Atty. Juvy Magsino and human rights worker Leima
Fortu in Feb 2004 were shocking. These summary executions
were even systematically perpetrated by elements under
the command of the notorious 204th Infantry Battalion in
Mindoro Oriental.
6. increasing number of political prisoners and
criminalization of political offenses
To date, there are 248 political prisoners in the
country. Among them are minors, mothers with their
children, and elderly persons. One of the most
long-standing political detainees is Donato Continente
who has served his minimum sentence but could not be
released due to the direct intervention of the U.S. State
Department. Continente was a suspect in the killing of
Colonel James Rowe of the JUSMAG in 1989. Recently
arrested was Ed Serrano, an NDF personality covered by a
JASIG or Joint Security and Immunity Guarantee under the
NDFP-GRP peace talks. Serrano was arbitrarily arrested,
denied of his right to counsel while being held
incommunicado for 10 days, and charged with five
non-bailable criminal offenses.
Most of the political prisoners are victims of arbitrary
arrest and detention. Among them are peasants struggling
for their right to till their land, political activists,
suspected NPA and MILF supporters, and ordinary Muslim
civilians, presented and paraded before the media as fall
guys in the government's campaign against
"terrorism".
Criminalization of political offenses or acts and/or
agrarian /labor cases is the norm. Criminal cases like
murder, kidnapping, robbery have been filed against the
victims and most if not all are detained together with
ordinary and hardened criminals. They have suffered under
the deplorable conditions of congested and poorly
maintained jails, compared to the privileged house
detention of former Pres. Joseph Estrada, accused of
plunder cases.
The declaration of the GRP to release a number of
political prisoners as part of the confidence building
measure to the peace negotiations between the GRP and
NDFP has not been fully implemented. Only 17 out of the
32 political prisoners promised to set free have been
released so far. Out of the 17 released, only ten (10)
were worked out by the government, the rest were released
through the merit of their cases.
Despite the court's decision that allows them to post
bail, more than 321 members of the AFP who were involved
in the Oakwood incident are still detained in various
detention centers and camps and denied their right to
post bail. Detained for almost a year now, all they
wanted was to voice out their grievances against
corruption in the military and denounce the involvement
of the military in the series of bombings in Mindanao, as
well as the connivance between the AFP and Abu Sayyaf,
which resulted to scores of civilian casualties.
7. no justice for victims of human rights violations
After 17 long years of struggle and securing a favorable
decision in the class suit filed against the Marcos
family, the victims of human rights violations under the
Marcos fascist dictatorship have yet to receive justice
and indemnification. The Arroyo regime has so far failed
to set the mechanism to ensure the compensation process.
A bill filed in the 12th Congress that seeks to
compensate the victims of martial law (HB 4535 and Senate
Bill 1877) was mangled and diluted to allow the Marcos
family to even rebut the claims of their victims. Thus,
the proposed bill was rejected by the victims. Up to this
day, the 9,539 victims of torture, summary execution and
disappearances during the martial law period still clamor
for justice and indemnification.
The Arroyo administration lacks the political will to
implement the decisions of the US District Court of
Hawaii and the Supreme Court of the Philippines with
regard to the compensation of victims of injustice. It
also has not complied with its commitment to the peace
negotiations with the NDFP that it will facilitate the
indemnification of the victims. Meanwhile, the victims
fear that the recovered Marcos' loot that was transferred
to the national treasury in early 2004 may have been
spent during the May election campaign period or are
dwindling after having been reverted to the national
coffers.
Under the current dispensation, there can be no justice
for victims of human rights violations. The most that the
victims of Martial Law can hope for is to be granted a
small compensation for their sufferings. Although this
will be a symbolic indictment of the Marcoses, the
victims will not be able to achieve full and genuine
justice.
Under the fascist US-Arroyo regime, impunity and human
rights violations will continue as no perpetrators of
violations are punished. Take the case of notorious human
rights violators Jovito Palparan Jr., and Angelo Reyes,
who, instead of being punished for the human rights
violations they committed, were even promoted to major
positions despite pending cases against them. Another
perpetrator, Col. Jonas Sumagaysay Commanding Officer of
78th IB in Nothern Cebu, was only relieved from his
position and was promoted to the Intelligence Service of
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) in Camp
Aguinaldo. These moves of the Commander-in-Chief send a
strong signal to the violators that they have a carte
blanche to continue to commit human rights violations
under this regime.
All factions of the ruling class are united in one thing,
exploiting, oppressing, repressing, and attacking the
masses. No regime was able to prosecute and convict its
predecessor for fear of being prosecuted by its
successor. Not even Cory Aquino was able to prosecute the
Marcoses for assassinating her husband, Ninoy Aquino.
Only the masses themselves have the political will and
commitment to pursue justice to the end. In the final
analysis, only the masses themselves can and will
establish a society where genuine peace, justice,
prosperity, equity, freedom, and democracy reigns.
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