After the election of the Philippines, last November 3, 2006, as member of the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), a major United Nations body, the Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines (CHRP), Purificacion V. Quisumbing, lauded Ambassador Lauro Baja, Jr., the permanent representative of the Philippines to the U.N. for engineering an exceptional win for the Philippines, despite criticism and negative reports from non-governmental organizations and the media.?(Philippine Daily Inquirer, November 4, 2006)
While seating the Philippines in the prestigious ECOSOC could be a diplomatic victory, it certainly does not in anyway vindicate the human rights record of the country, much less belittle the existing coercive environment and the culture of impunity. And yet, the Chairperson has rendered such reports from NGOs and media as negative? Ms. Quisumbing may have been away from the country too often to know that several of those who brought the negative?reports of human rights violations have been themselves extra-judicially killed. Peasant leader Eric Cabanit of UNORKA was one among the many.
The distancing of the Chairperson from such reports is alarming in the least that she implied that the Commission she chairs does not have similar negative?records and/or does not agree with the negative?reports of documented human rights violations by the NGOs and the media. At most, the Chair has disassociated herself from the essence and leadership of an institution that is expected to assert human rights and hold the Philippine State in this present administration accountable of its obligations. Ms. Quisumbing seems only to be too willing to sacrifice the Chair of the CHRP which must continuously stand up and hold the administration of Ms. Gloria Arroyo accountable for extra-judicial executions and other gross human rights violations (which are negative?reports) so as to gain a UN ECOSOC seat.
The Philippine human rights situation does not augur for the better ?among others, there is an on-going well-funded all-out war against terrorism and insurgency, development aggression is intertwined with the push in building the mega-regions? all pervaded with a coercive environment and a culture of impunity not only in the arena of civil and political rights, but also in the fields of economic, social and cultural rights. There will be lots of unavoidable negative?reports. Will these be shunned too by Ms. Quisumbing so as to obtain another seat?
The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) believes that, in these critical political and economic times, the CHRP has to play a pro-active role and to build a firm positive position for human rights. For the sake of human rights, CHRP Chairperson Quisumbing must either unequivocally stand .
Yours sincerely,
Max M. de Mesa
Chairperson, PAHRA
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