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On International Human
Rights Day:
Women Human Rights Defenders Honored
On the observance of the 56th
International Human Rights Day, prominent women human rights defenders
were recognized, and rallies were held denouncing the Macapagal-Arroyo
government’s human rights record.
BY BULATLAT
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The commemoration of the 56th International Human Rights Day in
the Philippines was capped by the conferment of the first Gawad Eden
Marcellana (Eden Marcellana Award), held at the St. Paul University in New
Manila, Quezon City in the evening of last Dec. 10. The award is to be
given annually to prominent female human rights advocates in memory of
Eden
Protesters carry pictures of slain
activists (upper photo) as a woman demonstrator displays a streamer
demanding a stop to human rights violations (lower photo)
Photos by Arkibong Bayan |
Marcellana was
secretary-general of the Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of
People’s Rights) in Southern Tagalog. She, together with peasant leader
Eddie Gumanoy, was found murdered April 22, 2003 in Oriental Mindoro while
heading a fact-finding mission to investigate a spate of human rights
violations by the military in the province.
Conferred the award
were: Karapatan national secretary-general Marie Hilao-Enriquez, urban
poor leader Carmen Deunida, Southern Tagalog-based labor leader Luz Baculo,
Julieta de Lima of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)
peace panel, Adeliza Albarillo; as well as slain activists Juvy Magsino,
Leyma Fortu, Melita Carvajal, Adeling delos Santos, and Milagros Belga.
Earlier that day,
about 1,500 people from groups under the umbrella of the Bagong Alyansang
Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) trooped to the foot of the
Chino
Roces Bridge in Manila, near Malacañang
Palace, to stage a rally denouncing the human rights abuses of the
Macapagal-Arroyo administration. They were later joined by a 1,000-strong
contingent from Central Luzon, including striking workers from the
Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita.
The Central Luzon
delegation had been blocked by police along Kamatsile in Quezon City, but
shortly after lunch time were able to get past police lines, arriving in
Manila
at about 3 p.m.
Blocked
Meanwhile, about 500
ralliers from Rizal province, who also intended to join the program in
Manila, were blocked by police at the Mabuhay Rotonda, the boundary
between Manila and Quezon City. They held their own program there.
The Manila ralliers
carried, among others, pictures of individuals they tagged as human rights
violators – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Interior and Local
Government Secretary Angelo Reyes, Army chief of staff Gen. Jovito
Palparan, and Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas. There were also a
picture each of characters symbolizing the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
There were also
rallies in other major Philippine towns and cities. In Daet, Camarines
Norte, the Human Rights Day rally turned violent when a masked man fired
bullets at protesters – killing one of them, Arsenio Paylan, and wounding
three others.
Based on data from
Karapatan, 570 cases of human rights violations have been committed from
January to November 2004 alone.
Reyes, as former AFP
chief of staff and defense secretary, had a hand in military operations in
Mindanao, Southern Tagalog, and
other areas in the country. The military operations, purportedly in
pursuit of the government’s counter-insurgency program, are denounced by
human rights groups for victimizing innocent civilians.
Palparan, meanwhile,
is tagged by human rights activists as the “Butcher of Mindoro.” Many
activists were killed in Oriental Mindoro under his watch as military
commander in the province, and human rights groups hold him responsible
for these killings.
Sto. Tomas has
recently come under condemnation for issuing Assumption of Jurisdiction (AJ)
orders in handling labor disputes. Labor groups say her issuance of AJ
orders has led to violent dispersals of picket lines – the most recent
being the Nov. 16 dispersal of striking workers at Hacienda Luisita, in
which seven protesters were killed and more than a hundred wounded. (Other
reports showed 14 workers were killed.)
A day before, some
500 people formed human chains along Katipunan Road in Quezon City; and
Taft Avennue and the Chino Roces Bridge in Manila. Last Dec. 5, families
of slain activists and desaparecidos (involuntary disappearance
victims) flew balloons for justice and peace at the Quezon City Circle.
Bulatlat
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