Women and children – the most vulnerable sectors in society especially among the exploited classes – feel the worsening economic and social conditions most acutely.
The indigenous peoples’ survival as distinct peoples is under threat and there are constant attacks on their rights to ancestral domain, to practice and develop their indigenous socio-political systems, and to exercise self-determination.
Due to prioritization of foreign corporate and domestic elite profits, the Arroyo regime has shirked from acting on (or has tolerated) the adverse environmental consequences of industrial, agricultural and resource-extractive operations. Large-scale mining by multinational and transnational corporations, to which the Arroyo regime has given free rein, is also tantamount to the sheer plunder of the national patrimony.
The domestic ruling elites have benefited not only from their position as junior partners of foreign monopoly capital, but also from large-scale graft and corruption.
Bureaucratic corruption has been endemic to all regimes, but has been particularly brazen under the Arroyo regime. The First Family and their political allies and sycophants have figured in no less than 10 large-scale corruption scandals since 2001 – not least of which was the astoundingly overpriced National Broadband Network contract with China’s ZTE Corporation.
In all these, Arroyo has played a key role as a major agent of US neocolonial interests. Research by the socio-economic think-tank Ibon Foundation shows that Arroyo played a prominent historical part in pushing for the major laws and policies that fully integrated the Philippines into the neoliberal framework imposed by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization, which are US-dominated institutions.
It is not only the Arroyo regime that is accountable for violating the rights of the Filipino people. The US government supports the Arroyo regime through foreign aid.
The US government has also been involved in “counter-insurgency” operations in the Philippines. This has been possible through its role in the Philippines as policy architect, and through military assistance and training as well as direct military intervention. There was US government involvement in the campaign against the Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan (the Huks or the People’s Liberation Army) in the 1950s, the series of suppression campaigns unleashed against the people by the Marcos dictatorship, “total war” and “low-intensity conflict” under the Aquino regime, the formulation of the patently lopsided Visiting Forces Agreement that commenced under the Ramos regime, and the Estrada regime’s all-out war in Mindanao.
The crimes and other atrocities stemming from the implementation of Oplan Bantay Laya are directly instigated by the so-called “war on terror,” which the Bush regime exported to and imposed on the Philippines. The Obama government is faced with the challenge of stopping the war begun by its predecessor – a war that has caused countless human-rights violations in the Philippines and its other “fronts.” (Bulatlat.com)
*This article is a slightly modified version of a talk the author delivered in a symposium organized by the California-Nevada Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church on June 19 in Sacramento, California.
Worsening Human-Rights Situation in the Philippines Is a Challenge to Obama —> huh? ano nman paki-alam ni Obama sa atin..problema natin to bkit kailangan pa cya..in short, worst un system of goverment natin, starting from the top to bottom of the system. thats the bottom line.
para kay melissa roxas at iba pang biktima ng karahasan dito sa pilipinas,tulad ng sinabi ang kailangan natin ay lakas ng loob at determinasyon para ipaglaban ang karapatang pantao di lang sa pansarili kundi sa mas malawak na mamamayan.minsan lang po tayo mabubuhay sa mundo pero gawin nating makabuluhan ito. samga kababayan kong naapektohan na ng husto ng kolonyal na kultura natin mag-isip-isip kayo balikan ninyo ang philippine history.garapal na ang kawalanghiyaan ng gobyerno wag na tayong matakot kumilos at magsalita.tutal uunti-unti rin nilang pinapatay sa gutom ang sambayanang pilipino di makipagsabayan na tayo sa kanila. sabi nga ni joey ayala wag kang gigitna baka maipit ka……hehehehe kilos bayan
In my opinion, Melissa Roxas has no business in the Philippines if she would not consider the dangers and implications of her actions while there. She is like a spoiled child who do not have the care of being responsible. However, she maybe deeply involved in the propaganda with the rebels. What I am saying is that, why is Raven's eye judging the philippine government without proof. Melissa maybe telling the truth or simply lying, she maybe also be mislead of who had kidnapped her. Please be fair.
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