REPS OF AID DONOR COUNTRIES, 13 OTHERS QUESTION RP RIGHTS RECORD IN GENEVA

Representatives of 17 countries raised questions on the Philippine human rights record as Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita delivered the government’s presentation before the 47-member UNHRC.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 10, April 13-19, 2008

Representatives of 17 countries –- including four of the country’s main aid donors -– raised questions on the Philippine government’s human rights record in Geneva, Switzerland on April 11 as Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who also chairs the Presidential Human Rights Committee (PHRC), led a 44-man delegation in delivering a presentation on the human rights situation in the Philippines before the 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Ermita delivered his presentation during the deliberations of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on the Philippines.

The UPR is a new mechanism that was established under General Assembly Resolution 60/251, which established the UNHRC on March 15, 2006. The said resolution provides that the UNHRC shall “undertake a universal periodic review, based on objective and reliable information, of the fulfillment by each State of its human rights obligations and commitments in a manner which ensures universality of coverage and equal treatment with respect to all States; the review shall be a cooperative mechanism, based on an interactive dialogue, with the full involvement of the country concerned and with consideration given to its capacity-building needs; such a mechanism shall complement and not duplicate the work of treaty bodies...”

Ermita drew the material for his 38-minute presentation from the Philippine National Report (PNR) submitted to the UNHRC.

The PNR emphasizes the creation of the Commission of Human Rights under the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which Ermita noted antedates the Paris Principles on Human Rights. Ermita also stressed the creation of the Office of the Ombudsman, also under the 1987 Constitution, which is tasked to investigate high government officials. He noted that both chambers of Congress have Committees on Human Rights; and that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) all have Human Rights Offices.

Ermita also talked about the existence of inter-agency councils tackling various human rights issues. He was referring to agencies like the Inter-agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), Inter-agency Council on Violence Against Women and Children (IAC-VAWC), Inter-agency Council on Children Involved in Armed Conflict (IAC-CIAC) and the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council (JJWC).

“The Philippine report, presented by no less than Secretary Ermita with his extraordinarily large contingent of bureaucrats flown in from Manila, was a self-serving, selective and totally one-sided depiction of the Philippine human rights situation,” said Bayan Muna (People First) Rep. Teddy Casiño in a statement sent to media.

Casiño is a member of the six-man Philippine UPR Watch delegation observing the proceedings in Geneva –- together with Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) secretary-general Marie Hilao-Enriquez; National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) general secretary Fr. Rex Reyes; Jonathan Sta. Rosa, brother of slain Methodist pastor Isaias Sta. Rosa; International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) president Edre Olalia; and Dr. Edita Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos.

Representatives of 17 states – France, Norway, Slovenia, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Algeria, North Korea, Australia, Switzerland, Netherlands, Mexico, and the U.S. – questioned the 44-man team led by Ermita on the issues of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

“This sizable number of states sends a strong message that the GRP human rights record is both in the microscope and within the radar of the international community,” Olalia said in a message received by Bulatlat.

Four of these states –- Japan, Canada, Australia, and the U.S. -– are among the Philippines’ major aid donors, based on data from the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). Also identified by AusAID as major aid donors to the Philippines are the European Union and Germany.

The questions particularly focused on the recommendations of UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions Philip Alston, who went on a mission to the Philippines in late 2007 to investigate extrajudicial killings and came up with a report specifically pointing to the military’s involvement in these. “In some parts of the country, the armed forces have followed a deliberate strategy of systematically hunting down the leaders of leftist organizations,” Alston, who is also a professor at New York University (NYU), said.

Karapatan has documented 902 cases of extrajudicial killings and 180 enforced disappearances from January 2001 -– when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was catapulted to power through a popular uprising –- to March 2008.

“Canada is encouraged that the Philippine authorities have expressed their commitment to end extrajudicial killings, but remains concerned that there may have been few convictions,” Canada’s Terry Cormier said.

