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Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Supreme Court chief: Human rights ‘under assault’
MANILA -- Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno said Monday that human rights under the Arroyo administration has come under assault with the failure of government to resolve the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of political activists and media personnel.
In his keynote address at the opening of the Supreme Court-initiated two-day National Consultative Summit on Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances at the Manila Hotel, Puno said the executive and legislative branches of government have become inept in providing a solution to the problem.
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Over the years, he noted, the expectation that human rights could be best protected by the political branches of government has been diluted.
He described the killings as a brazen violation of the foremost of human rights, prompting the judiciary to step in.
The High Court, he said, is bent on using its rule-making power under the Constitution to protect and enforce constitutional rights.
In response, representatives of human rights groups pushed for the enactment of a law that will criminalize state-perpetrated enforced disappearances of alleged critics of the government.
Among those who attended the summit were Commission on Human Rights chairperson Purificacion Quisumbing, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr., Armed Forces Hermogenes Esperon, Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Calderon, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and representatives of other sectors.
Nilda Lagman Sevilla, chairperson of the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance, bewailed the non-passage of the proposed House Bill (HB) 326 or the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2007.
Sevilla is the sister of labor and human rights lawyer Hermon Lagman, who is still missing.
Under HB 326, enforced disappearances takes on the United Nation’s definition of involuntary disappearances that limits the direct and indirect commission of the crime to authorities.
The bill considers disappearance as a continuing offense as long as the fate and whereabouts of the person has not been determined with certainty and mandates the expeditious disposition of a habeas corpus proceeding.
Statistics of the militant group Karapatan show that victims of extrajudicial killings and abductions as of May 31, 2007 have reached 869, with most incidents occurring in Luzon.
Esperon, who was also allowed to speak at summit, denied again allegations that the military is directly behind the killings and disappearances of non-combatant activists.
He said that the Armed Forces will not deliberately engage in killings and abductions and won’t stifle the activities of cause-oriented groups.
The enemies of the state, he said, are those who subscribe to violence and violate state sovereignty by not renouncing armed struggle.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its military arm, the New Peoples Army (NPA), he added, are bent on demonizing the military to undermine democracy.
He called for the resumption of peace talks with the CPP’s negotiating arm, the National Democratic Front (NDF), to end the spate of summary executions.
But while Presidential adviser on the peace process Jesus Dureza and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye welcomed Esperon’s proposal for a ceasefire, they said communications should first be re-established with the CPP-NPA-NDF.
For Tuesday’s session, a workshop will be held with summit participants to be divided into 12 groups with each group, which will be chaired by a Supreme Court justice, recommending solutions to the problem. (ECV/JMR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Baguio. (July 17, 2007 issue)
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