HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Undeclared War vs Progressives Condemned
Just Like in the Old (Martial Law) Days

The government is waging an undeclared war against progressive groups, according to the various party-list, human rights, church and journalists’ groups that met last week.

by Ronald B. Escanlar
Bulatlat

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's tenure in office is feeling more like the fearful days of Martial Law.

Civil libertarians across various sectors denounced the inaction of Macapagal-Arroyo’s regime on the spate of killings and abductions of human rights leaders and workers.

In a forum held at the Asian Center of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City March 18, five party-list groups in the House of the Representatives, church-based groups, human rights groups and lawyers, and journalists gathered and discussed the violent attacks that the military and the police have reportedly been waging against the progressive people’s movement.

Present were Bayan Muna party-list Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño, AnakPawis party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran and Rafael Mariano, Gabriela Women’s Party party-list Rep. Liza Maza, and Buhay party-list Rep. Christian Señeres. The APEC (Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives) party-list was also represented.

Ocampo denounced the government’s lack of political will in continuing peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), especially in the light of the assassination attempt against UN judge Attorney Romeo Capulong last March 14 at his house in Nueva Ecija.

He criticized the composition of the present negotiating panel of the government, which he labeled as “antagonistic.” He also pointed out the growing role of the Bush regime in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

In a privilege speech delivered last March 8 before the 13th Congress, Ocampo said “the killings, abductions, and disappearances cannot be but acts of terrorism.”

“The probability, if not the certainty, that these are perpetrated by agents of the State, through its military or paramilitary operatives, makes the situation a larger cause for public concern and for urgent actions to put an end to these atrocities,” said Ocampo.

“What we see here, Mr. Speaker, is an overly militarist mindset that punishes with impunity any and all groups critical of the Establishment,” said Casiño in a privilege speech delivered last March 14.

Casiño said 13 Bayan Muna leaders and supporters have been felled by the bullet in Central and Northern Luzon just this year. Five were abducted and remain missing, he added.

“At the rate things are going, Mr. Speaker, my colleagues, our party will have been wiped out by the next elections,” said Casiño.

Silence, inaction

Meanwhile, BAYAN secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr. denounced “the silence and the inaction of the Arroyo administration.”

Human rights group Karapatan or Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights recorded 110 abductions last year. From January to March 15 alone this year, the group recorded a hundred cases of human rights violations, affecting 23,252 victims in 91 communities.

Attacks on press freedom are also on the rise with the death of 13 journalists last year. National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) president Inday Espina-Varona said the morbid statistic could get higher this year since there have been two deaths recorded for the first quarter of this year.

Espina-Varona criticized the Anti-Terrorism Bills (ATB) pending in the 13th Congress, which she said sought “to protect us from the scourge of terrorism by stripping us of our constitutional rights.”

In a statement, Rep. Hussin Amin of Sulu’s first district noted that “those who are killed are intentionally selected.”

Compared to the government’s declared war against the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) breakaway group currently holding out in Sulu, there was an “undeclared war” against progressive party-list groups.

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and other church-based groups like the Ecumenical Bishops Forum (EBF) and the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) also issued statements denouncing the attacks on civil liberties.

An IFI priest, Fr. William Tadena, was killed last March 13 after saying Mass in Brgy. Guevarra in Lapaz, Tarlac. According to the EBF, Fr. Tadena was the chairperson of social concern and human rights in the IFI diocese in Tarlac, a member of Karapatan-Tarlac and the Promotion of Church People’s Response-Tarlac.

A month before, on Feb. 18, IFI priest Fr. Allan Caparro and his wife, Aileen, were ambushed by two motorcycle riding assassins. They survived the ambush.

The groups vehemently denounced these attacks on the two priests.

“That they are advocates of human rights, peace and justice, and defenders of the oppressed are known to all of those whole lives were touched by the witness and ministry of these two priests,” said the NCCP in a statement.

“These cannot be the handiwork of petty thieves or highway robbers. It was planned by those who stand to gain in the event that the two priests are silenced,” the NCCP statement concluded.

Could get worse

The IFI, in its statement, said the current situation could “still get worse.”

“There is reason to believe that what befell to our two priests, as well as the countless unresolved murders on mass leaders and the blatant attacks on the democratic rights and civil liberties of our people, is not without the knowledge of the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” the IFI statement read.

The EBF statement, meanwhile, reminded the Macapagal-Arroyo regime “that militarism and militarization are ways that will further alienate the government from the suffering people.”

The recent siege at the Metro Manila District Jail at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City, also highlighted the plight of Muslims in the anti-terrorism drive of the government.

Yusuf Ledesma, a Muslim convert, spoke of police raids of mosques in the metropolis.

The country seemed to be a “paradise for the evildoers,” Ledesma said, as he recounted of Muslim converts who were arrested for being alleged Abu Sayyaf members and sympathizers.

Some of them were in hiding, Ledesma said.

A red candle lighting will be held on March 23 at the foot of the Chino Roces Bridge, formerly Mendiola Bridge, site of mass demonstrations. The convenors of the forum also plan to publish a print ad denouncing the government for their inaction on the spate of attacks against civil liberties, hold a national indignation rally on April 7, and dialogues with concerned government agencies. Bulatlat

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