Filipino-Americans Reiterate Call to Cut US Military Aid to the Philippines

BY BULATLAT

In the light of the recent report of Prof. Philip Alston, United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Filipino-Americans in the United States reiterated their call to cut all U.S. military aid and training to the Philippines.

In his report to the United Nations Human Rights Council dated April 29, 2009, Alston said that the Philippine government has failed to institutionalize or implement the many necessary reforms that have been identified in addressing the extrajudicial killings in the country.

Alston visited the country in February 2007 to investigate the spate of killings in the country. A year after in April 2008, he released his findings and recommendations.

The Katarungan: Center for Peace, Justice, and Human Rights in the Philippines deemed that the recent Alston report is ‘evidence that US Congress needs to strengthen the past conditions it placed on military aid to the Philippines.’

In 2007, the US Senate Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer deliberated on US military aid to the Philippines. Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the US Senate Judiciary Committee, has included language in the Senate State Department and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill that fences $2 million of military assistance on the condition that the Secretary of State certifies that the Philippine Government is implementing the recommendations of Alston.

Katrina Abarcar, coordinator of Katarungan, said, “In fact, we have basis to demand all US military aid and training to the Philippines be cut until the widespread problem of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, illegal arrests and politically motivated prosecutions of activists is indisputably solved.”

The group called on US Senators Leahy and Boxer to support them in following through Alston’s recent report. “In recent months, despite the Philippine Government’s claims, we have noted indications of a resurgence in killings and other human rights abuses and are particularly anticipating increased violence with the 2010 Philippine elections on the horizon,” the group said.

The group will hold an “Emergency Summit on Human Rights in the Philippines” in Washington, DC on June 6 . It aims to gather US-based organizations, institutions, networks and individuals that have been advocating for the victims of human rights abuses in the Philippines and to identify effective ways to put increased pressure on the Arroyo administration to stop human rights abuses.(Bulatlat.com)