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.com)
