“The Duterte government is deliberately fueling
fears and paranoia, spewing dangerous and oftentimes unfounded claims on
criminality and terrorism. The three years of this government is anchored on
bloated statistics and disinformation meant to justify widespread repression
and unnecessary brutality directed towards the poor, the oppressed, and the
critical. There is no transparency amid the wholesale abuse of power,
corruption, and human rights violations.
“The Duterte government is deliberately fueling
fears and paranoia, spewing dangerous and oftentimes unfounded claims on
criminality and terrorism. The three years of this government is anchored on
bloated statistics and disinformation meant to justify widespread repression
and unnecessary brutality directed towards the poor, the oppressed, and the
critical. There is no transparency amid the wholesale abuse of power,
corruption, and human rights violations. It has been three years of injustice,”
said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay during President Rodrigo
Duterte’s 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA).
She added that even as the people are exercising
their fundamental rights to protest, to peaceful assembly and association, the
warmongers are incessant in their efforts to insinuate malice. “The Philippine
National Police has earlier announced that it will conduct random inspections
of protesters’ belongings, which is not only a scare tactic and a harassment
scheme, but will also render protesters vulnerable to the PNP’s expertise of
planting evidence and making dubious claims and charges. We do not trust the
PNP, with its bloody record in the country’s anti-narcotics and
counterinsurgency campaigns. If anyone is looking for the instigators of violence,
then the men in uniform are the foremost violators in this country,” she
continued.
Karapatan joined thousand others in a protest,
dubbed as the People’s SONA, which coincided with the President’s SONA. The
rights group featured a recreation of Ursula, a sea witch from a fairytale
adapted from the work of Hans Christian Andersen. Ursula was a deceitful sea
witch and monster who made appealing deals to desperate people, promising to
give them what they want on arbitrary and unjust conditions.
Palabay explained that “this situation is similar to
that of the Filipino people who were victimized, and later on blamed and
further persecuted. Duterte has no doubt taken advantage of the desperation of
the people for a better, more dignified life. Yet he has used the so-called
democratic processes to install an undemocratic and anti-people government.
Now, we are at a steep descent towards a full-blown dictatorship.”
“Our version of Ursula is a depiction of Duterte’s
rule in his three years. With his eight tentacles, each has a representation of
policy or issue that has been detrimental to the lives of Filipinos. The 8
themes are: tyranny, killings, violations on the country’s sovereignty,
trumped-up charges against political dissenters and critics, martial law,
misogyny, red-tagging and attacks against human rights defenders, and
impunity,” she added.
The Karapatan official said that the real issues of
the people will be expectedly glossed over by Duterte’s SONA: “The lives and
realities of the poor and oppressed do not matter to this government. The
legitimate calls and demands of the people for justice and accountability will
be ignored, and pending investigations will be undermined in Duterte’s speech.
The President’s SONA is addressed to the rich, the comfortable, his fellow
plunderers, fellow criminals – both within and outside the country. It is not,
and was never, reflective of the real state of the nation.”
According to Karapatan, it has documented 266
victims of extrajudicial killings in line with the Duterte regime’s
counterinsurgency programs Oplan Kapayapaan and Kapanatagan, on top of the
thousands reported in line with Duterte’s sham drug war. On top of this, the
rights group also recorded 404 victims of frustrated extrajudicial killings,
1,850 victims of illegal arrests, 134 tortured, 443 victims of illegal search
and seizure, and 451,323 victims of forcible displacement. Palabay explained
that these violations are a direct result of the implementation of Duterte’s
counterinsurgency programs – from Oplan Kapayapaan to Oplan Kapanatagan.
“The Filipino people are drowning in militarist and
repressive policies. The country is in mourning for the thousands of lives
lost, and the Palace remains in denial, convinced of the righteousness of its
policies. It continues to move towards injustice, bringing with it an
emboldened military and police that are drunk in power, assured of Duterte’s
protection. Duterte is the real coddler of criminals, rapists, murderers, and
thieves. It has been three years of State terrorism and gross impunity. We thus
echo the battle cry of groups joined together in protest: Tama na! Sobra na! Wakasan na!” Palabay concluded.