“What is the Philippine government doing to address extrajudicial killings and ensure the prosecution and conviction of perpetrators?” asked Anna Chambers of the U.S. “How is the Philippine government ensuring human rights compliance among the police and security forces?”

Australia’s Jihan Mirza asked for specific updates on the Philippine government’s compliance with Alston’s recommendations.

The Ermita-led delegation was also questioned on the rights of migrant workers, women and children; and the Philippine government’s non-signing of international instruments against torture and enforced disappearances.

In a press statement, the members of the Philippine UPR Watch delegation said of Ermita’s presentation:

“His statement that ‘there is an open and vibrant democracy in the Philippines’ and that the government is “a human rights defender” is the height of distortion and sends a chilling indication that impunity will continue to be the policy of the Arroyo regime.

“Ermita’s statements were a callous disregard to the fact that more than a dozen countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, took the Philippine government to task for its failure to address the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, especially in the prosecution of perpetrators. His statements ignored the fact that several countries also scored the Philippine government for its failure to address equally important issues such as the protection of migrant workers, the trafficking of women and children, and corruption. If the Philippine National Report was that good, the Philippines should be a paradise, whose people need not line up for rice, seek jobs abroad and would not be named one of the most corrupt countries in Asia. If the Report was that honest, countries would not have raised questions on the foregoing which are the core issues surrounding human rights violations in the Philippines.” Bulatlat

NEW WATCHDOG CALLS FOR TERMINATION OF RP MEMBERSHIP IN UN RIGHTS BODY

A new coalition formed to observe the upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) deliberation on the Philippines is calling for the termination or suspension of the country’s membership in the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 9, April 6-12, 2008

A new coalition formed to observe the upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) deliberation on the Philippines is calling for the termination or suspension of the country’s membership in the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

At the very least, the Philippine UPR Watch –- which is sending to Geneva a six-member delegation composed of National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) general secretary Fr. Rex Reyes; Bayan Muna (People First) Rep. Teddy Casiño; Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) secretary-general Marie Hilao-Enriquez; International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) president Edre Olalia; Jonathan Sta. Rosa, brother of slain Methodist pastor Isaias Sta Rosa; and Dr. Edita Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos –- is urging the UNHRC to issue a “subtle yet diplomatic” critique on the Philippine government.

The UPR is a new mechanism that was established under General Assembly Resolution 60/251, which established the UNHRC on March 15, 2006. The said resolution provides that the UNHRC shall “undertake a universal periodic review, based on objective and reliable information, of the fulfillment by each State of its human rights obligations and commitments in a manner which ensures universality of coverage and equal treatment with respect to all States; the review shall be a cooperative mechanism, based on an interactive dialogue, with the full involvement of the country concerned and with consideration given to its capacity-building needs; such a mechanism shall complement and not duplicate the work of treaty bodies...”

The 47-member UNHRC is slated to hold its UPR deliberation on the Philippines this coming April 11.

Already, the Arroyo government’s preparations for the defense of its human rights record in Geneva –- where the UNHRC is based -– are in full swing. In fact, it had reportedly sent representatives to Geneva as early as last February. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita himself -– who also chairs the Presidential Human Rights Committee (PHRC) -– is set to head a 44-member Philippine government delegation to Geneva.

In an e-mail interview with Bulatlat, Olalia said the Philippine government’s sending a 44-man team to defend its human rights record reflects an attempt to “hoodwink the international community” and cover up its “dirty” human rights record.

“They should not pollute the clean air and surroundings and sully the elegant and imposing UN halls and buildings here in Geneva with their pack of lies and hypocrisy,” Olalia said. “Geneva is too tranquil and idyllic for them to send this big roving band. General Ermita leading the contingent with almost the same number of members as the country-members of the UNHRC is the ultimate insult to the victims of the horrors of the government's dirty war where he is a leading player.”

