Human rights situation in RP worsening, groups say

BAGUIO CITY — The world celebrates today the international declaration of human rights even as the situation in the Philippines is believed to be taking a turn for the worse, according to two human rights’ groups.

The Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace (EMJP) assessed the human rights condition in the country as "not at all rosy."

In fact, the EJMP said it was worsening even with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in existence for 57 years so far.

For this year alone, there were 152 victims of killings involving human rights abuses, according to Girlie Padilla of EMJP, whose members include bishops, priests, laymen, human rights lawyers and advocates nationwide.

For its part, an international group of lawyers said there were 4,300 documented cases of human rights violations affecting some 235,000 individuals, 24,500 families and 240 communities in the country.

These violations were attributable to the military, police, paramilitary and death squads of the government, said Filipino lawyer Edre Olalia, vice president of the International Association of Peoples Lawyers (IAPL).

The IAPL, based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, said the condition in the country is worsening citing the killing of six lawyers and one law student as of October this year.

In 2004, IAPL said four lawyers and three judges were killed, many of them human rights and public interest lawyers.

In a resolution adopted by its board of directors Friday last week in Utrecht, the IAPL called on Philippine authorities to solve the killings and put a stop to human rights abuses.

The IAPL did not mince words when it issued the resolution, believing "there is an escalation of human rights violations under the government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo victimizing mainly members of progressive people’s organizations."

Two weeks ago, two political activists identified with left-leaning groups in the north were killed by assassins.

The EMJP meanwhile bewailed the government’s apparent inaction over cases of human rights violations.

"Every Filipino is a vulnerable target of persecution. Worse, these crimes are state-perpetrated," Padilla claimed.

The EJMP noted that the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police have been implicated by the victims as perpetrators of human rights violations.

However, "not a single military official involved in a human rights case has been punished," Padilla said.

She laments the irony that perpetrators of human rights violations from killings to enforced disappearances were even being awarded with promotions, scholarships and other perks.

Padilla cited Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr., who is set to be confirmed next week as major general, as one alleged rights violator.

"In the spirit of the 57th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call on the Filipino people to assert and demand for justice. We deserve a government that has genuine respect for human rights," Padilla stressed.

Quoting the IAPL’s resolution, Olalia said "attacks on the legal profession have risen as evidenced by the killing of lawyers, the blacklisting of progressive lawyers groups as influenced or controlled by ‘enemies of the state’ and the harassment of and threats on the lives of people’s lawyers including a pioneer of the IAPL, United Nations judge ad litem Romeo T. Capulong."

Capulong, a Filipino, has been serving as judge ad litem in the international court trying genocide cases in the Balkan states of Europe.

"These human rights violations include the cold-blooded murders of at least 400 persons and the disappearance of 110 more among whom are peasants and farm workers demanding genuine land reform, workers fighting for a just wage and better working conditions, human rights activists, journalists, lawyers, religious leaders, members of progressive organizations and party-list groups considered by the Macapagal-Arroyo administration as ‘enemies of the state,’" Olalia said.

‘Climate of impunity’

The IAPL is appalled, the resolution said, that while police, military, paramilitary and death squads have been implicated in these human rights violations, "not a single one has really been brought to justice thereby further engendering a climate of impunity."

The lawyers group also took potshots at the government’s "calibrated preemptive response" (CPR) which they claimed "openly violates the people’s democratic right to peaceful assembly."

Moreover, IAPL lawyer-members disagreed with the United States and the European Union’s "unjustly and maliciously" listing the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and CPP chief Jose Maria Sison as "terrorists" allegedly without any due process and in violation of fundamental democratic principles.

"Such ‘terrorist’ listing has wrongly demonized a legitimate liberation movement and has contributed to the current impasse in the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)," their resolution declared.

Quoting his colleagues, Olalia said "the continuation of such negotiations is desirable because it has resulted in important documents such as the Comprehensive Agreement of Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) and it is a forum for formulating solutions to the basic problems of the Filipino people."

The IAPL said that aside from pressing the Philippine government for action on these human rights abuses, the group will support efforts to bring the perpetrators of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law to justice.

It said it is also pressing the US and EU governments to junk their "terrorist listing" used to demonize progressive personalities and legitimate liberation movements, while vowing support for efforts to remove obstacles to the resumption of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations in the Philippines.

Meanwhile in the Senate, Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan urged the government and the public yesterday to intensify the campaign for human rights in the country, following the attacks against members of two leftist organizations.

Pangilinan, proponent of the National Human Rights Consciousness Week Act of 2002 or Republic Act 9201, expressed sadness over the recent killings of Anakbayan and Bayan Muna members.

The lawmaker noted that "the real progress of a nation is not measured merely by the success of its economy or by the power of its government."

"The true standard of a country’s development is how the people’s inalienable rights are observed and protected," Pangilinan said.

Abuse of OFWs

Also on the occasion of the International Declaration of Human Rights, militant groups led by Migrante yesterday trooped to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) office in Pasay City and called

on the agency’s officials to act on several unresolved cases involving abused overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Migrante led other groups coming from the Southern Tagalog region in asking the DFA to help several OFWs who have suffered or are suffering at the hands of their employers.

Kakay Tolentino, Migrante Southern Tagalog spokesperson, cited the case of Ivy Collantes Bautista who was reported to have committed suicide in Santander, Spain, last Sept. 27.

"However, the family of the victim insisted that there was foul play concerning Ivy’s death. That is why they requested that another autopsy be done on the victim’s body," Tolentino pointed out.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR), particularly Dr. Arnel Amata of the forensics department conducted a second autopsy on Bautista’s body.

A month later, the CHR released a probationary report expressing doubts on the Santander Police’s findings that Collantes committed suicide.

"Ivy is a victim of human-rights violations together with so many other Filipinos who were forced to leave their families to get a decent job and later, were abused by their employers abroad. However, government officials including the DFA are not doing anything about it," Tolentino said.

After holding a program in front of the DFA office, the groups proceeded to Mendiola where they will continue their protest action. — Artemio Dumlao, Christina Mendez, Rhodina Villanueva