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PNoy admin has lost chance to stop impunity —human rights advocates


With nine months to go before it ends, President Benigno Aquino III's administration may have lost the chance to put a stop on the long cycle of impunity that has been the legacy of the Martial Law era in the Philippines, human rights advocates said Thursday.

As they gathered in Quezon City on Wednesday, the groups assessed the Aquino administration's efforts at ending extrajudicial killings and harassment of human rights defenders (HRDs) and found the score cards wanting.


Photo by Rapha-El Olegario

In a joint statement, the Medical Action Group Inc. (MAG), the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) and the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) said, "The Aquino administration will be remembered as a lost opportunity for important measures that would have put an end to the culture of impunity in the country."

Members of the participating human rights groups made the assessment in time for the 43rd anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law by strongman Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled the country with iron hand for almost 20 years.

Data gathered by the MAG and TFDP through their documentation efforts under the project "Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) Protection" showed that since 2013 September, 34 cases of harassment, intimidation and extra judicial killings committed against HRDs have been recorded.

Most of the incidents of harassment and killings involved HRDs resisting land grabbing, mining, and other development aggression projects, it said.

“These incidents are part of a growing pattern of criminalization of human rights work. The cycle of violations committed against human rights defenders in the country must end before it gets out of control,” said Edeliza P. Hernandez, MAG executive director.

For his part, TFDP executive director Emmanuel C. Amistad said: “Aquino’s pledge of revoking Executive Order (EO) No. 546 s. 2006, is nothing more than a publicity stunt as paramilitary groups continue to wreak havoc in mining-affected communities in Mindanao, the most recent of which was the September 1 killing of two human rights defenders in Surigao del Sur by the paramilitary group known as Magahat-Bagani.’’

"While human rights defenders play crucial role in seeking accountability for human rights violations both by government and private corporations, they have faced significant challenges such as filing of trump-up charges against them leading to their arrest and detention, which are systematically used by authorities to suppress dissent," the joint statement said.

It said, Barangay Chairperson Antonio L. Tolentino, human rights defender and one of the leaders of Aniban ng Nagkakaisang Mamamayan ng Hacienda Dolores (ANIBAN), was arrested due to trumped-up charges filed by private land developer and detained since April 16, 2014.

EO No. 546 s. 2006 by former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo authorized local chief executives, through the police, to deputize civilian village security and force multipliers to support in counterinsurgency efforts.

Rose R. Trajano, secretary-general of PAHRA further said “human rights defenders working on land and environment rights such as indigenous peoples have been among the most vulnerable groups ... subjected to killings, vilification, and criminalization.”

“We call on the government to provide the basis for a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders by enacting a law House Bill No. 1472 (“Human Rights Defenders Protection Act of 2013  to protect human rights defenders”) the groups said.

Early in September, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines called on the government to carry out "an honest, thorough, impartial, and speedy" investigation on the killings of three Lumads in Surigao del Sur.

In a statement through its president, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, the CBCP said the recent incident "only underscores their (Lumads') plight as marginalized and underserved, apparently, outside the pall of protection even of the law."

In response to the CBCP's appeal, Communications Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma Jr. said the Department of Justice has backed the conduct of an inter-agency probe into the deaths of Lumad leaders Dionel Campos and Datu Juvello Sinzo.

They were gunned down in front of the Lumad community and Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (Alcadev) school director Emerito Samarca on Sept. 1.
 
"We note the statement of the CBCP on the killing of Lumads. According to Justice Secretary (Leila) de Lima, the DOJ (Department of Justice) supports the call for an inter-agency probe of the incident,” said Coloma.  — Jerbert Briola/LBG, GMA News

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