Civil and political rights

In the Philippine National Report submitted to the UPR, the Arroyo administration states that the government “has taken firm measures” to address the issues of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. This is among the claims which the Arroyo administration intends to put forward as proof of its supposed compliance with its obligations in the area of civil and political rights.

It cites among other supposed achievements the creation of the Melo Commission to investigate extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. Measures implemented by the Arroyo administration supposedly in response to the Melo Commission’s recommendations are cited as follows:

· The President issued A.O. 181 Creating a Task Force on Extrajudicial Killings, a special team of prosecutors from the DoJ (Department of Justice);

· Issuance of Administrative Order No. 181 (July 2007) strengthening the coordination between the National Prosecution Service and other concerned agencies of government for the successful investigation and prosecution of political and media killings;

· In October 2007, the President of the Philippines ordered the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to take active steps to prevent human rights violations by men in uniform. This includes instructions and training designed to reiterate to all PNP and AFP personnel that human rights abuses will not be tolerated;

· The President issued A.O. 211 creating a multi-agency Task Force against Political Violence, Task Force 211(November 2007) to increase coordination between the Department of Justice, the Department of National Defense, the Presidential Human Rights Committee, investigative and national security agencies, and civil society for speedier solutions to such violence.

“This is hogwash,” Olalia said when asked to comment. “The facts speak for themselves. No conviction involving any military or security forces credibly implicated. The killings and disappearances continue. Where are our colleagues, clients, friends, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters who have been taken away?”

Karapatan has documented 902 cases of extrajudicial killings and 180 enforced disappearances from January 2001 –- when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was catapulted to power through a popular uprising -– to March 2008.

UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions Philip Alston went on a mission to investigate extrajudicial killings in the Philippines late last year, and came up with a report specifically pointing to the military’s involvement in these. “In some parts of the country, the armed forces have followed a deliberate strategy of systematically hunting down the leaders of leftist organizations,” Alston, who is also a professor at New York University (NYU), said.

The issues of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances have brought the Arroyo administration criticisms not only from local groups but also from international organizations – among them the World Council of Churches (WCC), Amnesty International, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the Uniting Church in Australia, and Human Rights Watch.

In its submission on the Philippines to the UPR, Amnesty International aired concern on the non-conviction of state forces involved in extrajudicial killings.

“Amnesty International is concerned that the failure to deliver justice to the victims of such killings reflects a reluctance on the part of the government to fulfill its obligation under national and international law to protect the right to life of every individual within its jurisdiction,” the Amnesty International document submitted to the UPR reads. “The organization is also concerned that these killings have played a major role in the break-down of the protracted peace process and an accompanying human rights agreement between the government and the National Democratic Front (which represents the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army).”

The London-based Nobel Prize-winning organization cited the Summit on Political Killings and Enforced Disappearances initiated by the Supreme Court last year, as well as the promulgation of the Rule on the Writ of Amparo.

But Amnesty International also voiced fears that the imposition of Administrative Order No. 197, which urges “legislation for safeguards against disclosure of military secrets and undue interference in military operations inimical to national security,” endangers the implementation of the writ of amparo. “This may be an attempt by the government to counter amparo writs by invoking national security or confidentiality of information,” Amnesty International stated.

Economic rights

In the area of economic rights, among the points emphasized in the PNR is that the Philippines has a “comparatively respectable” Gini coefficient, or Inequality of Income Index, compared with other countries in the “developing” world.

“That is ridiculous,” Olalia said. “It is like saying that we are lucky to be less miserable, despondent and hungry even if a few of our own countrymen are into ostentatious living because of massive graft and corruption, anti-people policies, and serving as willing slaves to foreign greedy interests.”

Based on the UN’s Human Development Report 2007/2008, the Philippines has a Gini coefficient of 44.5 –- with 0 representing absolute equality and 100 representing absolute inequality. This was cited in the PNR.

