NZ-based group scores Aquino on human rights at ASEAN summit

A group based in New Zealand has criticized President Benigno Aquino III for the continuing human rights violations under his administration, even as the Philippines is offering to host the secretariat of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. Aquino has called the establishment of a human rights body in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations a “Philippine initiative." Auckland Philippines Solidarity (APS) strongly urged New Zealand Prime Minister John Key to press Aquino to address the persistent political killings and detention of political prisoners in the Philippines during their meeting at the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, scheduled from October 28 to 30. Aquino “needs to clean up the human rights mess in his own backyard first if he wants to gain moral authority" on human rights and democracy," according to the APS. Philippine human rights groups Karapatan has recorded at least 14 political killings since Aquino took office in July. Also, an estimated 99 percent of the extrajudicial killings over the past decade still remains unsolved, according to a report prepared by local human rights lawyer Al Parreno in partnership with the Asia Foundation. The APS pointed out that former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who spoke with former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2007, had also raised concerns over the human rights situation in the Philippines. Estimates of the extrajudicial killings during Arroyo’s term, which lasted for over nine years, have reached over 1,100, based on reports from Karapatan. A 2007 fact-finding mission from the United Nations, led by Special Rapporteur Phillip Alston, reported that the Arroyo administration was in a state of “almost total denial" regarding extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. Alston criticized the government’s failure to prosecute any members of the military for the human rights violations imputed to them. This state of affairs has continued under Aquino, the APS argued. “Before it can be a model host for the secretariat of the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, the Philippine government has a lot of cleaning up to do with its messy human rights record," said APS spokesperson Luke Coxon. ‘Release political prisoners’ Meanwhile, ahead of the ASEAN Summit, Foreign Affairs secretary Alberto Romulo called the upcoming Myanmar elections a “farce." The November 7 polls in Myanmar, under military rule since 1962, will be the country’s first election in two decades. The junta has barred foreign journalists or outside observers from the country during the elections. Aquino, slated to speak at the opening of the ASEAN Summit on Thursday, is expected to call for fair and peaceful elections in Myanmar. He is also expected to seek the release of all political prisoners in the state, including Aung San Suu Kyi, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize who has been kept under house arrest by the junta for over a decade. “It's a good thing that Philippines is adding pressure for restoration of democracy in Myanmar, but it's totally outrageous that scores of political prisoners including 43 community health workers remain in unjust detention under the supposedly democratic Aquino government," said Coxon. Local groups have aired similar sentiments, including militant alliance Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), which told Aquino in a statement to “back up [his] human rights stance in the ASEAN Summit by releasing political prisoners." The APS demanded the immediate release of 43 health workers, known as the Morong 43, who were arrested last February at Morong, Rizal on suspicion of being communist rebels. All of them remain in detention, with 37 held in Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig; five transferred to Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal; and one female member of the group, who gave birth last July, confined to a room in the Philippine General Hospital. “Mr. Aquino can show the way to other ASEAN members by releasing political prisoners in his own country. The case of the Morong 43 has garnered international attention from various rights groups. Now would be a good time for Mr. Aquino to back up his pronouncements on human rights with concrete action," said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr.—With Larissa Mae Suarez/JV, GMANews.TV