manila hrday




		On the Occasion of the Human Rights Day Filipinos must remain defiant and assert their rights! Reference: Marie Hilao-Enriquez, +63917 817 6274 December 10, 2007 On the occasion of the 59th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the human rights watchdog KARAPATAN today called on the Filipino people to remain defiant and to assert their rights. "In her six years as head of state, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has shown no respect to human rights," said Marie Hilao-Enriquez, secretary general of the Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights (KARAPATAN). "The civil, political, economic and social right of every Filipino is being violated by this dangerous, fascist regime through Arroyo's continued implementation of the counterinsurgency program Oplan Bantay Laya II, the Anti-Terror Law and other draconian measures." KARAPATAN documentation shows that from January 2001 up to October 31 this year, there are a total of 887 victims of extrajudicial killings, and 185 victims of enforced disappearances. Enriquez notes that among these cases, not a single perpetrator had been convicted and brought to jail. "We have not only seen the occurrence of killings and the disappearances increase, but other human rights violations such as the recent handcuffing of media men at the Manila Peninsula during the Trillanes stand-off against the government and the imposition of a curfew after that event." Enriquez stated. "The Arroyo Government is capable of doing what it wants done, especially if it aims to continually perpetuate itself in power. Truly, this administration adheres to a climate of impunity on human rights violations and terror." In the light of this situation, where public discontent and action is countered with repression, the human rights group urges the Filipino people to remain vigilant and bravely defy any effort by the Arroyo regime to repress their human rights. "We cannot allow this government to trample on our dignity as Filipinos and human beings. We must assert our rights and our collective action will defeat this fascist Arroyo regime." Enriquez concluded. ###




Excerpts from the privilege speech of Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo titled "Acccountability for Human Rights Violations" --- Since 2001, a systematic and brutal campaign of repression has been committed mainly against activists, journalists, peasants, trade union leaders, church workers and leaders, students, women and children. Such state-initiated campaign has been affirmed by the report of Prof. Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions. Calls for justice from the victims, their families, church groups and human rights advocates have been largely unheeded by the national government. These have caused concern among international organizations. Their efforts have begun to pay off in terms of strong international rebuke on the Arroyo government for the spate of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. --- In March this year, the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands found the Arroyo government, along with the Bush government, guilty of crimes against humanity. While the PPT findings may not be legally binding, they have a moral clout putting government to task. The PPT recommendations have been submitted to various international tribunals, including the UN. That same month, human rights and church groups testified before the US Senate on the killings and disappearances, and called attention to the huge amount of US military aid granted to the Armed Forces of the Philippines which may have been channeled for the commission of human rights violations. Recently, the US Senate set conditions for the approval of additional military aid, including the implementation of the Alston report’s recommendations. The World Council of Churches (WCC) has added its voice in calling a stop to the killings. Last week, upon the invitation of WCC, I attended a three-day International Consultation for the Protection of Human Rights in Geneva where I discussed the direct relation of government’s anti-terrorism campaign and counter-insurgency program with human rights violations. ------ As of October 2007, the Alliance for the Advancement of Human Rights or KARAPATAN placed the number of victims of extrajudicial killings under the Arroyo government at 887, frustrated extrajudicial killings at 370, and enforced disappearances at 185. The Alston report points to government’s counter-insurgency program -- detailed in a secret document he acquired in the course of his investigation last year -- as the blueprint behind the killings and enforced disappearances. Such counter-insurgency program is spelled out in Oplan Bantay Laya I and II. ---- But the crux of the Alston report is that it substantiates what human rights and church groups have long been saying: the systematic and rampant political killings are state-initiated and are committed under the direction of the highest authorities of the land. --- Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, the landmark actions of the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Reynato Puno are steps in the right direction. The issuance by the Puno Court of guidelines for the Writ of Amparo and the forthcoming guidelines on the Writ of Habeas Data are much-needed legal remedies in aiding families in their painful search for their loved ones. The firm and untiring search of Mrs. Edith Burgos for her son Jonas and the mothers of the two missing students of the University of the Philippines, characterize the determination of the victims’ families to seek justice. --- This afternoon, the five representatives of Bayan Muna, Gabriela Women’s Party and Anakpawis Party-List filed House Bill 3259 or the Command Responsibility Bill. This bill seeks to penalize military officers and superiors for crimes or offenses committed by their subordinates under the principle of command responsibility. It is one of the recommendations in the summit on the Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances organized by the Supreme Court in July this year. --- On a larger scale, government must abandon its counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism programs that spell deaths for members of legal and democratic organizations. So-called “legal offensives” against the Left through Inter-Agency Legal Action Group must be put to an end with the revocation of Executive Order 463 issued on January 17, 2006 that set up this body. --- The strong pressure on the Arroyo government to end killings and enforced disappearances must be complemented with decisive actions on the national level. Until that is achieved, Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, people’s organizations in various sectors of the society shall continue to defend and fight for human rights and besiege government for redress of grievances or justice. Download privilege speech














