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STATEMENT
September 11, 2007
Church Group Hits GMA-Bush Agenda
6 Years after 9-11: GMA's Support for US 'War on Terror'
Caused Deteriorating Peace, Human Rights Situation
The Promotion of Church People's Response (PCPR) criticized GMA for
discussing anew with US Pres. George Bush the country's fight against
terrorism and continuing US military aid to the Philippines during their
recent APEC meeting in Australia.
Today, we continue to pray for justice for the American people who
suffered in the 9-11 tragedy, but we also echo the cries of people around
the world for the Bush government to stop using the 9-11 tragedy to
justify wars of aggression and all its interventionist acts in the guise
of war on terror. Six years after 9-11, the Philippines has a
deteriorating peace and human rights situation because of Arroyo's all-out
support to the US war on terror --- which is actually a war OF terror that
seeks to justify large-scale human rights violations, all-out war and
political persecution.
We condemn the Arroyo government for being deaf to the people's demands to
stop the killings, stop the all-out war and save the peace process. Apart
from the millions of people in Afghanistan and Iraq directly victimized by
the brutal US invasion, we Filipinos directly suffered post-911
retaliatory attacks through the full support of the Arroyo government for
the borderless US' war on terror.
We now have a raging war and US military presence in Mindanao. The
participation of US troops violates our national sovereignty. We now have
the Human Security Act that legalizes surveillance, warrantless arrests
and other infringement on civil liberties. Patterned after the USA Patriot
Act, the law is tantamount to martial law.
We have nearly 900 cases of extra-judicial killings and 184 cases of
enforced disappearances. The US military aid for the mercenary Filipino
troops is a testimony that the Bush regime is also liable to the killings,
abductions and other crimes against humanity.
The personnel and offices of the NDFP peace panel were attacked and Prof.
Jose Maria Sison, NDFP Chief Political Consultant who has played a crucial
role in the peace process, has been arrested. The hand of the US and
Philippine governments in the said arrest is obvious. In fact the US
immediately expressed willingness to support the Dutch government 'should
the latter request US support'. The incident undermines the peace talks
between the GRP and NDFP.
Human rights and the peace process have become casualties under the
government's all-out war policy and political persecution in the name of
the US-led war on terror.
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