'Human violations shall not end with despot as President' – LFS

Students celebrate human rights day in the streets

Press Release
December 10, 2007

Members of militant youth group League of Filipino Students (LFS) joined civil libertarians, human rights organizations and other sectors in a protest march to Mendiola today in commemoration of the International Day of Human Rights.

"Today we gather here in the streets to remember our friends and family members that have been taken away from us by the Arroyo government," said Vencer Crisostomo, national chairperson of the LFS.

Since Arroyo came to power in 2001, there have been more than 800 victims of extra-judicial killings and almost 200 victims of enforced disappearances, most of which belong to progressive organizations labelled by the AFP as "communist fronts."

Crisostomo explained that the surge in the killings of activists and journalists in the country is the product of the efforts of the Arroyo government to silence legitimate dissent brought about by the anti-people policies of the government.

"This year alone, 23 individuals from the youth sector has been killed while 10 has been abducted. When the supposed protectors of the people, the armed forces, become machinery for repression and turn into the number one human rights violator in the country, we ask ourselves, to who do we turn to?" asked Crisostomo.

Crisostomo explained that the surge in the killings of activists and journalists in the country is the product of the efforts of the Arroyo government to silence legitimate dissent brought about by the anti-people policies of the government.

"That is why we go to the streets. Calling for the ouster of the tyrant Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. We know that as long as a despotic, and illegitimate president is in power, human rights violations shall not stop. We shall lose more of our friends and family members," said Crisostomo.

"Fighting for human rights is fighting the Arroyo government. Even if we assume that her government is innocent of the violations, the fact that she only pays lip service to the violations and there is no real effort in finding a solution to the violence against activists makes her as guilty as the perpetrators," added Crisostomo. ###


Reference: Ron Villegas, Information Officer, ronvil@gmail.com, 09153831263

Vencer Crisostomo, National Chairperson, venzie@gmail.com, 09157991059