Women human
rights defenders and relatives of human rights violations victims (HRVVs)
belonging to Karapatan, Desaparecidos, Hustisya!
today kicked off the commemoration of International Women’s Month with renewed
calls to remove the sitting president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
"A first step towards justice
is to drive out the thief and human rights violator in Malacanang. Palayasin
ang babaeng lapastangan!" said Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Secretary General of
Karapatan, a leading human rights organization in the Philippines.
Women human
rights defenders and relatives of human rights violations victims (HRVVs)
belonging to Karapatan, Desaparecidos, Hustisya!
today kicked off the commemoration of International Women’s Month with renewed
calls to remove the sitting president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
"A first step towards justice
is to drive out the thief and human rights violator in Malacanang. Palayasin
ang babaeng lapastangan!" said Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Secretary General of
Karapatan, a leading human rights organization in the Philippines.
To date, 901
Filipinos were summarily executed and 180 have been forcibly disappeared by
state security forces under the Arroyo regime. Karapatan lost 33 human rights
workers to state violence.
"Mrs. Arroyo, as the
Commander-in-Chief had ordered the killings and disappearances of many
Filipinos who have stood up against corruption and violence through the Oplan
Bantay Laya being carried out by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP),"
said Enriquez.
Evangeline
Hernandez, head convener of Hustisya!
said, "Today we, mothers, wives, sisters, daughters of victims of extrajudicial
killings and enforced disappearances by this regime, come together to demand
justice for our loved ones. We are women who have been wronged in the worst
kind of way – our children, husbands, brothers and sisters taken away, deprived
of their rights, deprived of their very lives,"
Hernandez, whose daughter Benjaline
was killed by CAFGU members on April 5, 2002 said, "We are women crying out for
justice. We are women crying out for truth. We are women crying out for human
rights at a time when justice, truth and human rights have been deprived our
entire people."
In a statement
distributed to passers-by near the Gabriela
Silang Monument
in Makati, the
women human rights defenders said: "Perhaps the
greatest tragedy for us is that all these are happening under the leadership of
a woman president – Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It really pains us that a woman
has become the epitome of evil, corruption and tyranny in our motherland.
"Indeed, we cannot fathom how
a woman can tolerate, much more take part, in the web of lies, cover-ups and
systematic stealing that has become the hallmark of the Arroyo administration.
From the Hello Garci tapes, the IMPSA deal, the fertilizer fund scam, the
PIATCO scam, and now the NBN-ZTE deal all we have witnessed is her and her
officials’ fingerprints.
"She has shamed
us and shamed the nation. It is for this
reason that we are calling on you – our brother and sister – to join us in
working for the removal of that evil woman from Malacañang as a first step towards justice. Let us unite with our people for the sake of
truth, justice and public accountability.
"Let us work
together for a future where human rights of women and men are respected and
protected."###