British Columbia Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines
Statement

Arroyo’s ‘investigation’ is a sham

Statement of May 22, 2006

The horrendous human rights situation in the Philippines deserves our immediate attention and response if only to stem the tide if not stop altogether the carnage.

The British Columbia Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (BCCHRP) has long called for investigations and justice regarding the some 600 political assassinations and numerous other crimes against humanity that have been escalating in that country since Arroyo’s assumption of power in 2001. We hold the Philippines government directly responsible for them.

. However, Arroyo’s recent order for an investigation into these killings are mere grandstanding and and an obvious whitewash to sanitize her command responsibility as president of the Republic.. The orders come at the same time that the Philippines obtained a seat in the new United Nations Human Rights Council. The task force, headed and composed of top military officials, will be hard put to investigate its own soldiers and agents when it has refused to see a pattern in the killings and already  issues out its verdict that the Left is responsible, even before it has begun its investigation.

Fact finding missions and investigations by human rights organizations find that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) are directly involved in most of the documented cases of crimes against civilians. The assassinations and summary executions, forced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detentions, beatings, rapes, torture and harassment against leaders of people’s organizations, registered political parties or advocacy groups  point to  military or police personnel.
The U.S. Department of State, in its Philippine report released last March 2006, cited “pervasive weakness in the rule of law, official impunity and the wide disparity between rich and poor contributed to cynicism about official justice.” It even quoted that the Philippine Commission on Human Rights described the Philippine National Police as “the worst abuser of human rights.” In a more recent statement (The Philippine Daily Inquirer May 23, 2006) , the same Commission declared the Philippine government must be held accountable for the killings because under human rights terms, it is responsible for ensuring that the rights to life, privacy, security of homes and public order of its citizens are respected. Just this week, Amnesty International condemned the culture of impunity that permeates Philippine society today.

The International Solidarity Mission to the Philippines, which included 11 Canadians, examined existing human rights cases in five regions in 2005. After gathering and reviewing documents including videos and photographs, interviewing community officials, surviving victims and victims friends and families, the delegates found the direct involvement of the AFP and PNP in the majority of the cases. The International People’s Tribunal of that Mission took these findings, critical testimonies and evidence and ruled that Arroyo, together with George W. Bush who backs her government, were guilty of crimes against humanity.
BCCHRP supports the call by various cause-oriented groups and progressive party list groups like Bayan Muna for the formation of an independent body to investigate the political killings under the Arroyo administration 93 of the 603 victims killed since 2001 were Bayan Muna members.

We reject the anti-communist hysteria generated to obscure the facts about state terrorism. The AFP actively tried to discredit the International Solidarity Mission with such propaganda. We support the calls for Arroyo’s ouster as we echo the demand for justice and call for an end to state terror in the Philippines.

JUSTICE FOR THE VICTIMS OF STATE TERRORISM!
GLORIA RESIGN NOW!