This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 9, April 1-7, 2007
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. 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 © 2007 Bulatlat
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