RP gov’t responsible for slays

RP gov’t responsible for slays

By Jocelyn Uy
Posted date: March 26, 2007
http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=56941

Related news: Malacañang snub of rights tribunal inquiry scored

MANILA, Philippines -- A forum of lawyers and human rights activists meeting in The Hague found the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo responsible for unsolved killings and disappearances in the Philippines, according to a copy of its verdict sent to the Philippine Daily Inquirer late Sunday night.

Malacañang allies in the House of Representatives slammed the verdict as unfair and biased.

“The wealth and consistency of the oral and written documentation made available through witnesses and expert reports, has convinced the [tribunal] that each and all of the three charges presented against [Ms Arroyo] and her government and against [US President] George Walker Bush and his government are substantiated,” said the decision of the group called the Permanent People’s Tribunal.

“The tribunal, having considered the evidence before it, is of the opinion that the reported killings, torture and forced disappearances fall under the responsibility of the Philippine government and are by no means justified in terms of necessary measures against terrorism,” it added.

A copy of the decision was e-mailed to the Inquirer Sunday night by the Philippine chapter of the tribunal secretariat through the human rights alliance Karapatan. Its secretary general, Marie Hilao-Enriquez, testified on the human rights situation in the country.

A seven-member jury of the tribunal heard charges against both the Philippine and US governments which, the verdict said, “colluded with each other in implementing the US’ so-called ‘war on terror’ in Southeast Asia.”

Leaders of the House majority said the Hague forum showed its “biased nature” by asking Sen. Jamby Madrigal to testify before the group.

House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles and Antique Rep. Exequiel Javier said in a statement that Madrigal’s testimony “was part of the intensified opposition black propaganda against the President.”

The tribunal, an independent body founded in 1979 in Italy by lawyers, writers and intellectuals, examines and judges complaints regarding violations of human rights submitted by the victims themselves or groups representing them.

The hearings were held in a church in The Hague.

The Philippine government has blamed the communist New People’s Army for most of the murders, saying the group was purging its own ranks.

The international community has voiced concern over the unresolved killings of hundreds of political activists in the country since Ms Arroyo took office in 2001.

The charges presented against both the Arroyo and Bush administrations included:

• Gross and systematic violations of civil and political rights: extrajudicial killings, abduction and disappearances, massacre, torture.
• Gross and systematic violation of economic, social and cultural rights.
• Gross and systematic violations of the rights to national self-determination and liberation.

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Malacañang snub of rights tribunal inquiry scored

By LOUI GALICIA
ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=71125

The secretary-general of the Permanent People's Tribunal scored Malacañang for snubbing the PPT’s invitation to attend its hearings in The Hague, The Netherlands, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau reported Friday.

Gianni Tognoni told ABS-CBN's Balitang Europe that the PPT sent invitations to the the Philippine embassies in Rome and in The Hague on March 8, asking for a representative to attend the hearings.

The PPT is hearings complaints on human rights violations allegedly committed by the Arroyo administration.

"I think that in this situation, the Manila government is acting even worse because they do not know how to react and in fact, they cannot deny that something that was given to the embassy was unknown and they were not receiving an invitation," Tognoni said.

"On the other side, we have evidence that they know very well everything that is going on over here," he added.

He cited a news item from Manila which quoted Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita as stating that the Philippine government was willing to attend the tribunal's session on rights violations in the Philippines.

"I hope for the sake of the Filipino people that a representative of the government would at least show up in order to show the reality, instead of the government's persistent denial of the facts," he said.

Tognoni scored Ermita who was reported to have laughed off the subpoena from the PPT.

"We have heard in fact that when they were receiving the subpoena that it is a joke because they cannot recognize the people's rights and that they are above those things. So I think again this is another indicator of this contradiction that they recognize and then deny," he said.

The tribunal wrapped up its last day of hearings with testimonies from witnesses, complainants and expert witnesses, despite the absence of a representative for the government's defense.

President Arroyo, together with US President George W. Bush, has been charged before the tribunal with crimes ranging from systematic violations of civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights to violations of national self-determination and liberation committed against the Filipino people.

Tognoni said that while the tribunal has given the Philippine government the opportunity to defend itself, the absence of a representative might be assumed to mean that the government has chosen to waive that right.

"In that case, we have to simply withdraw the position of the defense. We have assumed this position because the fact of mimicking defense of the government in policy which is testified by so many acts would just be a ritual which would be purely artificial so we prefer to have open confrontation and if the open confrontation is refused, everybody takes its own responsibility," Tognoni explained.

The PPT is expected to deliver its verdict on Mrs. Arroyo on Sunday after a closed-door deliberation by the jury on Saturday.

