Saturday, June 25, 2016

The Three bloodstained regimes of the Philippine

Posted by Belarmino Dabalos Saguing
Rome, Italy 25 June 2016




Marcos Administration (1965 - 1986)

On 21 September 1972, then President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law in the Philippines. Marcos gave the armed forces the power to "prevent or suppress… any act of insurrection or rebellion" which compromised the people's rights.  A total of 398 disappearances, 1,388 extrajudicial killings, and 1,499 killed or wounded in massacres were recorded but not every victim was accounted for.
After the declaration of Martial Law, Marcos issued six (6) general orders and an instruction to close privately owned media facilities. The Press Secretary, Francisco Tatad, and Secretary for National Defense, Juan Ponce Enrile, were ordered by Marcos "to take over and control or cause the taking over and control of all such newspapers, magazines, radio and television facilities and all other media communications... The information released to the public was highly censored and prevented journalists from releasing any suspicious information about the administration. Failure to abide would lead to arrest.
The assassination of Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino triggered the peaceful 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, led by Aquino's wife, Corazon "Cory" Aquino. The peaceful revolution united the nation in a call against Marcos to uphold their human rights. It led to the abolition of Martial Law, the exile of the Marcos family, as well as Cory Aquino's rise to the presidency.

Arroyo Administration (2001 - 2010)

The Arroyo Administration was riddled by its several issues on several forms of violations against human rights. Most of these which include the increase in military power and presence, especially in Muslim Mindanao.  Philip Alston, a UN Rapporteur, published Promotion and Protection of all Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including the Right To Development on 2008 that chronicled and reported the situation he had found while in the Philippines. Many incidents of extrajudicial killings were linked to this report, most notable of which is Sichi Bustamante-Gandinao, who was a direct testimony of the abuses concerning the military.

 

The Sichi Bustamante-Gandinao Murder

Sichi Bustamante-Gandinao was a peasant organizer in Salay, Misamis Oriental.  She was the chairman of the Misamis Oriental Farmers Organization and the coordinator of the party list group called  Bayan Muna. She was also an outspoken critic of the actions the Citizens' Armed Force Geographical Unit or CAFGU, and how they disrupt the relatively peaceful communities in Misamis Oriental. Philip Alston was a UN Rapporteur, who had Gandinao as a testimony to the extrajudicial killings, and other violations of human rights the military was practicing, whether it was the military is contested by the Military.  The Alston report was published on 2008, which highlighted these abuses through the United Nations General Assembly.  On the March 2007, however, Gandinao, together with her husband and daughter, was walking home after a day of doing farm work. Gandinao was then shot four times by two men on a motorcycle heading towards a nearby military camp, while Gandinao's family helplessly watched the attack  The local officials and passers-by all told Gandinao's husband and daughter that they were too busy to tend to the bleeding Gandinao  According to reports, after two hours of bleeding profusely, the assailants went back to the scene of the crime and even watched the entire ordeal of Gandinao. Her husband had to carry her to the Cagayan de Oro ambulance, which took another hour to get to the actual hospital. In the Cagayan de Oro hospital, Gandinao was pronounced dead on arrival

Vigilantism and Death Squad

According to the Alston report, the presence of "vigilantism" and Death Squad in Davao has been a commonplace occurrence, and has been going on for some time now, prior to his visit in the Philippines from 2006 to 2007.  The Death Squad, however, operate with no intention of hiding their identities, and in broad daylight. Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has held office, aside from a brief stint as a congressman, since 1988. Rodrigo Duterte is known for his strict, anti-criminal approach in governing Davao City. However, in the same report, Rodrigo Duterte has admitted that hundreds of unsolved murders were committed during his time as mayor, and that he takes for "full responsibility" of it.  When Duterte was first elected as mayor, he faced a Davao with problems like rampant youth gangs, the New Peoples' Army (NPA) killing policemen routinely, and crime  The Davao Death Squad (DDS) has had over 500 victims since 1998; killing targets in public and in broad daylight  These executions were a response to petty crimes, and targets are sent warnings explaining why they are targeted by the DDS  It was, however, noted that during Duterte's term as mayor, criminal activity has decreased significantly. It should also be noted, however, that there are hundreds of unsolved murders.\

