Canadian Govt’s Aid to RP in Question
due to Intensifying Rights Violations
Members of the Canadian
Human Rights Fact-Finding Mission to the Philippines marked the
celebration of the International Human Rights Day by joining gatherings of
various community organizations in forums that took the Canadian
government to task for “paying lip service” to the intensifying human
rights violations in the Philippines.
BY EDWIN MERCURIO
Contributed to Bulatlat
Members
of the Canadian Human Rights Fact-Finding Mission to the Philippines
marked the celebration of the International Human Rights Day by joining
gatherings of various community organizations in forums that took the
Canadian government to task for “paying lip service” to the intensifying
human rights violations in the Philippines.
The returning Canadians chose the weekend of International Human Rights
Day (Dec. 10) to bring the findings of their mission back to the Canadian
public.
From Nov. 15 to 22, 2006, the fact-finding mission of nine Canadians from
four cities witnessed first-hand the impact of the political killings,
abductions, enforced disappearances and harassment on grassroots
communities in the Philippines.
In Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, the participants of the mission
returned to their communities to share with over 150 Canadians and
Filipino community members combined during community forums their
harrowing experience traveling to the Philippines – a country that the
delegation describes as one gripped by growing military rule and marked by
the breakdown of civilian authority.
Since current Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took power in
2001, Karapatan(Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) has
documented over 800 victims of political killings and 208 forced
disappearances.
The returning delegation of Canadians explained that many of the 800
victims and 208 disappeared were ordinary civilians who were most likely
“assassinated” by the Philippine military and its agents because of their
involvement in legal and democratic organizations that have been openly
critical of the Arroyo government.
They blasted the Arroyo regime for its paranoia in dealing with critics of
her regime with her counter-insurgency program dubbed Oplan Bantay Laya
(Operation Freedom Watch) which links ordinary civilians engaged in legal
struggles to the underground armed resistance movement of the Communist
Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
“What is clearly happening is that Arroyo and her military agents are
arbitrarily labeling community leaders and ordinary citizens as guerilla
fighters or supporters,” explained Beth Grayer, a community organizer from
Vancouver who visited the northern part of the Philippines. “This form of
paranoid tagging is wreaking havoc on the lives of regular peasants and
people as everyone is suspected as a ‘terrorist’ until they can prove
themselves innocent.”
In response to the testimonials of the returning delegation, the forum
participants questioned the role of Canadian foreign aid in helping to
prop up the Arroyo regime and her military campaign. $22 million in
Canadian foreign aid is being sent to the Philippines in the form of
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funding to local
projects. Based on data from the Australian Agency for International
Development (AusAID), Canada is among the top six aid donors to the
Philippines.
On Dec. 10, Peter Sutherland, Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines,
announced that Canada will help strengthen small and medium enterprises in
the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) using the rational that
supporting business development will result in peace and stability.
The returning delegates questioned the immediate and long-term negative
consequences of such funding as the aid is going to the repressive and
militarist Arroyo regime and possibly providing fuel to her military
campaign.
“Our Canadian tax dollars seem to be going to help Arroyo’s
counter-insurgency program that is wreaking terror on the majority of the
Filipino people,” explained Cecilia Diocson, Eastern Coordinator of the
PCTHRF who joined the fact-finding team in Southern Tagalog that was
harassed by the military, “We would rather have our dollars going to
progressive community-based groups like Karapatan that advocate genuine
development and uphold human rights and the dignity of life,” Diocson
added.
All the forum participants expressed great interest in the final report of
the Fact-Finding Mission that is set to come out in January 2007,
discussing ways of bringing the report and mission’s recommendations to
the other grassroots organizations, churches, the media, trade unions, the
larger Canadian and Filipino community and the government of Canada.
The PCTHRF looks forward to building from the positive gains of the
Fact-Finding Mission and continuing to foster genuine and meaningful
people-to-people solidarity between the people of Canada and the
Philippines. Bulatlat
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