In 1980, the tribunal heard a case filed by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front against former president Ferdinand Marcos. PPT was the first international juridical body to condemn the Marcos dictatorship.

Nagpakita na si Ka Satur!

March 15, 2007
Ka Satur comes out for US Senate hearing – on YouTube

House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo made true his promise to participate in the US Senate hearing on extrajudicial killings besetting the Philippines.

While Philippine officials are spending undetermined amounts of precious taxpayers' money, Ocampo preferred the less expensive and modern way – by coming out with two videotaped messages addressed to US citizens and the international community.

The videos were posted on http://youtube.com/bayanmunadotnet -- Bayan Muna's newly-formed YouTube channel – at around 2:30 am this morning or about the same time the US Senate foreign relations subcommittee began its hearing in Washington DC.

In his two videotaped messages, Ocampo urged the international community to reject the lies of the Arroyo government and look into the role of the counter-insurgency Oplan Bantay Laya approved by the President.

He also took the opportunity to explain at length the legal shortcuts and violations to due process in the concocted multiple-murder case against him, for which he asked the international community for support.

Ocampo said that Oplan Bantay Laya's targeting of both armed combatants and unarmed activists, and the tagging of Bayan Muna as a communist front explains both the political slays and the political persecution of anti-Arroyo Members of Congress.

He stressed that the Arroyo government's own Melo Commission and the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings have rejected authorities' claims of an ongoing communist purge as the supposed culprit for the murders that have victimized more than 830 Filipinos including 129 Bayan Muna members.

Ocampo thanked the US organizations and churches for their lobby efforts that have successfully compelled the powerful foreign relations committees of both houses of the US Congress to take on the issue of unresolved and continuing political killings under Arroyo.

Ocampo urged them to undertake more fact-finding missions so they themselves will find out the real situation.

As he expressed gratitude for the groundswell of support, the former political detainee and peace negotiator called on the international community to strengthen solidarity with Filipinos especially activists and partylist representatives such as himself.

Bayan Muna's Media Bureau said that more videos will be posted today March 15.

"There are at least three more videos which we will upload within the day. These videos are addressed to Bayan Muna members and the millions who have made Bayan Muna the Number One partylist in surveys and actual elections," said a statement from the party's media bureau. "We intend to show and play these videos and their audio versions in sorties, forums and in our mobile electoral campaign vehicles."

The statement added that "the videos will be an addition to Bayan Muna's public information arsenal as we wage battle against the black propaganda emanating from Malacanang, Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo. We intend to maximize our YouTube channel for our national and international reelection campaign."

UN: Change Anti-Terror Act

UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR CALLS FOR CHANGES TO THE PHILIPPINES’ HUMAN SECURITY ACT
12 March 2007
http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpNewsByYear_en)/B34290F01513578BC125729C00581865?OpenDocument

The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Martin Scheinin, issued the following statement today:

“On 6 March the bill, titled “The Act to Secure the State and Protect our People from Terrorism”, otherwise known as the “Human Security Act of 2007” was signed into law by the President of the Philippines. This law is scheduled to take effect in July 2007, two months after the May elections. During this interim period, I encourage the legislative branch of Government in the Philippines to reconsider this new counter-terrorism law which was approved by Congress in a Special Session of Parliament on 19 February 2007. It is my hope that there will be further debate which may result in the introduction of specific amendments or repeal of the entire Act by the new Congress elected this spring, since implementation of this law could have a negative impact on human rights in the country and undermines the rule of law.

There are some positive aspects of the definition of terrorist acts in the Human Security Act but the end result is an overly broad definition which is seen to be at variance with the principle of legality and thus incompatible with Article 15 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Further, the strict application of a penalty of forty years’ imprisonment undermines judicial discretion in individual cases and may result in a disproportionate punishment due to the broad definition of terrorist acts.

While there has been some improvement regarding the length of pre-charge detention in the final version of this law, there is a further concern regarding the competence of various bodies authorized to review detention of an individual since some of these are members of the executive rather than an independent judicial body. Thus, section 19 of the Human Security Act appears to lack the procedural guarantees provided by Article 9 of the ICCPR.

Another area of concern is that the Act provides for restrictions on movement including the imposition of house arrest where the legal basis is simply “in cases where evidence of guilt is not strong” rather than positive suspicion or a higher evidentiary threshold.

The Philippines is a country facing many challenging issues and I wish to reaffirm that I am fully conscious of the need to take effective measures to prevent and counter terrorism, and of the difficulties of States in doing so without compromising the freedoms of a civil society. However, I am concerned that many provisions of the Human Security Act are not in accordance with international human rights standards”.

