This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, Special Issue 05-1, August 19, 2005
SPECIAL ISSUE
Foreign Gov’ts Urged to Withdraw Support for Arroyo
Foreign delegates to the
International People’s Tribunal (IPT) who convened today in Quezon City have
urged the international community to support the Filipino people’s move to force
the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. They also asked foreign
governments to withdraw their support or recognition for the President who has
lost all power and authority to govern due to the charges filed against her
including gross human rights violations.
By
Bulatlat QUEZON CITY (Bulatlat, Aug.
19, 2005) - Foreign members of the International People’s Tribunal (IPT) who
convened today in Quezon City have urged the international community to support
the Filipino people’s move to force the resignation of President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo. They also asked foreign
governments to withdraw their support or recognition for the President who, they
said, has lost all power and authority to govern due to the charges filed
against her including gross human rights violations. This came up as the
Presidium of Judges of the IPT, led by American law professor, Lennox Hinds of
Rutgers University, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Irene Fernandez of Malaysia and
lawyer Hakan Karakus of Turkey passed judgment on Mrs. Arroyo guilty as charged
for gross human rights violations for her role as commander-in-chief of the
armed forces and the national police. Hinds was also a lawyer for Nelson
Mandela, independent South Africa’s first president while Karakus is the
president of the International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL). According to Bayan Muna
Rep. Satur Ocampo, who closed the one-day tribunal participated in by some 100
delegates from 15 countries including the Philippines, the findings of the IPT
and the International Solidarity Mission (ISM) preceding it will be used for the
impeachment of the President in Congress. The documented evidence and
testimonies presented to the tribunal will also be used to pursue charges
against the Arroyo government earlier cited at the United Nations Human Rights
Commission in Geneva, it was also learned. Similar reports also came from the
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and even the U.S. state department. The President is facing
impeachment in Congress for culpable violation of the Constitution; bribery,
graft and corruption; and betrayal of public trust. The crimes alleged to have
been committed include electoral fraud in the 2004 presidential race, jueteng
payoffs and human rights violations. Torch
march for justice and peace The trial of Mrs. Arroyo
led by the IPT was observed by about 1,500 people who packed the Film Institute
at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. The participants
held a torch march for justice and peace to the Quezon City Memorial Circle
later in the afternoon. The ISM and tribunal were
also endorsed by Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General and founding chair
of the International Action Center; prominent scholar and U.S. foreign policy
critic Prof. Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and
Jitendra Sharma, former justice of the Supreme Court of India. United Nations Judge ad
Litem Romeo T. Capulong, who served as chief of people’s prosecutors, clarified
that the Tribunal has the mandate, authority and legitimacy to try Mrs. Arroyo
and co-defendant U.S. President George W. Bush, Jr. for human rights violations
and crimes against humanity. The tribunal’s mandate, authority and legitimacy,
Capulong said, stem from the fact that in the Philippines “reign of terror has
replaced the rule of law… and can therefore serve as the highest moral authority
on behalf of victims of human rights violations.” The tribunal serves as
alternative forum where victims of crimes can seek redress for legitimate
grievances and immediate actions and remedies can be proposed. Bush was also found guilty
by the tribunal for using the Philippines as “the second front” of his war on
terror and for his military support for Mrs. Arroyo which, according to the
charges, gave the President and the military to commit crimes against humanity
with impunity. 4,207
cases A total of 4,207 cases of
human rights violations committed by the Arroyo administration from January 2001
to June 2005 were presented to the tribunal. The cases affected 232,796
individuals, 24,299 families and 237 communities. At least 400 were victims of
summary execution; 110 were victims of forced disappearances. Twenty of those
killed were human rights volunteers. The cases range from
extra-judicial killings or summary executions; assassinations, massacre,
disappearances, torture, forced evacuation and displacement, illegal arrest and
detention, and other violations constituting crimes against humanity. Several witnesses,
including two children, were presented by the panel of prosecutors to testify
about the Hacienda Luisita massacre on Nov. 16 last year; abductions and
extra-judicial killings committed in Mindoro and Eastern Visayas; cases of
torture, massacres and other cases in Surigao and Sulu. The verdict of guilty for
Mrs. Arroyo for her crimes against humanity were handed down by the college of
jurors composed of 12 lawyers, human rights figures and educators from Belgium,
Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, the U.S., Canada and Turkey. The jurors noted that Mrs.
Arroyo’s soldiers, policemen and other security forces were in violation of the
Bill of Rights of the 1987 Philippine Constitution; the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights; Convention Against Torture; the Comprehensive
Agreement on the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law
signed by the government and the NDF in 1998; and the 1986 GRP-MNLF peace
agreement. Mrs. Arroyo was found
guilty not only as commander-in-chief of the AFP and PNP but also for her
failure to prosecute the alleged perpetrators of the atrocities in four years of
her presidency. She was also cited for her failure to uphold and protect the
civil and political rights of the victims, among others. Most of the victims of the
human rights violations were unarmed civilians, including women and children,
who were suspected by government forces as rebels or rebel sympathizers. Many
came from militant people’s organizations and progressive party-list groups like
Bayan Muna who were tagged by government authorities as either “communist
fronts” or “terrorists.” The tribunal judges said
that the widespread abuses could serve as sufficient basis for the forfeiture of
power and authority that Mrs. Arroyo continues to hold. They also asked the
government to pay the victims or their surviving kin compensation and moral
damages and to declare a public apology for the crimes committed. Bulatlat
© 2004 Bulatlat
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GMA found guilty by International People’s Tribunal for abuses