Among the 177 countries ranked in the Human Development Report 2007/2008, there are only 37 countries with higher Gini coefficients, meaning having more inequality, than the Philippines: Argentina, Panama, Chile, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Malaysia, Venezuela, Colombia, Dominican Republic, China, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Jamaica, Honduras, Bolivia, Guatemala, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Nepal, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Togo, Uganda, Cote d'loivre, Central African Republic, Mozambique, Niger, Guinea-Bissau, and Sierra Leone.

Arroyo has made much of the economic growth posted by the country under her administration. In a speech on Jan. 11, she said:

“Today, the Philippines is on a path to permanent economic growth and stability. We’ve created seven million new jobs in seven years... We’ve achieved 28 consecutive quarters of economic growth in the last seven years. And that’s something that even our neighbors cannot say. There were times during this 28 quarters that the… Singapore for instance, experienced negative growth and many of our neighbors and even the United States, there were quarters when they experienced negative growth.

“And in the last, in the three quarters of 2007 for which we have had our accounting completed, our economy rose 7.3 percent and this is the fastest growth in more than a decade, in a very, very long time.”

This economic growth, however, has been criticized by no less than the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as “among the most inequitable” in Southeast Asia. The ADB also noted that the Philippines has one of the highest Gini coefficients in Southeast Asia.

The ADB’s findings on inequality of income distribution are bolstered by data recently released by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), which show that the number of poor Filipinos increased by 3.8 million from 2003 to 2006. Even with its low poverty threshold of P41.25 ($0.988 at an exchange rate of $1:P41.76) for each individual Filipino –- which is much lower than the living wage estimates of the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) –- the rise in poverty rates from 2003 to 2006 is visible.

Based on February 2008 data from the NWPC, the national average family living wage stands at P767 ($18.37) a day.

The highest regional minimum wage at present is P362 ($8.67) for the National Capital Region (NCR), which has a regional daily family living wage of P853 ($20.43). The region with the lowest minimum wage rate is the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), with only P200 ($4.79) even as it has a regional daily family living wage of P1,185 ($28.38). Bulatlat

DISGUISING THEMSELVES
Alexander Martin Remollino

Guilt and shame --
particularly the types that tower --
are virtuosos at coming up with ways
to conceal their identities.
So a conversation about how visits
to certain friends of yours languishing in jail
are becoming rare as cases speedily tried
could jump to what is labeled
"the primary task of those behind bars"
without you knowing why or how.
Such things do take place
without bothering to explain themselves,
because guilt and shame --
especially of the colossal kind --
are geniuses at coming up with ways
to disguise themselves.

GOV'T, AFP CLAIMS OF NPA WEAKENING ARE LIES -- KA ROGER

CPP spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal has belied claims by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the AFP that the strength of the CPP's armed component, the NPA, has been halved in the last two years and that it will certainly face defeat by 2010.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 8, March 30-April 5, 2008

Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal has belied claims by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that the strength of the CPP's armed component, the New People's Army (NPA), has been halved in the last two years and that it will certainly face defeat by 2010.

According to AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, the NPA's total strength is now down to some 5,000-6,000 fighters from more than 10,000 in 2005 and 2006.

The New People's Army (NPA), the armed component of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), turns 39 this March 29. Its founding took place just a little over three months after Jose Maria Sison led a group that broke away from the Lava leadership of the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) over ideological differences and reestablished the Party as the CPP.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the CPP quickly grew in strength and, together with the NPA, developed into one of the most effective organized forces fighting the U.S-Marcos dictatorship.

The NPA has weathered ideological rifts within the CPP, particularly in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and has remained a force to reckon with on the national scene.

But the NPA now faces claims by the Arroyo government and the AFP that it is a spent force and is pretty much on the way out.

In this interview with Bulatlat, Rosal provides the CPP-NPA's side on the issue.

Following is the full text of the interview:

What can you say about government claims that the AFP through its counter-“insurgency” campaign has been able to reduce the NPA’s total forces by half, and about President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s claim that the “insurgency” will be defeated by 2010?

