Saturday, February 17, 2007 Leftists expect UN to blacklist RP By Carlo P. Mallo and Jeffrey M. Tupas
HUMAN rights groups in Mindanao said the Philippines could possibly be blacklisted or be tried in an international tribunal for all of its human rights abuses.
Kelly Delgado, secretary general of Karapatan-Southern Mindanao, said they are expecting Professor Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, to recognize the bad record of the government for the alleged hundreds of victims of extrajudicial killings of militants, student activists, farmers, and journalists, among others.
He said they have prepared voluminous documents on human rights abuses perpetrated by the government, particularly the military in many parts of Mindanao, which they will present to Alston during the UN official's scheduled meeting with victims of human rights abuses and their families this Sunday.
Bad record
"The visit of Alston is already a good signal that the country has a bad record. If Alston will see that the government is not following human rights laws, we can expect that the government of Ms. Arroyo will be blacklisted. The visit already reflects the alarming human rights condition in the country," Delgado said in a press conference Friday.
Delgado said they have enough evidence to show Alston that cites the culpability of the military in the increasing number of killings in the region.
Karapatan, he said, have already recorded 77 victims of extrajudicial killings since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001.
Of the said number, 23 happened last year.
Optimistic
Ariel Casilao, secretary general of the Bayan-Southern Mindanao, who was also in the press conference, said the documents which Alston will see during his meeting on Sunday, will be backed by the testimonies of the relatives of the victims and some of the surviving victims themselves.
"We strongly believe that he will consider the facts and the testimonies of the relatives of the victims and some victims themselves," Casilao said.
Aglipayan priest Fr. Ablon Mobula of the Karapatan-Northern Mindanao region said Alston's visit actually counters the good posturing of the government and will help expose to the public the abuses of the government against those whom it consider enemies.
Fr. Mobula also said that Alston's mission will apparently disprove the government propaganda against militant groups.
Amirah Lidasan, national vice-chairperson of the Suara Party-list, said they will bring into the attention of Alston the government's alleged "crime" against the people, particularly the Moro and the Lumad (indigenous peoples).
A number of relatives of the victims of the Camp Bagong Diwa tragedy in March 2005 will be traveling from Basilan to Davao just to meet Alston.
Lidasan, who was also at the press conference, said the relatives of the victims are hopeful that Alston will "be a big help in their pursuit for justice."
"The Arroyo administration has so much skeletons in the closets and it will do everything to hide it from the people and from Alston. The government's refusal to give Alston the reports of the Melo Commission, is already a sign that Ms. Arroyo will continue to silence the truth about her administration's record of human rights abuses," Lidasan said in a statement.
Reports ready
But if human rights groups are ready with their report, so is the military.
For his part, Major Randolf Cabangbang, spokesperson of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said they too have prepared their report, which they will present to Alston. The report blamed the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People's Army (NPA) for the killings of militants.
Cabangbang said a purging is happening within the ranks of the NPA. "The NPA is involved in most of these killings. They are killing their own members especially those who want to surrender and those who are too powerful and influential enough," Cabangbang said.
Denial
In their report, the military denied the allegations of human rights groups.
"There is no truth to the accusations that the government is involved in extrajudicial killings...the unsubstantial accusations and theatrics of dubious organizations are intended to discredit the government in the eyes of the Filipinos and the international community all in support to the armed struggle of the communist terrorist movement," the report said.
But Fr. Mobula said the statement of the military is already a given as part of the government's alleged whitewashing of its own report.
"We already expect these kinds of statements from the military. But, the integrity of the victims will speak for them. They are not members of the NPA. The priests who have been killed were not members of the NPA. The bishops who were killed were not members of the NPA," he said.
The victims are known critics of the government and nobody is out against them and to eliminate them but the government itself," Fr. Mobula added.
