Dear friends,

Below is the statement of the HKCAHRPP on the occasion of the international human rights day today. A picket protest was held today at around 12:30 PM outside the Philippine Consulate General office in United Centre, Admiralty.

UNIFIL-HK Chairperson, Dolores Balladares, spoke on the intensification of human rights violations in the Philippines this time in the form of illegal arrest and detention of prominent leaders of trade unions, peasant organizations, women's groups, youth and students, lawyers, human rights advocates, church people and migrant rights activists. She said the Arroyo government is behind the series of trumped-up charges being filed against the mentioned activists giving the government the "legal" means to issue arrest warrants and detaining them indefinitely. They hope that by doing so, it will effectively weaken the struggle and campaigns of the sectors that victims represent.

Meanwhile, Jackie Hung of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese, expressed solidarity to the struggle of the Filipino people. She said the government should be ashamed of its human rights record citing the illegal arrest of labor lawyer Atty. Remegio Saladero, the legal counsel of the progressive Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement or KMU), one the biggest trade union centers in the Philippines.

Norman Carnay, country information officer of he Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) in Hong Kong, explained how the Arroyo government and its allies in the legislature are pushing for the amendment of the constitution to remove the term limit of elected officials and extend their stay in power beyond 2010. This he said is a proof that the Arroyo government is so afraid of loosing power because they can be made to answer to all the human rights atrocities committed under her regime. These he said include the more than 1,000 cases of extrajudicial killings, around 200 cases of enforced disappearances and the thousands who became victims of political persecution.

Finally, after returning from the 14th floor of the United Centre to hand in the petition to the Philippine Consulate representative, Bruce Van Voorhis of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and HKCAHRPP co-convenor, outlined the numerous human rights violations committed under the Arroyo regime including economic and social deprivation the forces millions of Filipinos to leave the country just to survive. He said its ironic that while the world is celebrating the 60th Human Rights Day, there is no human rights in the Philippines. "So many killings, so many disappearances and abductions, many are being detained with false charges, so much corruption, no arrest (of rights violators), no convictions, no human rights or else we wont be here", he said. Bruce then thanked the rally participants and reiterated the call to end human rights violations in the Philippines.

Attached are some more photos taken during the protest action in addition to the ones sent earlier.

We want to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt appreciation to the groups and individuals who attended the rally. In particular, we want to thank AHRC for bringing the delegates of their regional human rights workshop to join the rally; the Justice and Peace Commission of the HK Catholic Diocese; the Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC); the World Student Christian Federation - Asia Pacific (WSCF-AP); the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM); BAYAN Hong Kong; UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK; the Asian Students Association (ASA); Philippine Independent Church (PIC); the Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers (ATKI); Bethune House and its residents; MFMW staff and volunteers and to all who express solidarity to the Filipino people's quest for a just and lasting peace.

Onward with the struggle!

HKCAHRPP Convenors group

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Press Release
10 December 2008

For reference: Eman Villanueva
Spokesperson, Tel. No.: 97585935

Not only killings and disappearances; illegal arrests and torture also on the rise
Rights group in HK scores RP gov’t for ongoing HR violations

Not content with extrajudicial killings and abductions to silence political opposition, the government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is now intensifying its disregard even to its own processes through illegal arrests, detention and even torture of activists.

This was declared today by Eman Villanueva, spokesperson of the HK Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP), as about 50 members of the group held a protest action in front of the Philippine Consulate General in time for the International Human Rights Day.

“As the world commemorates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is but right to expose the fact that in the Philippines, the rights to life and basic civil and political liberties are trampled by the president herself and its well-oiled fascist machinery that is the armed forces,” he stated.

According to Villanueva, the human rights situation in the Philippines is in an “all-time worst” during the seven-year reign of GMA. Various groups and human rights advocates including Amnesty International, the Asian Human Rights Commission and UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary killings, have already denounced the death of more than 900 activists and the forced disappearance of more than 200 more by suspected military elements.

Due to international condemnation, he added, the government had to take a slight step backward on widespread killings and abductions. “But still, human rights violations remain rampant,” he averred.

Villanueva said that the government is intensifying an additional tactic that is still basically a part of its anti-insurgency plan Oplan Bantay (Operation Plan Guard Freedom) that targets legal activists. This, he said, is by drumming up false charges against activists, illegally arresting them and oftentimes torturing them.

“We’ve seen it in the illegal arrest of labor lawyer Remigio Saladero, Jr. and of peasant activist Randy Echanis as well as the manhunt against 72 activists in Southern Tagalog accused of ridiculous crimes. Directed by the Inter-Agency Legal Group, made up cases are mounted in order to neutralize activist organizations by arresting and indefinitely detaining their leaders,” he revealed.

Villanueva clarified though that extrajudicial killings and abductions are still in force as shown by the case of James Balao, an activist from the indigenous people of Cordillera, who was reportedly taken by the military and has been missing since September 17.

“On top of all these new cases, the previous crimes of this administration remain unsolved. The recent findings of the UN Human Rights Commission that the government was guilty on the death of activists Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy has just shown what we have always believed – the GMA government is a murderous one,” he stressed.

Villanueva said that the HKCAHRPP shall continue to support efforts for justice and human rights in the Philippines.

“Human rights violations have been raging in the Philippines since GMA assumed power. We shall continue to demand justice,” he concluded.#

Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of
Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines
c/o ASA, No. 2 Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR
Tel. (852) 98105070, 97409406 Fax. (852) 25262894
E-mail: hkcahrpp@gmail.com