They keep on prating that they are winning the war against the revolutionary forces. They claim that they have been cutting down the strength of the NPA to some 5,000 and that they have been destroying scores of revolutionary guerrilla fronts during the past few years. Again and again, as in many other things that the ruling regime has been confronted with, these are nothing but lies.

It is the demoralized fascist mercenary armed forces of the Arroyo regime that keeps suffering one defeat after another from the tactical offensives of the NPA. There have been over 500 major and minor tactical offensives from a year ago. Quite the opposite to what the Arroyo regime and the AFP are making it appear to be, the NPA is riding high with victories and continues to grow with additional recruits.

The Arroyo regime has inflicted severe sufferings on the people as a result of its gargantuan plunder and bribery, its treasonous sell out of the country’s patrimony, and its worsening of the people’s poverty, joblessness and hunger. There is also the brutality of the intensified fascist and terrorist acts of its armed forces. Because of all this the Arroyo regime has even become the Number One recruiter for the NPA.

The regime is covering up its failures against the revolutionary armed forces by carrying out an unprecedented spate of extrajudicial killings, abductions and other fascist terrorist acts against unarmed activist forces and suspected supporters in the legal arena.

How has the NPA survived and resisted the onslaughts of Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL) I and II?

OBL concentrates enemy forces and applies fascist deception and atrocities on the “centers of gravity” of a score of priority guerrilla fronts. However this leaves the enemy forces thinly dispersed in much greater scores of others. The NPA takes advantage of this and shifts its forces to these other fronts. It steps up its mass work and its military operations against the isolated and weak enemy forces there.

Like other earlier “counter-insurgency” strategies applied by the enemy, OBL cannot succeed against a revolutionary movement and its people’s army that is led by the Communist Party, fights for the people’s interest, closely links with the masses, pursues the strategic line of protracted people’s war, and applies guerrilla tactics to fight the momentarily bigger enemy.

Grasping fully the excellent current revolutionary situation, the revolutionary forces systematize and speed up the arousal, education, organizing and mobilizing of the mass of the Filipino people. The revolutionary forces do not just launch tactical offensives and other military work in expanding and consolidating its guerrilla fronts and mass base. Side by side with these, they also launch anti-feudal struggles and other political, socio-economic and cultural campaigns in the interest of the people.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) only admits falling short of its targets but in reality it has utterly failed to live up to any of its bragging. Arroyo’s OBL I failed miserably and its current second version is also failing.

In how many provinces, towns and villages does the NPA have a presence now?

The revolutionary forces are solidly entrenched in 9,000 barangays (villages) in more than 70 provinces and 800 municipalities, and are advancing day by day. The enemy forces haven’t been able to dismantle even a single one of the well over a hundred revolutionary guerrilla fronts. These are the solid building blocks of relatively more stable base areas.

How close is the NPA to its objective of moving to the middle phase of the strategic defensive?

Under the leadership of the CPP, the NPA and other revolutionary forces are forging ahead with the people’s war and other forms of struggle. Its present objective is to complete the middle stage of the strategic defensive and proceed to the strategic stalemate of the protracted people’s war towards the completion of the national democratic revolution and the start of the socialist revolution right after.

Is the NPA contributing to or in any way involved in the campaign to oust the Arroyo regime?

Alongside their waging of armed struggle, the revolutionary forces welcome and support the complementary people’s open and legal struggles and mass uprisings and the withdrawal of support of enlightened and disgruntled military and police forces. The brewing upsurge of mass protests and the imminent possibility of another people power uprising to topple the extremely hated and isolated Arroyo regime will be a big boost to the advance of the revolutionary struggle as it serves the attainment of immediate relief for the suffering Filipino people.

Yet Gloria Arroyo is blinded by her own lying, criminality and megalomania. She refuses to see the handwriting on the wall and tries to ignore the people’s seething anger and their resounding demand for the immediate ouster of her rotten reactionary, puppet regime. Bulatlat