Monday, December 03, 2007 Militant groups see support on calls for Arroyo's ouster
A GROUP advocating for the protection of human rights yesterday said the economic growth announced by President Arroyo has only benefited her cronies while the poor Filipinos are left with barely anything to eat.
Lawyer Poch Cinco, chairman of Karapatan, said that while Sen. Antonio Trillanes failed to gather enough support for his call to oust Arroyo during the seven-hour standoff in Makati last Nov. 29, the group is sure majority of Filipinos are disgruntled with the Arroyo administration.
Cinco said the masses, who have been complaining of the government’s failure to provide their basic needs, are “waiting” for the right time to support the move to oust Arroyo, who they also said, failed to stop the extra-judicial killings in the country.
Extra-judicial
In a forum at the Visayas Community Medical Center which tackled the human rights situation in the Philippines, Cinco presented a report entitled the “Undeclared Martial Rule Continues,” a documentation of the extra-judicial killings from January to August 2007.
The forum was attended by Bayan Muna-Cebu secretary general Arman Perez, Ama-Sugbo secretary general Elpidio Caterbas, Panaghugpong Kadamay chairman Ramie Inopiquez, Bayan-Visayas chairman Jaime Paglinawan and auditor Pedro Magpuyo of Pamana-Nakamatikod, a farmers’ organization in Tuburan, Cebu.
Magpuyo said that two of their leaders were killed allegedly by the military but the group still continues to grow.
Harassment
He accused landlords who do not want farmers to organize themselves of using the military to harass them in the guise of running after members of the New People’s Army (NPA).
Caterbas, for his part, said that aside from human rights violations, the Arroyo administration is slowly killing the workers by tolerating the abuses of their employers.
Caterbas added that the P250-minimum wage approved by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board 7 is much lower than the P750 daily living wage for Central Visayas, as per the results of the study of the National Statistical Coordination Board.
He also alleged that after the Arroyo administration implemented the Human Security Act last July, workers who organized unions are being investigated for economic sabotage.
He cited as an example a firm in Mandaue City where an employer allegedly asked National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents to harass union leaders.
“NBI agents slapped the faces of union leaders in front of their employers,” Caterbas alleged.
Meanwhile, Paglinawan said he and other Bayan-Visayas leaders are being tagged by the military as terrorists. “Is it terrorism to carry the voice of the neglected poor people?” Paglinawan said.
Perez, for his part, said that the different forms of harassment faced by the groups are not a deterrent for them to continue in their advocacies and to protect the welfare of the people. (EOB)
