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Saturday, December 11, 2004
Militants, lumads rail vs gov't anew on rights day
By Stephen Capillas
MILITANT groups joined Friday the rest of the country in celebrating International Human Rights Day by saying there's nothing to celebrate because the violation of human rights by government instrumentalities continue to persist.
A march rally was done by militant groups from different sectors who were joined by lumad community tribal folks in Mindanao which ended up at the City Kiosk area in Divisoria this city.
Representatives of various groups then took turns railing against the government for its alleged numerous violations of human rights that were mostly committed by the military and the police.
The lumad tribal groups earlier voiced their denunciation over the reported increasing militarization of Mindanao's countryside during last Thursday's Inter-Tribal Lumad conference held at the Living Spring center in Baloy, this city.
In an interview, Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights) Northern Mindanao Secretary General Rev. Fr. Antonio Ablon reiterated anew more human rights violations were committed during the current administration than in the time of Marcos.
Ablon who also heads the Promotion of Church People's Response said under the current Arroyo administration more than 3,000 cases of rights violations were recorded while more than 300,000 human rights victims were listed.
"In Northern Mindanao alone there are more than 300 cases of human rights violations (HRVs) or at least 5,000 persons have been victimized including lumads, farmers, workers, youth, urban poor, fishers and others," Ablon said in Visayan.
The offenses ranged from massacres, torture, salvaging, strafing, demolitions, warrantless arrests and violent dispersal among others.
Students groups railed against the Arroyo administration for their continued neglect of the country's educational system by prioritizing funds meant for the schools in favor of the military and debt servicing.
"President Arroyo had willfully abandoned the duty of the state to educate the citizenry and passed them on to the hands of profit-oriented educators," they said in a statement.
Other groups that joined in Friday's protest include Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Karapatan; Anakpawis, Kilusang Mayo Uno, League of Filipino Students, Anakbayan, the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines, Anak ng Bayan Youth Party and College Editor's Guild of the Philippines and the National Union of Students in the Philippines.
(December 11, 2004 issue)
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