		Stand for Human Rights Enough of the Morally Bankrupt Arroyo Government! Statement of the Promotion of Church People's Response (PCPR) International Human Rights Day 2007 Imagine no more killings, and disappearances too… (sang by a Canadian friend to the tune of John Lennon's IMAGINE during a solidarity visit with victims' families, human rights advocates and church workers, November 2007) Where can the Filipino people turn to when the Philippine government, a signatory to the United Nations' Universal Declaration on Human Rights, is the principal violator of the people's rights? For seven years, the Arroyo government stands guilty of systematic violations of the Filipino people's socio-economic rights. The people cry out: HUMAN RIGHTS BEFORE PROFITS! But this government gave us incessant oil price hikes, imposed budget cuts for public health, education and other basic social services, expanded unjust taxes and continued to get away with anomalous deals involving multi-billion pesos that could have saved the lives of Mariannet Amper and scores of poor children. This government evicted poor farmers and indigenous peoples from their land and livelihood, neglected mining-affected communities who bear the deadly costs of large-scale mining, ignored demands for substantial wage hikes and demolished thousands of urban poor. For seven years, the Arroyo government stands guilty of violating the Filipino people's civil and political rights when it crafted Oplan Bantay Laya I and II to eliminate or at the minimum, harass and intimidate perceived enemies of the state, through extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, warrantless arrests, torture and increasing military deployment both in rural and urban communities. The Arroyo government also stands guilty of violations of cultural and religious rights especially of our Moro sisters and brothers when it repeatedly ordered all-out military offensives that scarred civilian communities, including mosques and Muslim schools. As people of faith, we affirm that defending human rights is a sacred and urgent task in the face of repressive and oppressive instrumentalities of the Arroyo presidency that has demonstrated time and again, that it will hold on to power at all cost. We envision a Philippines where the Filipino people will not have to beg for land, shelter, jobs and basic needs to live as decent human beings. We envision a Philippines where human rights are fully guaranteed. We believe that tyrants and oppressive leaders who thrive on flagrant corruption, economic plunder and systematic human rights violations are bound to face downfall. The Filipino people who have seen that they cannot turn to the Arroyo government for guarantees to protect, promote and defend their rights at all cost, are compelled to turn to their collective power to work for justice and meaningful change. Enough of the fraudulent president, plunderer and human rights violator! Join the Multi-Sectoral March for Justice and Call for Arroyo's Ouster December 10, 2007 * Assembly: 10 am, UST – España * March to Plaza Miranda and Mendiola Please wear religious garb or something black. Bring packed lunch and umbrella. STOP EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS, ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES AND ALL FORMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS! Download statement