The Special Rapporteur wrote to the Government back in September 2005 and addressed several concerns regarding the draft version of this legislation on counter terrorism which was under consideration by the Parliament at that time. He also communicated his concerns to the Government regarding the most recent version of the bill just before it was due to become law.

Mr. Scheinin accepted the appointment of Special Rapporteur by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on 7 August 2005. The mandate, established by Resolution 2005/80, has since been assumed by the Human Rights Council. In this capacity, the Special Rapporteur is mandated to develop a regular dialogue and to cooperate with all relevant actors, including Governments, to exchange information, make recommendations and to identify and promote best practices on measures to counter terrorism that respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. As Special Rapporteur, he is independent from any Government and serves in his individual capacity.

Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, and Gabriela lead SWS poll

March 9, 2007

Crackdown fails: Bayan Muna Anakpawis and Gabriela lead SWS poll

Despite the Arroyo government's crackdown against them, Bayan Muna and two of its allied parties are set to attain the top three spots in the May 2007 partylist elections, leaving far behind other partylist groups, mostly supported or organized by authorities.

Results of the Social Weather Stations survey for Feb. 24-27 revealed that Bayan Muna is set to recapture the top spot with 17% percent.

Bayan Muna was the topnotcher in the 2001 and 2004 elections.

In the same survey, Anakpawis captured second place with 9.4 percent, with Gabriela Women's Party at third place with 8.1 percent.

If the SWS poll holds until election day, the three partylists will each have three seats in the next House of Representatives.

In a statement, Bayan Muna General Counsel and third partylist nominee Neri Javier Colmenares said that "besides the harasssment suits and the military infestation in Metro Manila bailiwicks, massive fraud and intimidation of a Hello Garci scale remain the only stumbling blocks to Bayan Muna's becoming partylist topnotcher for the third straight time."

"The survey results confirm the high level of trust and confidence of the electorate in Bayan Muna. Its reputation as a fighter and champion of the poor and the oppressed has worked like magic over the black propaganda, harassments and extrajudicial killings against the party," said Colmenares. "The people are set to honor our martyrs and heroes by electing Bayan Muna with an overwhelming electoral mandate."

"Even the questionable issuance of an arrest warrant on House Deputy Minority Leader Satur Ocampo is not a downer. It raises Bayan Muna's standing in the eyes of the electorate. We are proud to be dubbed an enemy of the lying, cheating and stealing Arroyo government," said Colmenares.

According to Colmenares, "even the worst scenario that Malacañang may now be working hard to happen -- which is to capture Ka Satur in a high-profile yet humiliating manner -- is bound to boomerang on them and result in more sympathy votes for Bayan Muna."

"Only Mrs. Arroyo and the far-right militarists think bad about leftist parties fighting fair and square and winning elections," said Colmenares.

Two other partylists groups – Kabataan and Suara Bangsamoro – are within striking distance to get at least two percent each, enough to be able to position one representative each for the House.

Gloria Arroyo, pinagtawanan ng mga kababaihan

Arroyo heckled during Women's Day rites in Pasay

President Arroyo was heckled by government employees several times while delivering a speech during the celebration of International Women's Day at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Pasay, Manila Thursday morning.

The President told the crowd at the stadium that the government's microfinance project seeks to grant loans to the poor so they can start small businesses.
She added that the government signed a memorandum of agreement with the Canadian government, which allocates P300 million for women transformation.

She then asked the audience, composed mostly of government employees, who among them had benefited from microfinance.

"Wala (None)!" shouted the audience.

The President then asked Myrna Yao, chairwoman of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, to explain why the women did not receive financial aid when they should have been the first ones to benefit from it. Yao said the women who had benefited from the project were not invited.

Mrs. Arroyo asked Yao why the beneficiaries were not invited. She then turned to the audience and asked: "Who among you are conduits to microfinance?"

The crowd again shouted in the negative and started heckling the President.

Yao then explained that most of the beneficiaries attended last year's Women's Day rally and that this year's attendees were all new.

Mrs. Arroyo then asked the audience in Tagalog: "Maybe this is the first time you attended Women's Day?" She added that nongovernment organizations and government employees should coordinate with the Deparment of Social Welfare and Development, which is managing the microfinance project.

The President also asked the government employees if they received an additional P1,000 monthly allowance, which was implemented last year. The attendees again shouted "None!" and started laughing. Some attendees later realized that they were actually receiving the allowance on top of their regular pay, DZMM reported.

After her speech, Mrs. Arroyo attended a closed-door meeting with Yao and DSWD officials.