This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 24, July 24-30, 2005
Impeachment Move vs Arroyo to Include Killings Apart from cheating, lying
and stealing, the widespread killings of 411 church people, lawyers, human
rights advocates, political activists, workers and peasants all over the country
are also one of the grounds for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s impeachment.
BY DABET CASTAÑEDA Political killings in
the country have become so widespread that the impeachment prosecution team
could not help but include these as one of the amendments to the impeachment
complaint filed by lawyer Oliver Lozano at the Secretary General’s Office of the
House of Representatives. Human rights lawyer
Neri Colmenares, a member of the impeachment prosecution team, said the killings
of 411 individuals from the religious sector, legal profession, human rights
work, labor and peasant sectors have been considered grounds for the president’s
impeachment. Colmenares said these are culpable violations of the Constitution
under the provisions of the Bill of Rights. Command
responsibility In the last four
years of the Macapagal- Arroyo presidency, Colmenares said there has been a
pattern of human rights abuses that he described as “widespread and systematic.”
According to its
report which covered Jan. 21, 2001 to June 30, 2005, Karapatan (Alliance for the
Advancement of Peoples’ Rights) has documented 4,207 cases of human rights
violations affecting 232,795 individuals or 24,299 families in 237 communities.
These included 102 victims of frustrated murders and 130 victims of involuntary
disappearances. The 411 documented
summary executions included 51 leaders and members of the party-list group Bayan
Muna (people first), 20 human rights workers, and four lawyers and two judges in
2004 and 2005. There were also hundreds of peasants and workers killed including
the seven striking workers and supporters of Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac (120 kms
from Manila) who died during a violent dispersal at the picket line November
last year. Military officers and
members as well as members of paramilitary groups have been accused as the
perpetrators of the killings. Among them is Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. who
was head of the 204th Infantry Brigade in Mindoro Oriental from 2001
to 2003. It was during this time that the twin murders of human rights worker
Eden Marcellana and peasant leader Eddie Gumanoy took place. Cases were filed
against the military but they have not been solved until today. The military
officer’s human rights record has been questioned by local and international
human rights groups but instead of being punished, Palparan was sent to head the
Philippine humanitarian team to Iraq in 2004. After his stint there, he was
promoted to major general by President Macapagal-Arroyo and is currently the
military commander of the 8th Infantry Division in Eastern Visayas.
The latter has become a virtual killing field since he assumed his post last
February, it was learned. In the draft amended
impeachment complaint, it is alleged that Macapagal-Arroyo “abetted” these
heinous crimes, making her responsible for such crimes as commander-in-chief of
the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Terror vs Muslims On the other hand,
former Commissioner on Human Rights Nasser Marohomsalic said that the primary
reason why the Muslim community is calling for the President to step down from
office is because she has no respect for Islam. Proof of this, the
Muslim lawyer said, is the violence against Muslims in Mindanao, mostly in Sulu,
Tawi-Tawi, Lanao and Basilan. These are also the areas where massive election
fraud has been allegedly committed by Macapagal-Arroyo as exposed in the
controversial wiretapped conversation between her and election official Virgilio
Garcillano. Marohomsalic cited as
examples the bombing of a Muslim village on the day of the feast of sacrifice in
2003, the indiscriminate arrest of Muslims being tagged as members of the Abu
Sayyaf Group and the brutal treatment of Muslim inmates last March 15 in what is
popularly known as the Bicutan Siege. In all of these violent attacks, most of
the victims who died or have disappeared were innocent civilians, he added. In fact, Marohomsalic
said, he has documented three cases in which inmates have been taken out of
municipal jails and have been brought to Manila to be presented as terrorists. “Bakit,
paramihan ba? (Why, is this a numbers game?)” he asked. ‘These attacks are
reflective of the military mindset of some of our leaders,” he said. Fatima Remedios
Balbin, former National Amnesty Commissioner, said there are several heinous
offenses that Macapagal-Arroyo is responsible for, and killings are one of them.
As a balik-Islam (Muslim convert), she believes there is an
indiscriminate action of government against their sector. Strong case Colmenares described
the series of killings that took place during the four-year term of Macapagal-
Arroyo as a very strong case politically. “People will always be antagonized by
a state that has committed massive killings of its own people,” he said. It is the first time
in the country’s history that murder is one of the grounds for a president’s
impeachment. This is a historic
feat, Colemenares said, because the issue on killings is “closest to the heart
of the people.” According to him, murder is a direct attack on a person’s being.
Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Bulatlat