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"Condemn the real
murderers in Philippine killings"
HK rights group
demands Dutch gov't to release
Prof. Sison
Instead of wasting time and resources to build trumped up charges against
Prof. Jose Maria Sison, the Dutch government should instead join the
global call to stop extrajudicial killings in the Philippines and condemn
the perpetrators of such crimes against unarmed political activists,
journalists and human rights lawyers.
This was declared by Fr. Dwight dela Torre, co-convenor of the group Hong
Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the
Philippines (HKCAHRPP) as the they protested in front of the Dutch
consulate to call for the immediate release of Professor Sison who is
being tried today before a Dutch court on "multiple murder" charges.
"Almost 900 cases of political killings and some 200 cases of enforced
disappearances are awaiting actions. Yet, the Dutch and Philippine
governments are desperately pinning down a man whose major role is in the
peace negotiations and not in the fabricated murder charges they've thrown
on him," he added.
According to HKCAHRPP, the said charges against Professor Sison are
"trumped up" because:
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The same
charges have already been nullified and dismissed with finality by the
Philippine Supreme Court last July 2 because they were baseless and
politically-motivated;
-
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No
corresponding charges are present in any Philippine court, and;
-
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Even if there
is such a case in the Philippines, it is considered as a political
offense of rebellion and not as a common criminal charge as what the
governments of the Netherlands and the Philippines are promoting it to
be.
The group said
that the fact that the charges are fabricated exposes the political
motives behind the moves of the Dutch government which they said have vast
economic interests in the Philippines.
"To protect their business ventures, the Netherlands government is willing
to side with and assist the Philippine government in its continuing state
terrorism against the people. Despite the mounds of evidence against the
Philippine government on human rights violations, the Netherlands
government remains silent on this issue. Now, it has even jeopardized the
peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines
(NDFP) that have been stalled because of Philippine government's actions," furthered Eman Villanueva, also an HKCAHRPP co-convenor.
HKCAHRPP said that independent investigations of respected groups from
different countries and even of Philip Alston, United Nations Special
Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitary Executions, revealed that
the killings and forced disappearances of activists in the Philippines
were done by the government's armed elements under the anti-insurgency
plan Oplan Bantay Laya (Operation Plan Freedom Watch) formulated by Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo and the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security
(CO-CIS).
"Additionally, the guilty verdict of the prestigious Permanent Peoples
Tribunal, which was ironically held in The Netherlands, on the governments
of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and George Bush should show the Dutch
government who the real mass murderers are," Villanueva remarked.
Finally, the group said that they will continue to advance the call for
the immediate release of Professor Sison and the return of his belongings
as well as those confiscated from the houses of other Filipino activists
in The Netherlands and the International Information Office of the NDFP.
"Like other victims of human rights abuses in the Philippines, Professor
Sison is only guilty of working for social changes in the country. The
real mass murderers should be the ones arrested and prosecuted," dela
Torre concluded.
Press
Release
07 September 2007
For reference:
Fr. Dwight dela
Torre, Co-convenor
Tel. No.:
98105070
Eman
Villanueva, Co-convenor
Tel. No.: 97585935
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