This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 3, Feb. 18-24, 2007
Victims’
families say:
A student
activist was killed last February 15 while the United Nations special rapporteur
on extra-judicial, arbitrary and summary executions was meeting with executives
of the National Security Council. This has led human rights groups to conclude
that there is no end in sight for political killings in the country.
BY DABET
CASTA Just as Philip
Alston, United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on extra-judicial, arbitrary and
summary executions, met with executives of the National Security Council (NSC)
in Quezon City on Feb 15, another student activist was killed in Camarines Norte. Farly
Alcantara, 22, a graduating student of the Camarines Norte State College in Daet,
Camarines Norte (350 kms. south of Manila), was shot to death by still
unidentified men in front of his school at around 9:45 p.m. He was an active
member of the progressive student organization League of Filipino Students (LFS)
which the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) accused as a front organization
of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The murder of
Alcantara shows that political killings will not stop with the visit of Alston,
human rights worker Marie Hilao-Enriquez said. The UN representative arrived in
the country on Feb. 10 and is on a 10-day visit here.
Alston is one of 43 experts in the UN who is
tasked to investigate political killings. “Wala kaming
ilusyon na ang UN ang makakapagpahinto sa killings.
Gobyerno lang ang makakapagpahinto
ng mga pagpatay dahil ang gobyerno ang gumagawa nyan,”
(We have no illusion that the UN can stop the killings. Only the government that
perpetuates it can stop it.) Hilao-Enriquez, secretary general of the human
rights watchdog Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples’ Rights)
said. From Jan. 2001
to Feb. 15, 2006, Karapatan has recorded 833 individuals killed – the latest
being Alcantara – allegedly by state security forces and its death squad. After the
visit, Alston is expected to submit a country report to the UN. The latter,
however, does not have the power to sanction governments that are proven to
violate human rights. International
Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) president Edre Olalia said that the UN
report cannot in any way be used as evidence in court should any of the victims’
families decide to file a case against the perpetrators.
Bright hope Despite this,
Erlinda Manano, mother of murdered activist Isaias, said the Alston visit is a
“bright hope” for the families of the victims of political killings in the
country. “Nakakapagpalakas ng loob,” (It strengthens one’s resolve) was
how she described the UN investigation. She said she
has lost all hope that the Macapagal-Arroyo administration could give justice to
the death of Isaias who was killed April 23, 2004 in Calapan, the city capital
of the island-province of Mindoro Oriental.
“Pinapatay nila (government) ang
hustisya at binabaon ang katotohanan gaya ng pagpatay at pagbaon nila sa anak
ko. Ang hangad namin
ay managot ang may kasalanan.”
(They kill justice and bury the truth just like the way they killed and buried
the body of my son. What we want is for the perpetrators to be brought to
justice.) After getting
the flak from local and international community about the spate of political
killings in the country, the Macapagal-Arroyo administration created the
Philippine National Police (PNP)-led Task Force Usig and the Melo Commission, a
special investigating body headed by former justice Jose Melo. Families of
the victims, however, considered the police and Melo investigations tainted and
biased, Hilao-Enriquez said. “What the victims’ families and the human rights
community wanted all along was an independent body to investigate the killings.” Hilao-Enriquez
told Alston in a meeting that the victims’ families want to testify before him
because they see the UN representative as an independent expert. “The victims’
families want to tell Alston what they feel and what they have gone through
after their loved ones have been killed.”
Significance Aside from
being a source of strength to the victims’ families, Olalia said that the UN
visit is a “clear manifestation that the
level and gravity of the extra-judicial, summary and arbitrary executions in the
country has reached a very high and alarming state that compelled the UN special
rapporteur to come over and see for himself the situation. It is also a product
of the painstaking efforts of human rights organizations and victims to bring
their plight to the international fora and a reflection of the serious concern
of the international community about the sad state of human rights in the
country.” In 2006, the London-based
Amnesty International (AI) and the European Union (EU), among others, expressed
concern over the murders and enforced disappearances in the Philippines under
the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. The EU has, in fact, expressed its
willingness to help the Philippine government investigate the reports of
violations of human rights especially in 2005 and 2006. Olalia said that the EU
helped in persuading the Macapagal-Arroyo administration to finally allow the UN
visit. “The government was compelled to invite the UN.” Olalia and Hilao-Enriquez
were part of the Philippine delegation that attended the UN
Human Rights Council Second Session
in Geneva in August 2006. They also met with the Finish and French missions and
the EU. “We asked these countries to always put the issue of political
repression in their agenda with the Philippine government,” Hilao-Enriquez said. Sabotage? The Alston
visit has therefore become a most anticipated event in the country especially by
the victims’ families who have long waited for an independent body to
investigate the killings in the country, Hilao-Enriquez said. However, she
said that the government had tried to sabotage the Alston visit. Since the visit
was upon the invitation of the government, Hilao-Enriquez said Alston’s schedule
was filled with meetings and sessions with government offices. Meetings with the
victims were scheduled only for the whole day of Feb. 14 and short visits to
Baguio City in the north and Davao City in the south. “Matagal
kaming naghintay. Bakit isang araw lang ang inilaan para sa amin?” (We
waited for so long. Why were we given only one day to meet with him?) asked Glen
Malabanan, 23, daughter of a slain Bayan Muna (People First) coordinator in Bay,
Laguna. His father was only 42 when he was killed two days before Christmas in
2003. Alston’s
schedule include meetings with the National Security Council, the host of the UN
visit, which is headed by Secretary Norberto Gonzales, the same security person
who has alleged that those who have been summarily executed were members of
legal organizations and party-list groups that he claims are fronts
organizations of the CPP. He had also told the media that the killings are part
of a purge within the communist movement. The UN expert
also met with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) top brass, the Department of Justice and the Commission on
Human Rights, among others. When it was
time for Alston to meet with the victims, Hilao-Enriquez said government agents
tried to terrify the victims by sending K-9 dogs early morning of Feb. 14 to the
venue where the interviews were going to be held. The building administrator
later declared there was bomb threat in the venue. As the
interviews with the victims’ families were ongoing, a man posing as a journalist
went to the venue and said he wanted to interview the victims’ families. “It was
part of an agreement with Alston not to announce the venue of the interviews for
security reasons. There was no way the media would know where we were. We never
told them,” Hilao-Enriquez said. One of
Karapatan’s security personnel later recognized that the man posing as a
journalist was accompanied by four others, one of whom was identified as a
personnel of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA). “We can only
suspect that they were government intelligence agents because only the
government knows where we were. They know our schedule because it was the
government who finalized Alston’s itinerary,” she said.
Challenge Although the
Alston visit has its significance, Malabanan said that justice can only be
attained through persistence in the struggle that his father has left behind.
“Nandun pa rin sa family
yung takot pero kung tatahimik lang kami, hindi magkakaron ng hustisya ang
pagkamatay ng aming mahal sa buhay,” she said. (The family members left
behind are afraid but if we just keep quiet, we will never get justice for the
death of our loved ones.) As proof to
her determination, Malabanan said that she has in fact stepped into her father’s
shoes and is now secretary general of the victims’ families group Martyr ng
Bayan-Southern Tagalog. She said that she is also busy campaigning for her
father’s party Bayan Muna in the coming elections. “Kung
hindi kami kikilos, mas madaming aapihin at papatayin na lang ng walang laban,”
she said. (If we will not act, thee will be more people who will be oppressed
and killed without wanton.) Bulatlat © 2007 Bulatlat
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'UN
Rep Visit Won’t Stop Killings’
Bulatlat