Commentary

Political Killings Stem from Opposition to Macapagal-Arroyo's Economic Policies 

Political killings persist precisely because the government attempts to stop people’s opposition to policies and systems that violate their economic rights. 

By Antonio Tujan Jr.
IBON Features
Posted by Bulatlat

The recent verdict of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) found President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo guilty of violating Filipinos’ political and civil rights, as well as their economic rights and right to self-determination. It is important to emphasize the relationship of these violations because it will explain why political killings persist in the country.  

Under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration, domestic production and agriculture remained in depression while joblessness and poverty worsened as it aggressively implements neoliberal reforms.

The verdict of the seven-member jury shows that the current rash of political killings stems from the regime’s attempts to silence opposition to her policies and the resulting economic crisis.

For instance, according to the PPT proceedings, in its struggle against extreme poverty, Filipino farmers have organized themselves to claim their rights through the democratic process. But their resistance is met with state repression by increasing military presence in the countryside. Statistics show that almost 60 percent of the victims of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances are peasant leaders and that these killings are not isolated but planned and systematic.   

Not surprisingly, the main target of extrajudicial killings (and disappearances, massacres, tortures, etc.) is the legal left. For years, it has steadily represented the people's voice in the national and international arenas in calling for an end to policies and systems that violate economic, social and cultural rights of Filipinos. Rights groups have recorded more than 800 victims of political killings since 2001 under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. 

The legal left has been the target in the regime’s campaign to suppress opposition, using the communist bogey and the US-led war on terror as context. Targeting progressive party-list groups, people’s organizations and civil society groups also sends a signal to anti-Arroyo forces without providing the push that would strengthen and incite the opposition further. 

But as history has shown, amid intense poverty, hunger, unemployment and landlessness, the efforts of the administration to suppress people’s movements do not decisively weaken opposition ranks but only fuel further social unrest. Bulatlat

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