Commentary
Political Killings Stem from Opposition to
Macapagal-Arroyo's Economic Policies
Political killings
persist precisely because the government attempts to stop people’s
opposition to policies and systems that violate their economic rights.
By Antonio Tujan Jr.
IBON Features
Posted by Bulatlat
The recent verdict of
the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) found President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
guilty of violating Filipinos’ political and civil rights, as well as
their economic rights and right to self-determination. It is important to
emphasize the relationship of these violations because it will explain why
political killings persist in the country.
Under the Macapagal-Arroyo
administration, domestic production and agriculture remained in depression
while joblessness and poverty worsened as it aggressively implements
neoliberal reforms.
The verdict of the
seven-member jury shows that the current rash of political killings stems
from the regime’s attempts to silence opposition to her policies and the
resulting economic crisis.
For instance,
according to the PPT proceedings, in its struggle against extreme poverty,
Filipino farmers have organized themselves to claim their rights through
the democratic process. But their resistance is met with state repression
by increasing military presence in the countryside. Statistics show that
almost 60 percent of the victims of extrajudicial killings and forced
disappearances are peasant leaders and that these killings are not
isolated but planned and systematic.
Not surprisingly, the
main target of extrajudicial killings (and disappearances, massacres,
tortures, etc.) is the legal left. For years, it has steadily represented
the people's voice in the national and international arenas in calling for
an end to policies and systems that violate economic, social and cultural
rights of Filipinos. Rights groups have recorded more than 800 victims of
political killings since 2001 under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
The legal left has
been the target in the regime’s campaign to suppress opposition, using the
communist bogey and the US-led war on terror as context. Targeting
progressive party-list groups, people’s organizations and civil society
groups also sends a signal to anti-Arroyo forces without providing the
push that would strengthen and incite the opposition further.
But as history has
shown, amid intense poverty, hunger, unemployment and landlessness, the
efforts of the administration to suppress people’s movements do not
decisively weaken opposition ranks but only fuel further social unrest.
Bulatlat
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