As we tremble at the thought that the President and
Commander-In-Chief doesn’t have any compunction in violating human rights – as
evidenced by the police’s abduction yesterday at the airport of a rich and
known personality like Mr. Rodolfo Lozada, Jr., star witness to the anomalous
ZTE deal — we are enraged at the systematic, brazen deception that this regime
put out to cover up gross human rights violations.
As we tremble at the thought that the President and
Commander-In-Chief doesn’t have any compunction in violating human rights – as
evidenced by the police’s abduction yesterday at the airport of a rich and
known personality like Mr. Rodolfo Lozada, Jr., star witness to the anomalous
ZTE deal — we are enraged at the systematic, brazen deception that this regime
put out to cover up gross human rights violations.
At the beginning of 2008, extrajudicial killings have
continued, victimizing a carpenter in Masbate, an-ex political prisoner in
Bohol, a protestant pastor in
recently, ten residents of Maimbung in Sulu. Enforced disappearances
likewise continue and those victims during the six-year presidency of Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo have yet to be surfaced.
It is contemptible that Mrs. Arroyo praises the PNP and
credits them for the decrease in the number of extrajudicial killings two days
after the nation’s erstwhile prime police force announced that it expunged from
its list 635 victims of "unexplained killings" from a supposed
Karapatan list. Now it becomes evident why the PNP’s Task Force Usig went to
such great lengths.
To them, it is as easy as changing the term extrajudicial to
"unexplained" killing so as to evade liability. They also make
it very easy to "de-list" names to bring down the number for they are
only concerned about statistics and wanted to engage in the numbers game.
To us, what they have done is utterly wicked because this
means that the excluded victims will have no chance of ever getting any justice
whatsoever. The victims were already killed through a national policy
called Oplan Bantay Laya, and with the removal from the list, the police would
have them erased even from national memory.
It is no jest that among human rights workers, the PNP TF
Usig has been called "Task Force Usig Karapatan." Since its
establishment, the task force has been viciously attacking and discrediting
Karapatan’s data. Last time we looked, the reason why it was formed in
the first place is to INVESTIGATE the killings of political activists and media
persons. Before any investigation has occurred they have already
announced their conclusion that state security forces are not complicit.
We reiterate that the military and the police are doing these violations.
After almost two years of existence, we can only hear our
police officers say that to the PNP "once we have filed a case against the
suspects in court, we consider the case closed." To the PNP, this
means, it is not important whether the suspects were apprehended or not or
whether the suspects are the real perpetrators or just fall guys. Voila! As
easy as that!
In our 2007 report, Karapatan’s documentation revealed that
the victims of extrajudicial executions has gone down for the year – 68
(January-Oct. 31, 2007) — and this we attributed to the strong international
pressure generated by the outrage over the killings and Arroyo’s reeking human
rights record. This gave strong support to the victims’ continuing quest for
justice and to the resistance of the Filipino people to Arroyo’s martial law.
One of the strongest pressures generated was the independent
damning report of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, arbitrary or
summary executions Prof. Philip Alston. In fact, it became problematic
for Malacañang that the Presidnet sent no less than Gen. Ermita to
when Alston delivered his report to the Third Committee of the UN General
Assembly.
International pressure was also shown at the Permanent
People’s Tribunal at
which found the GMA and Bush administration guilty of the crimes of gross and
systematic violations of human rights, economic plunder and transgression of
the Filipino people’s sovereignty. The tribunal’s report was
sent to the UN system and other organizations.
The US Senate investigation, the international conferences
on the killings in the country, e.g. the Ecumenical Voice which traveled to
talking with parliamentarians and bringing their report all the way to the
Human Rights Council in
has also lent their voices in condemning the killings and human rights
violations.
Several international human rights organizations like the
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, FIDH, Front Line, AHRC, including
the International Parliamentarians Union have condemned the violations as
well.
For the President, who commands the entire armed force of
the country, to be praising the police force which has been more complicit in
covering up a heinous crime against humanity rather than doing its mandate of
protection not only smacks of callousness, but outright deception. She
chooses to drown out the outrage and deceive the international community and
the public by saying a barefaced lie that the police work has caused the
decrease in the killings. This is a very dangerous situation especially
considering the fact that the victims of extrajudicial executions are vocal
critics of the President’s policies.
We continue to call on the public and the international
community to remain vigilant and defiant.
Stop the killings!
Surface the Disappeared!
End the murderous regime of Gloria Arroyo!
Justice for all victims of human rights violations!