ARROYO, NUMBER ONE HUMAN RIGHTS OFFENDER "The Arroyo regime has used its military power to silence and neutralize militant and progressive groups critical of her government. It can not be expected to give justice to its own victims. " This was the statement of Rep. Luz Ilagan and Rep. Liza Maza of Gabriela Women's Party who, together with other progressive partylist representatives from Bayan Muna and AnakPawis , condemned the Arroyo government during the commemoration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as the number one human rights offender today. Rep. Luz Ilagan, a Mindanaon legislator, scores the Commander-in- Chief as being the number one proponent of the counter-insurgeny strategy Oplan Bantay Laya II; while the Human Security Act galvanized the legitimacy of hunting down members of progressive and militant groups. The report of UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston has underscored the military's role in the extrajudicial killings pursued by Mrs. Arroyo's counter insurgency program. The spate of arrests, persecution, and extra judicial killings under the Arroyo regime is clearly based on the political stand of its victims. Among the 885 victims of these political killings are 90 women and children while 29 women are included in the list of 198 enforced disappearances. Two of those who have disappeared are Nelly Intise and Gloria Cañaveral from Southern Mindanao. Of the 65 women political detainees, Angie Ipong is currently detained at Pagadian City Jail. Ilagan concludes, "The perpetrators of violence against women and children are left unpunished in a country where poverty stalks people, where civil and political rights are violated, and where democratic processes are bent to perpetuate the rule of a president who has no credibility to speak of."### For Reference: REP. LUZVIMINDA C. ILAGAN 0920-9213221 Lorraine Gallegos Public Information Officer (0906-2278971) Download statement



News Reports and Statements

		■ Defend life, uphold human rights - Bishop Bastes ■ Lawyers slam Arroyo for betraying human rights commitment -NUPL ■ Youth group renews calls to free two UP students on Human Rights Day - Anakbayan ■ Stop state terrorism, political repression and human rights violations of US-Arroyo regime!-Phil-Canada group ■ Christian youth join protests on Human Rights Day - SCMP ■ Pahayag ng CONTEND para sa HR day ■ On Human Rights Day, GABRIELA Calls for an End to Sexual Violence Against Women Victims of Political Repression
■ Militant peasants and former detainees doubt Gloria’s peace overtures!- KMP ■ Respect Human Life! Uphold Human Dignity!Fight for Human Rights!- Solidarity Philippines ■ 'Human violations shall not end with despot as President' – LFS NEWS REPORTS ■ Arroyo slammed for killings ■ Activists call for an end to alleged human rights abuses ■ Lawyers say amparo opens door to human rights awareness ■ Views, messages clash on Human Rights Day		Worse human rights violator than Marcos? BY GERARD NAVAL and JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR FERDINAND Marcos was no match to President Arroyo on human rights violations, a Church-backed human rights group said yesterday. But President Arroyo, who is under fire for the numerous cases of political killings and forced disappearance of activists, all but accused the legislative branch of disregard for human rights, saying it has not passed the Human Rights Compensation Act which would provide financial restitution to victims of human rights violations during martial law. "I have certified as urgent the Human Rights Compensation Act… This critical legislation has been pending for years; this in itself is a travesty of human rights," she said in a message on the observance of Human Rights Day. Full Story.. Praise for Arroyo unfounded, rights group tells Spain's king A human rights group wrote Spanish King Juan Carlos I over the weekend asking him to reconsider his statement praising President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for defending human rights and opening the way for democracy in Asia. Full Story

BONUS TRACKS

			◄ Operation Dikit -- that more people will grasp the issues

			◄ Operation Pasa press release -- that the police will know whom to protect

	◄◄ ◄ Being heavy with child is no obstacle to joining a rally for human rights as this doktora of the Health Alliance for Democracy demonstrates ►►► The PNP police have brand new uniforms and equipment which can be useful for photographers looking for new compositions.

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Ladies in Black -- relatives of victims of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances - confront the police

On the Occasion of the Human Rights Day Filipinos must remain defiant and assert their rights!

NEWS REPORTS

■ Arroyo slammed for killings

Praise for Arroyo unfounded, rights group tells Spain's king