“The Philippine National Report is significant not for what it says but for what it does not say. It is a selective, one-sided, self-serving account of the Philippine government’s so-called achievements and best practices in fulfilling its human rights obligations. It is a brazen attempt to hide the truth and evade accountability for the Arroyo regime’s patent disregard for the people’s civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights.”
BY EMILY VITAL
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 9, April 6-12, 2008
Families of victims and human rights advocates debunked the Arroyo government’s Philippine National Report (PNR) for the United Nation’s (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
The UN’s General Assembly, in its resolution 60/251, mandated the Human Rights Council (HRC) to ‘undertake a universal periodic review, based on objective and reliable information, of the fulfillment by each State of its human rights obligations and commitments in a manner which ensures universality of coverage and equal treatment with respect to all States.’ At its fifth session on 18 June 2007, the HRC adopted a resolution detailing the modalities regarding the UPR mechanism.
The 25-page PNR will be presented by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita before the UN’s HRC in Geneva, Switzerland, April 11.
Meanwhile, Karapatan, Hustisya, Desaparecidos, National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), IBON Foundation, Bayan Muna, IPHR-Monitor and GMA Watch formed the UPR Watch. They will also send a delegation to Geneva.
In its critique, the UPR Watch said, “The PNR is significant not for what it says but for what it does not say. It is a selective, one-sided, self-serving account of the Philippine government’s so-called achievements and best practices in fulfilling its human rights obligations. It is a brazen attempt to hide the truth and evade accountability for the Arroyo regime’s patent disregard for the people’s civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights.”
Rev. Fr. Rex Reyes, Jr., head of the Philippine UPR Watch delegation and general secretary of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), “The PNR lays down a litany of Constitutional provisions, republic acts, presidential decrees, executive orders, administrative orders, plans, programs and structures related to the promotion and protection of human rights that in reality have failed to effectively address the issues of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, militarization, political persecution, economic penury, social dysfunction and cultural decadence.”
Most glaring
Reyes said that the most glaring in the PNR is that it totally ignores the recommendations of UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston.
Alston visited the Philippines in February 2007. Among his recommendations include: that the extrajudicial executions be eliminated from counterinsurgency operations; that the principle of command responsibility be ensured as a basis for criminal liability to prosecute military officers; and, that the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG) be abolished. According to Alston, the IALAG’s central purpose is to prosecute and punish members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its purported front groups whenever there is any legal basis for doing so.
