Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following statement: Privilege speech on political killings in the Philippines, which was received from Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines.
Asian Human Rights Commission
Hong Kong
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A Forwarded Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
PHILIPPINES: Privilege speech on political killings in the Philippines
The statement:
By Satur C. Ocampo
Deputy Minority Leader
House of Representatives, Philippines
Aug. 1, 2006
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a matter of personal and collective privilege, over the continued extrajudicial killings including members of my party, Bayan Muna.
In less than a week after Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo heaped excessive praise on General Jovito Palparan in her State of the Nation Address and condemned the spate of extrajudicial killings, this administration ushered in a fresh wave of murders.
On July 26, two days after Mrs. Arroyo’s SONA, Ernesto Ladica, Bayan Muna member in Salay, Misamis Oriental was killed in front of his three sons.
On July 28, Alberto Gonzales, 40, a farmworker of Barangay Veronica in Lopez, Quezon, was shot to death by suspected elements of the 76th Infantry Batallion of the Philippine Army. Three other were beaten up and mauled.
Last Sunday, July 30, Bayan Muna member Mario Florendo was shot dead by suspected elements of the 71st Infantry Batallion of the Philippine Army in Lupao, Nueva Ecija, within General Palparan’s area of operations.
At 6:00 am yesterday, Rei Mon Guran, chairperson of the League of Filipino Students in Aquinas University, was shot to death in Bulan, Sorsogon as he waited for a bus that would take him to school in Legazpi City. Rei Mon, a second year political science student, celebrated his 21st birthday the day before. Since yesterday, his family, friends and the progressive youth movement are mourning his violent death.
At 7:00 am also yesterday, Bayan Muna-Kalinga chapter chair Dr. Constancio “Chandu” Claver and his wife Alice were ambushed in Bulanao, Kalinga. Inihatid sa paaralan ng mag-asawang Claver ang pitong taong gulang na anak nila na si Samantha nang sila ay tambangan. Ligtas na si Dr. Claver, ngunit pumanaw ang kanyang asawang si Alice. Sindak na sindak ang bata sa naganap na krimen. She has been traumatized by the violence inflicted on her family.
As of today 717 Filipinos have fallen as victims of extrajudicial killings since Mrs. Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001. 115 were Bayan Muna members.
Since the fourth quarter of 2005, one person has been killed every two days.
We six progressive partylist representatives have filed a total of 57 resolutions calling for investigation of killings and other human rights violations.
Mr. Speaker, we in Bayan Muna condemn these unconscionable acts of brutality. To a large extent, we hold the Arroyo government accountable for these killings.
It must be noted that the Commission on Human Rights have said the same, as it called attention to the climate of impunity in the past five years. So has Amnesty International.
The fresh wave of killings followed Mrs. Arroyo’s public display of approbation for General Palparan’s method of carrying out counterinsurgency or internal security operations. Such irrepresible but insensitive statements encourage the likes of Palparan to continue terrorizing and killing people, especially activists, in violation of the Constitution and international humanitarian law.
In a cover story in the Sunday Inquirer Magazine last month, Palparan said, tongue-in-cheek, that he didn’t do any of the killings; He simply inspired the triggerman.
Mr. Speaker, the Constitution and international humanitarian law are clear regarding the right to life.
No person shall be deprived of the right to life. Consequently, the Philippine government must ensure that this most basic right be protected. Unfortunately, the Arroyo government consistently failed to protect the citizens’ right to life perhaps because only activists and other perceived critics of the administration are being felled one by one.
We are thankful that the international community has repeatedly condemned these extrajudicial killings… Amnesty International, New York Times and even the US State Department in 2006.
Coincidentally, last July 24, on the very day Mrs. Arroyo encouraged Palparan in her SONA, the Dutch Lawyers for Lawyers Foundation issued the final report of the International Fact-Finding Mission on Attacks Againsty Filipino Lawyers carried out in June 2006. The report condemned the killings of lawyers and judges, especially human rights lawyers and people’s lawyers, and held the Arroyo government responsible.
Allow me to quote from their report, Mr. Speaker, which in my view eloquently demands that it be heard by everyone:
“The Arroyo administration rejects national and international criticism on its human rights record, by simply referring to its democratic institutions and human rights treaties, laws and policies.
“On paper, the Philippines is indeed a republic with democratic institutions including an elected President and separate executive, legislative and judicial branches. It has an independent Commission on Human Rights and respect for human rights principles are enshrined in its 1987 Constitution, laws and policies. The Philippines have also signed and ratified almost all relevant international human rights treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“Nevertheless, since 2001, fifteen lawyers and ten judges have been killed in the Philippines as well as almost 700 other individuals including members of leftist groups, journalists, priests, church-workers, human rights defenders, laborers and farmers. All were unarmed citizens. None of the killers has been convicted.
“Many people believe that the state security forces are involved in the killings and these allegations are supported – amongst others – by the Philippine Commission on Human Rights, based upon its own investigations.
“Although the primary duty of the Government is to protect the life of the people, including lawyers and judges, the Arroyo administration has hardly done anything to address the extrajudicial killings effectively. In particular it has neither responded seriously to strong allegations that its own security forces are involved in the killings nor has it taken effective measures to improve the poor record of prosecutions of the perpetrators.”
Nakakahiya, Mr. Speaker, na hindi maaksyunan ng gobyerno ang mga pagpaslang sa ating mga kababayan, at mismong mga kaibigang dayuhan pa ang nagsasabi at nagpapaalala sa atin sa malubhang problemang ito. Nakakahiya dahil isinisiwalat ng mga pagpaslang na peke o ampaw ang demokrasyang tinatamasa diumano ng mga mamamayan. (Unofficial translation: Mr. Speaker, it is embarrassing that the government is not taking any action on the killings of our countrymen, that our foreign friends need to remind us (government) on this grave problem. It is embarrassing because these killings expose the fake and hollow democracy that the people is said to be enjoying.)
The lawyers and judges who wrote this report have pledged that they will take the issue before the European Union and the United Nations, if only to force the Philippines to act on the killings.
It should be noted that the Philippines has been elected for a one-year term as a member of the newly-formed Human Rights Council of the UN. As such, the Philippines is expected to pass through stringent standards and would be asked pointed questions as to the murders of activists, church people, journalists, lawyers, judges and other unarmed civilians and hors de combat.
Under international humanitarian law and the laws of war, parties to an armed conflict may not harm or kill civilians. They may also not harm or kill unarmed or injured combatants.
If the AFP, the PNP and the Arroyo government have strong evidence to show that Bayan Muna members are New People’s Army guerillas, I urge them to file charges in court. The military and police cannot put the law in their own hands and kill all unarmed civilian activists based on rabid anti-communist “hunch” that they are “enemies of the state,” as Palparan parlays with rabid zeal.
We fear that the mindset of Palparan is widespread in the rank and file of state security forces. Such a mindset, endorsed and encouraged by Mrs. Arroyo’s public display of affection for her favorite general, engenders continued political killings.
Mr. Speaker, one murder should have been more than enough to wake up this chamber. But the number of those extrajudicially killed has reached 717. Surely, this is far beyond what is enough. This madness should end.
Mrs. Arroyo ordered “authorities” to produce results in investigations of ten cases in ten weeks but gave no order to stop the killings which is far more important and crucial.
Mr. Speaker, we ask this House to condemn these killings. More than that, we urge this House to immediately pass the proposed Joint Resolution creating an independent commission to look into these extrajudicial killings even as we ask that action be taken on the 57 resolutions now pending before the House committees on human rights and of justice, and the rules committee.
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