The Philippine human rights situation in 2005 can be characterized by the wanton use of repression and state terror by a scandal-rocked President desperately clinging to power in the face of the
people’s rejection.
The Arroyo regime suffered its worst
political crisis this year as evidence of
cheating and electoral fraud began to
surface in May, putting Pres. Arroyo’s
legitimacy on the line. While attempts to
impeach the President were thwarted in
the administration-dominated Congress,
the charges of electoral fraud, corruption
and massive human rights violations
stuck, haunting Arroyo for the rest of the
year.
The Philippine human rights situation in 2005 can be characterized by the wanton use of repression and state terror by a scandal-rocked President desperately clinging to power in the face of the
people’s rejection.
The Arroyo regime suffered its worst
political crisis this year as evidence of
cheating and electoral fraud began to
surface in May, putting Pres. Arroyo’s
legitimacy on the line. While attempts to
impeach the President were thwarted in
the administration-dominated Congress,
the charges of electoral fraud, corruption
and massive human rights violations
stuck, haunting Arroyo for the rest of the
year.
Opposition to the Arroyo regime increased
immensely in the second half of 2005 with
10 members of her cabinet resigning en
masse to call for her resignation by July.
The broad oust-Arroyo movement grew to
include personalities and groups of such
diverse backgrounds and political
persuasions as former presidents Aquino
and Estrada, the political opposition, the
Left, various sectoral formations, Muslim
organizations, Catholic, Protestant and
born-again groups, the academe, big
business and a host of organizations of
former military officials, just to name a
few. At one point, surveys indicated that
79% of the population wanted Arroyo
impeached, 64% wanted her to resign,
while 51% wanted her ousted via People
Power. (Social Weather Stations, 10
September 2005)
Underlying the political crisis was the
deep, unabated economic crisis which hit
hard on majority of Filipinos.
Government’s desperate
attempt to highlight some positive
economic data in the later part of the year
failed to conceal the reality of lost jobs,
dwindling incomes and a still precarious
fiscal condition.
In the face of all these, the Arroyo regime
turned from weak to desperate, becoming
more violent and insidious in quelling the
public clamor for her removal from office
and for basic economic reforms. After the
killing of the impeachment complaint on a
technicality by the House of
Representatives, she went to attend the
United Nations General Assembly in New
York, seeking American support for her
embattled regime. Right after her return,
the Department of Justice (DOJ), the
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)
and the Philippine National Police (PNP)
went all-out in harassing the opposition,
attacking the swelling protest movement,
militarizing the countryside and
eliminating her political opponents in the
name of counter-insurgency and the USled
war on terror. Civil liberties are being
blatantly constricted. Political killings and
human rights violations are intensifying.
It was in this context that KARAPATAN
recorded 874 cases of human rights
violations victimizing 99,011
individuals, 14,302 families in 288
communities for the period of January
to November 30 this year, making 2005
possibly the worst year for human rights
in the post-Marcos era.