Rights group hits double standard 
Resthouse for Erap, Cold Prison for Political Offenders

The Macapagal-Arroyo government promised to release 23 political prisoners in 2001. Three years later, they are still in prison. Ousted President Joseph Estrada on the other hand, in prison for plunder and graft cases, has just been transferred to another detention center, this one near to his resthouse so he could take a rest there once in a while.

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
Bulatlat.com

As a confidence-building measure in the peace negotiations between the government (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), the 23 political prisoners who have been ordered released by the Macapagal-Arroyo government since 2001 should have been released right after the first round of talks. And while they continue to languish in jail, ousted President Joseph Estrada enjoys the pleasures of the favored treatment accorded to him by the Macapagal-Arroyo government. This week, he will be allowed 36 hours to visit his mother in San Juan Medical Center in Metro Manila. These special privileges were, according to Malacañang, for “humanitarian reasons.” 

Human rights advocates decry this double standard on the treatment of prisoners and urge the president to release political prisoners before the peace talks resume on March 29.  At present, there are 290 political prisoners in various jails nationwide.

The human rights group Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) said the special treatment regarded Estrada “clearly smacks of double standard in the treatment of prisoners.” 

Documentation by Karapatan show that 23 political prisoners have been ordered released since the president’s ascendancy to power in 2001. It has also reported that there are three nursing mothers who continue to raise their children inside prison.

In addition, 12 minors and 10 elderly and sick political prisoners also deserve to be released on humanitarian grounds. 

However, in a letter dated March 8, Marie-Hilao Enriquez, Karapatan secretary general, criticized Silvestre Bello III, chairman of the GRP Negotiating Panel in the peace talks with the NDFP, for failing to have even just one political prisoner released a month after the first round of formal talks has been held. The talks were held from Feb. 10 to 14 in Oslo, Norway.  It was facilitated by the Royal Norwegian Government represented by Tore Hattrem, assistant director general of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Point number eight of the Oslo Joint Statement, signed last Feb. 14, specifies the release of political prisoners as a “continuing confidence building measure motivated by a desire to improve the atmosphere for peace negotiations.” 

The joint statement stresses that “the GRP, following its judicial processes, shall expedite the release of prisoners or detainees ordered released by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2001.” 

The joint statement also called for the review of the cases of women, children, sick and elderly prisoners enumerated in the list submitted by Karapatan to both the GRP and the NDFP panels. 

The second round of talks will resume on March 29 in Oslo, Norway but no political prisoners has been released despite several press releases of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP). 

Karapatan hopes that the release of political prisoners will be realized before the next round of talks.  “Otherwise, the press releases will remain as such and will be construed as just an election gimmick of the Arroyo administration,” said Hilao-Enriquez. 

Sources from the OPAPP, however, stress that the release of political prisoners is under the discretion of the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the local municipal courts handling their cases.  Under the DoJ, the Presidential Committee on Bail, Recognizance and Pardon (PCBREP) is responsible for reviewing the cases of political offenders and the recommendation of their release. 

OPPAP says they hope the release to get effect before the GRP Negotiating Panel leaves for Oslo for the second round of talks with the NDFP.  Bulatlat.com

Back to top

We want to know what you think of this article.