Benigno Aquino Administration (2010 – 2016

On 30 June 2010, Benigno Aquino III was sworn into office as the President of the Philippines  Notable acts during his term include the implementation of the K-12 program, the revocation of midnight appointments, the founding of the Philippine Truth Commission, the creation of agencies such as the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), and the framing of the Bangsamoro Basic Law. The administration vowed to eradicate corruption within the government system, but has yet to resolve such cases as those regarding Hacienda Luisita  and the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam. Listed below are the cases of human rights violations under the second Aquino administration:

 


Lumad Killings

The Lumads are people from various ethnic groups in Mindanao island. Residing in their ancestral lands
 they are often evicted and displaced due to the Moro people's claim on the same territory The Lumads have lost parts of their ancestral land due to a failure to understand the modern land tenure system.  To counter this, the Lumads established schools in their communities, supplying essential knowledge for the tribe members that would protect their rights, property and culture.  However, the Lumad communities are located in mountains that are distant from urban areas. These areas are also the location sites of armed conflictbetween the New People's Army (NPA) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Caught in the conflict, the Lumad people's education, property, and security are endangered because of the increasing amount of military activity by the armed parties. ] Increasing military activity have eventually led to the displacement of the communities to shelter sites. Anxiety continues to grow among the Lumads with the escalation of armed conflict and detainment of community leaders (tribe leaders and teachers) labelled as rebels by the military  Alternative schools within the communities (aided by NGOs and universities) face concerns of closing down or demolition of their property, with some buildings converted by the military for their use  Lumad leaders and tribesmen, having experienced political detention due to false suspicions as well as the displacement of their tribes from their areas, have demanded respect for their human rights.
In response to the killing, detention, and displacement of members of their tribes, the Lumads have organized groups to gain the public's attention, calling for the halt of militarization in their communities. Students, religious leaders, and human rights advocates have supported the Lumads in their movement against the militarization. Activities held to support the Lumad movements have included concerts, cultural festivals (focusing on ethnic culture), and commemoration of Lumad leaders killed in the conflict. Activity leaders have included Fr. Fausto Tentorio, Fr. Tullio Favali, and Fr. Salvatore Carzedda  Groups like the Manilakbayan 2015 supported the movements through recruitment and the handing out of national situationers to students to spread awareness about the Lumads' dilemma The Philippines' Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has been investigating the incidents in regard to the 2015 murder of Lumad leaders and a school official by aparamilitary group called Magahat/Bagani  (in line with the idea of CAFGU) created by the AFP to hunt for NPA members. The AFP denies the allegation and attributes the killings to tribal conflict  However, the AFP has admitted that CAFGU has Lumad recruits within its ranks while asserting that the NPA has also recruited Lumads for the group  There is also delay of a decision on the CHR investigation due to the noncooperation of the Lumad group after the interruption of the investigation by the spokesman of Kalumaran Mindanao, Kerlan Fanagel. Fanagel insists that the group need not have another 'false' dialogue with the CHR since CHR has yet to present the results/findings of the investigations from the past months when Lumad leaders were killed. Because of the lack of data, CHR decided to postpone the presentation of their initial report to the second week of December 2015.

Political prisoners

Political prisoners are people arrested because of their opposition towards the current Aquino government; they are seen as 'enemies of the state' and are imprisoned upon arrest. As recorded by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) in September 2014, 840 political prisoners were held in detention cells and prisons. To promote human rights, the government has permitted access to international humanitarian organizations and have granted pardon, parole, and amnesty programs based on NGOs' lists

Journalist killings

The number of journalist killings under the Aquino administration has been noted to be the highest since 1986.  Because of this, the Philippines has been ranked by CNN as the third deadliest country for journalists,  Information about disappearances and murders of reporters are kept from the public, making several agencies/organizations as well as whistleblowers at risk of exposure to harm. Some of the well-known journalists killed in their line of work during the Aquino government include: Henry Araneta, Desidario Camangyan, Joselito Agustin, Gerardo Ortega, Romeo Olea, Christopher Guarin, Mario Sy, Fernando Solijon, Joas Dignos, and Rubylita Garcia.  According to the 2014 Human Rights Watch Report, only 6 out of 26 cases managed to identify/capture their suspects.
The Aquino administration implemented reforms towards more effective criminal investigation procedures, in addition to passing laws to better uphold human rights. However, these reforms are underdeveloped. An example is Administration Order 35, which acquired problems in identifying which case to pursue due to the process requirements

 

Source: Human rights in the Philippines  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_Philippines#Arroyo_Administration_.282001_-_2010.29







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