Oppressed people are angry people. And even as the BS Aquino government take steps to contain this anger and gloss over the dismal human rights situation in the country, it cannot quell the rising discontent and distrust of the people.
This was the main message at today’s rally to commemorate the International Human Rights Day as speakers from the different sectors lambasted the Aquino regime for the damage it has caused on the rights, lives and livelihood of the Filipino people, especially the poor majority.
Oppressed people are angry people. And even as the BS Aquino government take steps to contain this anger and gloss over the dismal human rights situation in the country, it cannot quell the rising discontent and distrust of the people.
This was the main message at today’s rally to commemorate the International Human Rights Day as speakers from the different sectors lambasted the Aquino regime for the damage it has caused on the rights, lives and livelihood of the Filipino people, especially the poor majority.
“We hold B. S. Aquino accountable for the 152 extrajudicial killings and 168 frustrated killings, 18 enforced disappearances, 358 illegal arrests and detentions on trumped up charges, tortures and other gross human rights violations, in his term, affecting a great number of the peasantry, indigenous people and urban poor dwellers. His counterinsurgency policy, Oplan Bayanihan, and his promotion of the pervading culture of impunity sanctions all these,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan.
Karapatan said at least one extrajudicial killing per week was committed by state security forces under Aquino. “This December alone, we documented at least four cases of extrajudicial killing committed by State forces. In the past two weeks, media organizations have reported two journalists killed,” she added.
Palabay further said that the “people were not surprised that BS Aquino’s trust ratings, starting the second half of 2013, continue to drop dramatically. The survey does not even cover the months when BS Aquino opted for a militarist solution in “resolving” the Zamboanga crisis, that further victimized the residents of Zamboanga City; or when he displayed before the world how disastrous was his response to the victims of typhoon Yolanda.”
“BS Aquino is accountable for the destruction that happens in the daily lives of the people, as we all contend with the rising cost of food, fuel and electricity, water and gasoline, transportation, and education and health services. People’s lives are sacrificed and people wallow in poverty and/or killed because BS Aquino chose to uphold the interests of his political allies, and the foreign and big business. Even the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) concedes that at least one out of five Filipino families live below the poverty line despite government pronouncements of economic growth,” said Palabay.
The rally’s program outlined 11 points of BS Aquino’s accountability to the Filipino people: the implementation of Oplan Bayanihan that resulted to unabated human rights violations; continuing impunity and injustice; privatization and failure to provide the poor majority with basic services; eviction of urban poor dwellers and demolition; unemployment and unjust wages; massive landgrabbing; plunder of natural resources; corruption and pillage of the nation’s coffers through the pork barrel system; puppetry to the US dictates; and underhandedness in the conduct of peace negotiations.
“We hold the Aquino regime accountable for protecting a rotten system that continues to oppress and exploit the Filipino people. The burning of ‘P-Noy the Destroyer’ is not only about the people’s rage and discontent. As ‘P-Noy the Destroyer’ burns, the fervour in the people’s hearts is fired up to even work harder to change the system he represents,” concluded Palabay. ###