At the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations’ hearing
"The killing of transgender woman Jennifer Laude by a US serviceman is a heinous violation of human rights," Karapatan secretary general, Cristina Palabay, told the Senate today during the hearing initiated by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Relations.
At the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations’ hearing
"The killing of transgender woman Jennifer Laude by a US serviceman is a heinous violation of human rights," Karapatan secretary general, Cristina Palabay, told the Senate today during the hearing initiated by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Relations.
"The current situation of human rights violations committed with impunity is already bad as it is. The VFA and recently approved Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement worsen the situation," Palabay told the Senate. "The political will of the current administration to prosecute fully the case is also questionable, given the skewed political relationship between the US and Philippine governments," Palabay said.
Laude’s killing, she said, “reflects the realities in Philippine society on the extent of prevalent gender-based violence, the climate of impunity, and the geo-political structures that exist." These are issues that are swept under the rug by spinmeisters hired to deemphasize the enormity and the roots of the problem.
Palabay said “the killing of Laude and similar rights violations are acts that are legitimized because of judicial system that turns its blind eye to justice.” She added that “perpetrators of human rights violation in this country are usually free from arrests, detention and conviction."
Palabay zeroed in on the lopsided military agreements between the US and Philippine governments which provides the context of the crime committed against Jennifer. Palabay scored the US-RP Military Bases Agreement and the Visiting Forces Agreement.
She mentioned the rape of 12-year old Rosario Baluyot who died of sepsis seven months after she was raped because parts of a vibrator inserted in her vagina remained stuck. Palabay also cited the rape of "Nicole" by US marine Daniel Smith in 2005. In both cases, the US soldiers accused of raping these girls were shipped out from the Philippines.
Palabay also enumerated a long list of atrocities committed by US soldiers against the Filipino people: the shooting Buyong-buyong Isnijal by Sgt. Reggie Lane; the killing of the Dr. Julius Ceasar Aguila who testified that Isnijal was brought by Sgt. Lane and two other US soldiers in the hospital he was working; the shooting of Arsid Baharun in 2004 by a US soldier; and, the mysterious murder of Gregan Cardeno in 2010 while inside a US facility in Camp Ranao, Marawi City and the subsequent death of Cardeno’s friend, Capt. Javier Ignacio who helped the Cardeno family shed light on Gregan’s death.