This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 7, March 19-25, 2006
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
UN Asked to Look into RP
Rights Cases Local
and international human rights advocates believe that rights violations persist
in the country because of the culture of impunity. With no hope of prosecuting
human rights violators in local courts, advocates have no recourse but to seek
the intervention of the United Nations. BY
DABET CASTAÑEDA Six gunshot wounds took the
life of Tirso Cruz 30, minutes after midnight of March 17 in Barangay (village)
Pando, Concepcion Tarlac (120 kms. north of Manila). The regional chapter in
Central Luzon of the human rights group Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement
of Peoples’ Rights) said Cruz, 33, a union leader of farm workers in Hacienda
Luisita, is but the latest victim of a cold blooded murder allegedly perpetrated
by state security agents. In barely three months, in
Central Luzon alone, Karapatan documented 17 cases of summary executions and 10
cases of disappearances. The report said most of the victims were farmers and
witnesses said the perpetrators were soldiers from the 7th Infantry
Division of the Philippine Army (ID PA) under the command of Maj. Gen. Jovito
Palparan. Joseph Canlas, chair of the
peasant group Alyansa ng mga Magsasaka sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL or Alliance of
Peasants in Central Luzon), said they have come to this conclusion because the
killings and abductions happened in areas where there were heavy military
deployment. Most, if not all, of the victims experienced harassment from
soldiers deployed in their areas. Human rights defenders have
called Palparan a “Butcher” after recording numerous cases of rights violations
in areas where he was assigned particularly in Mindoro, Eastern Visayas and, at
present, in Central Luzon. Nationwide, Karapatan
recorded 35 cases of political killings. UN intervention Filipino human rights
leader Marie Hilao-Enriquez and human rights lawyer Edre Olalia filed charges of
human rights violations against the Macapagal-Arroyo government before the
United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) in New York on Feb. 17.
UNHRC Special Rapporteur
Rafael Rivas Posada met with Enriquez and Olalia last March 16 5:30 p.m. (U.S.
time) at the UN Headquarters in New York, where the UNHRC is presently holding
its session. Hilao-Enriquez and Olalia
submitted four cases to the UNHRC, the murder of human rights workers Benjaline
Hernandez and Eden Marcellana, peasant leader Eddie Gumanoy, and Mindoro
activist Choy Napoles as well as the frustrated killing of Ruel Landicho.
In a statement,
Enriquez said the cases represent the prevalent practice of extra-judicial,
summary execution of activists, human rights workers, peasant and union leaders,
journalists and priests by state security agents.
Impunity
Tim Parrit,
London-based researcher for the Southeast Asia team of Amnesty International,
said that human rights violations in the Philippines persist even after the fall
of the Marcos dictatorship two decades ago and the existence of the 1987 freedom
Constitution because of the culture of impunity.
“The confidence in
the judicial system has been undermined because of the very few prosecutions, if
there are any,” Parrit said in an interview with Bulatlat.
He also said that
his team has seen a weakness in the investigation of rights cases especially
when the alleged perpetrators are state agents.
Investigations,
the international human rights worker said, should be prompt, thorough,
impartial and effective.
State agents, he
added, have an obligation to protect the populace against violations. “The
failure to protect is a violation in itself,” he said.
In most cases,
however, what happens is the opposite. In fact, when Cruz was shot in Tarlac,
his brother, Ernesto Cruz, 23 years old, said they cried for help knowing that
there is a detachment of the Citizens’ Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU)
nearby. But nobody came to help.
“Dapat
sila ang nangangalaga sa amin pero nananakot lang sila,” (They should
protect us instead of harassing us.) he said.
Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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