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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