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Press
Statement
18 September 2006
Reference: Evangeline Hernandez (HUSTISYA Spokesperson)
Mobile No. 09158562151
HUSTISYA to JMC:
Help us solve the extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances, act
now!
Families and victims of human rights violations under HUSTISYA! today
urged the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) to act on the hundreds of
complaints of human rights violation filed with the JMC, especially of
extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances that have become
rampant in recent years.. HUSTISYA! is a newly formed organization of
victims and relatives of human rights victims under the Macapagal- Arroyo
administration.
In a forum sponsored by the Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace (EMJP)
and the Philippine Peace Center (PPC) entitled Digging up the Facts – the
JMC's Task, held this morning at the Bulwagang Rizal in UP Diliman,
HUSTISYA spokesperson Mrs. Evangeline Hernandez, voiced out the
frustrations of human rights violations victims and their families at the
failure of the Arroyo government to act on the cases they had filed in the
courts and various government agencies and render justice to the human
rights victims
"My daughter's case which was filed with the Regional Trial Courts in
Arakan Valley, Cotabato right in October, 2002 after the gruesome massacre
of Beng and her colleagues, is still being heard until today, but justice
remains elusive for us." Hernandez said. "There are witnesses in her case
who have positively identified the perpetrators, but human rights workers
say that the case may be dismissed with the support being given by
Governor Pinol to the perpetrators."
Hernandez said most cases of human rights violations filed in court,
especially against government forces, could not prosper because witnesses
are harassed and threatened by the military and police themselves, Like
her daughter Beng, many human rights workers who volunteer to gather the
facts and identify the perpetrators are themselves arrested, detained and
even summarily killed. Thus, many victims and their relatives no longer
trust the military and police, and even the courts.
Hernandez declared that neither could they hope to get justice through the
recently formed Melo Commission. "It is turning out to be another
cover-up. How can the Melo Commission be independent and get to the truth
if it will rely mainly on Task Force Usig, the DOJ and the NBI which are
all under the Office of the President?"
"We hope that the complaints we filed with the JMC will not suffer the
same fate as the cases we filed with government courts," Hernandez said.
"We are calling on the JMC to meet and act on our complaints, whether or
not there are formal talks going on,"
The JMC was formed after the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the
Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law or CARHRIHL.
It is mandated to monitor the observance of CARHRIHL by the GRP and the
NDFP, and investigate violations by either party of human rights and
international humanitarian law. ### |
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