This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 44, December
11-17, 2005
State Atrocities to Continue
in 2006
Participants to an interfaith forum held Dec. 8 decried the continuing
violations of human rights. The forum was held just a few days after yet another
killing of an activist, which led them to project that “state atrocities” will
continue in 2006.
By Jhong dela Cruz "Enemies of peace have a
lot to celebrate at this time but they have nothing to celebrate for we shall be
steadfast in bringing to justice those that have been felled by the bullets of
the state," said participants in an interfaith forum held recently, a few days
after yet another killing of an activist. The militant Promotion of
Church People's Response (PCPR) was dismayed over the killing of Junie Jacosalem,
an active member of Bayan Muna and a member of the local church, United Church
of Christ in the Philippines. Jacosalem is the 74th member of Bayan
Muna killed under the Macapagal-Arroyo government, said the rights group
Karapatan. In cold blood Public Interest Law Center
(PILC) managing counsel Rachel Pastores said state atrocities against perceived
"enemies" have not halted despite calls from various sectors for the government
to immediately bring to court the perpetrators of human rights violations that
victimized nearly 500 persons. She said the recently
suspended Citizens' Congress for Truth and Accountability (CCTA), which heard
the testimony of a lone witness to the Palo massacre on Nov. 21, is still
willing to reopen to receive witnesses' accounts as the number of those killed
increased and threats to active human rights workers continued. She said based
on the results of the CCTA, the atrocities will continue in 2006. The undertaking, she said,
was itself a practice of basic human rights enshrined in the Constitution while
serving as a venue for those whose stories are yet to be told but hesitating due
to fear sown by state instruments. She noted that the
government has turned into a virtual machine for curtailing human rights,
referring to the passage of Executive Order 464 and implementation of the
Calibrated Pre-emptive Response. "Murders in cold blood are
happening right at the forefront where rights advocates now deem it impossible
to survive due to increased militarization. This year has translated into
full-scale counter-insurgency operations, driving and forcing more and more
civilians out of their cherished means for survival," she said. Long-standing negotiations
with political groups have also gone nowhere due to “persisting prejudice to
stay in power”, Pastores said, referring to the government talks with the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines (NDFP). Moro people as targets Moro people, particularly
the Muslim civilians, are the number one targets in the government's list of
suspected terrorist, said Robert Muhammad Maulana Alonto, a noted Muslim critic.
Alonto said Mindanao has
become "the second front in the so-called global war on terror by the U.S."
following a declaration by the US to launch a global war against perceived
terrorist. He claimed there are about
780 documented cases of human rights violations victimizing 57,783 individuals
in Mindanao. This figure, he said, gives a picture of the heightened "horror"
taking place in Mindanao as a consequence of government support to the U.S. war.
U.S. Ambassador Francis
Ricciardone himself declared Mindanao as next in line after Afghanistan in U.S.'
atrocities presupposed to quash terrorist networks worldwide. He scored the alleged
government use of the Abu Sayaff and Jemaah Islamiyah bogey to justify attacks
in MILF controlled areas. Amira Lidasan of party-list
Suara Bangsamoro said Muslims are raised in war, poverty and the stigma that
they are the ones causing the troubles in Mindanao. "It is hard to talk about
human rights when we have grown witnessing the waves of violations against
Muslims in media and elsewhere," she said. Peace talks impasse Forum organizers played a
recorded message from National Democratic Front chairperson Luis Jalandoni who
expressed dismay over the government’s “militarist framework” which reportedly
led to the postponement of the formal negotiations in August last year. He said the government aims
to pressure the NDFP to capitulate, its armed wing the New Peoples Army to
surrender. Jaladoni said this is synchronized with other steps of the government
and the U.S. -
the continued inclusion of the CPP, NPA and Sison in the U.S. “terrorist”
listing, invalid unilateral suspension of the Joint Agreement on Safety and
Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and alarming escalation of human rights violations. The Joint Monitoring
Committee by far, is the lone bilateral undertaking active in collating
complaints of rights violations committed by both parties consistent with the
international rules of war. However, the JMC has not been able to meet since
April 2004. “As of Dec. 2, there have
been 454 complaints filed against GRP forces and 14 complaints against NDFP,” he
said. Violations of the JASIG
include the continuing “terrorist listing” of Prof. Jose Maria Sison, NDFP chief
political consultant. The NDFP likewise complained of a failed assassination
attempt on Romeo Capulong, its negotiating panel’s senior legal consultant.
To break the impasse, NDFP
twice offered the government proposals for the resumption of the talks. In
August, NDFP came up with its 10-point proposal, contained in the Concise
Agreement for an Immediate Just Peace (CAIJP). This was followed by another
package of proposal sent just a few weeks ago, highlighting unresolved past
issues. The government rebuffed the proposals and intensified instead its
counter-insurgency program, he said. He urged rights groups and
civil libertarians to undertake possible actions such as filing a complaint to
the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary
Executions or to the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva. Bulatlat © 2005 Bulatlat
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