Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights
Media Release

CANADIAN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP APPLAUDS CANADIAN IOM DELEGATES AFTER MID-TERM ELECTIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES

May 20, 2007

The Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights (PCTFHR), a cross-Canada network of Canadian and Filipino-Canadian individuals and organizations, applauds the Canadian members of the People’s International Observers’ Mission (People’s IOM) for their courage and commitment in participating at the recently-concluded Philippine mid-term elections.
 
Together with delegates from 11 other countries, these Canadian  participants responded to the international appeal from Philippine-based human rights groups, church leaders, academics, professionals and other grassroots organizations who are working to observe the democratic process in the face of alleged electoral fraud, militarization and violence rampant during the 2004 national elections.

The People’s IOM delegates observed the May 14 elections in order to support the Filipino people’s efforts to counter the cycle of election fraud and violence in the Philippines.

Communications from the People’s IOM delegates and media reports indicate that this election was no better than past Philippine elections as more than 100 people were killed in electoral violence.

In a press statement in Manila, the People’s IOM delegates contradicted the statement of President Macapagal-Arroyo that ”Filipino voters cast their ballot, free of coercion and according to their own will,” and the U.S. Embassy observer’s comment that ”the Philippines is clearly a vibrant democracy.”

Instead, the People’s IOM delegates stated that they saw a ”strikingly different reality including: notable voter disenfranchisement, deadly election-related violence, direct intimidation of voters by elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), a suspicious absence of COMELEC official at numerous voting locations and incidents of overt coercion by multiple campaigners.”

The IOM delegates also noted “an intimate relationship between systemic violations of the electoral process in 2007, the ongoing socio-economic crisis in the Philippines rooted in neo-liberal economic policies and the terror of systemic extra-judicial-killings which have claimed the lives of over 850 people since 2001.”  The People’s IOM delegates concluded that the political and electoral-related killings have cast a shadow over the whole electoral process and must therefore be seriously investigated on a national and international level.

Canadian participation in the People’s IOM is part of the continuing advocacy efforts of Filipino-Canadians and Canadians to bring greater understanding to the Canadian public about the deepening economic and political crisis in the Philippines and to gather support and solidarity in the campaign against the worsening human rights situation in that country.

The Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights (PCTFHR) is a grassroots national coalition that was formed in October 2006 out of this advocacy work.

Since its founding, the PCTFHR conducted a fact-finding mission on the human rights situation in the Philippines, lobbied Canadian parliamentarians to pressure the Philippine government to respect international human rights covenants and agreements and to review Canadian foreign policy and aid, and sent observers to the Permanent People’s Tribunal Second Session on the Philippines which tried and found guilty the Macapagal-Arroyo regime and the US government of serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity for the extra-judicial killings, mainly perpetrated by government intelligence and military forces.

Philippine Canada Task Force on Human Rights
• Centre for Philippine Concerns – Montreal
• Ontario Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines – Ottawa
• Philippine Network for Justice and Peace – Toronto
• Centre for Philippine Concerns – Winnipeg
• B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines