UN Body Scolds RP Over Shallow Rights Report 

The Philippine government’s report to the United Nations Committee on Human Rights (UNCHR) is like a wayward student’s report on a science experiment he did not carry out: embellished with rhetorical statements and strewn with falsehoods.

BY ROWENA CARRANZA
Bulatlat.com

The 79^th session of the UNCHR, which is being held Oct. 21-Nov. 7 at the Palais de Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland tabled last week the Philippine government’s report on its compliance to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Department of Justice Undersecretary Merceditas Gutierrez presented the report.

Abstract

The government report was 226-page long. Observers noted however its content was long on rhetoric and short on actual performance data.

As the UNCHR chair, Abdelfattah Amor of Tunisia, said, “While the Committee expected to receive information on policies and legislation, it also needed concrete and specific information on the daily human rights situation.”

“The report itself, although voluminous, was laconic,” said Amor. In its preliminary remarks, the committee said it needed “more comprehensive information” for it to thoroughly monitor the situation in the Philippines.

The Committee members also raised concerns regarding the continuing impunity of perpetrators of human rights violations; the accounts of torture; the government list of terrorist acts which it said may infringe on human rights; continuous imposition of the death penalty; and the violations of the rights and welfare of women and children, and workers.

The Philippine delegation was also scolded for submitting its report late, which was due way back in 1998. Amor noted how it “arrived at a very late stage, an indication that the State party did not respect its reporting obligations.”

Filipino human rights activists present in the Geneva conference said the hall reverberated with the crowd’s applause when the Committee chided the Philippine representatives.

Fabrications

In the follow-up query on the report, Gutierrez gave an outright lie and said that on the Marcellana-Gumanoy killing in Mindoro, “cases are now being tried in the Regional Trial Court in Calapan, Mindoro.”

UNHRC Special Rapporteur Ivan Shearer from Australia however put the Philippine delegates to task for the wrong information and asked for clarification. Gutierrez promised to submit the clarification.

The report itself claimed that the government does not subscribe to hamletting as a policy. It said, “What could have been misperceived and wrongly reported by the media as ‘hamletting’ activities were actually voluntary evacuations by residents from conflict‑affected areas to safer grounds. These evacuations took place particularly during the thick of skirmishes between government and enemy forces.”

It also said that “so‑called militarization, of which the Philippine Government has been unfairly accused of, has not occurred, particularly since after Martial Law.”

The report enumerated the various laws, policies and programs of the government with regards human rights promotion, even including its salt iodization program. It attempted to make it seem that having such laws and policies in place meant that human rights are being protected.

It concluded that the “trend in the Philippines has been towards greater respect for, and fuller exercise of, human rights, that is economic and social progress and political stability are merely support mechanisms for this purpose.”

Other issues

The human rights group Karapatan, which was represented by Marie Hilao-Enriquez and human rights lawyer Edre Olalia, brought up other human rights concerns during an NGO consultation-briefing conducted by the Committee.

The issues included:

• Systematic attacks on progressive people’s organizations, citing the killing of 10 Karapatan members under the Arroyo administration;

• Declaration of an open-ended “state of lawlessness” in Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi though a Department of Justice (DoJ) Memorandum of July 13, 2001 which gave blanket authority to state forces to conduct warrantless arrests;

• Continuous adoption and implementation of government policies and programs such as Oplan Makabayan; and

• The impunity of perpetrators and coddlers of human rights violations who remain unaccountable for their acts or omissions

According to Karapatan, two persons are killed every week under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. A total of 260 persons have been summarily executed by suspected military, police and paramilitary elements, the human rights group added.

Most of the victims, said Karapatan, are political activists and suspected supporters of militant groups. It called attention to the 38 slain members of the progressive political party Bayan Muna.

"It is a blatant lie,” said Enriquez of Gutierrez’s statement to the Committee regarding the Marcellana and Gumanoy killing.

“The cases of Marcellana and Gumanoy are still at the snail-paced preliminary investigation being conducted by the DoJ itself," she said. Enriquez was head of Karapatan’s three-man delegation who participated in the NGO Consultations-Briefing for the 79th meeting of the UN Human Rights Committee. 

Despite being positively identified as one of the abductors and murderers of Marcellana and Gumanoy, M/Sgt. Donald Caigas, principal suspect, and the other perpetrators remain at-large.  Caigas is reportedly being coddled at headquarters of the Philippine Army.  Palparan has been recently appointed deputy commanding officer of the 2nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army amidst several attempts by the AFP top brass to get the confirmation for his promotion to brigadier general.

"Based on the report presented by the DoJ undersecretary, the Arroyo government is feeding the international community with wrong information about the miserable human rights condition in our country," Enriquez said.

During the meeting of UNCHR, KARAPATAN presented a comprehensive report on the government's violations of its commitment to the International Covenant  on Civil and Political Rights, and submitted recommendations for the promotion and protection of Filipino people's rights. 

Other members of the Philippine delegation were: Department of Foreign Affair Assistant Secretary Ma. Lourdes Lopez, Defense Assistance Secretary Ruben Espiron, National Police Commission Director Bernardo Kalibo, DND ASEC Maj. Gen. Ruben Ciron (ret) and Atty. Frank Cimafranka of the Philippine Embassy in Geneva. Bulatlat.com

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