September, 2006

Cry and Walk with Families of Political Killings in the Philippines

Debby Chan

In the Philippines, more than 700 people have died from extrajudicial killings since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took office in 2001. In addition, there have been hundreds of cases of abductions and harassment. The victims are church workers, peasant leaders, labour union activists, journalists, lawyers, students, women leaders and opposition politicians. The victims have usually been advocates for the poor and marginalised, helping them to demand their rights and justice from the government. They are killed because of their dissenting voices.

Even though Arroyo expressed her concern about these extrajudicial killings in her State of the Nation Address on July 24, 2006, and Task Force Usig was set up in May to investigate them, extrajudicial killings still persist. Just after Arroyo's speech, for example, two people—Rei Mon Guran and Alice Claver—were shot and killed on July 31 in politically motivated incidents. In addition, Dr. Constancio "Chandu" Claver was shot in the same attack on his wife and is in critical condition. The killings have continued every week since then.

In order to share our care and concern about the escalation of these killings and to express our solidarity with the victims' families, several local and regional non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and church groups organised a fact-finding mission to the Philippines from July 23 to 28, 2006. The delegation included representatives of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, Hong Kong Bar Association, Asian Human Rights Commission, Asian Students Association, Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Diocese and myself from the Hong Kong Christian Institute (HKCI). The mission interviewed a number of witnesses to these political killings.

From the interviews, we learned that before the death of the victims many of them had been harassed by the military, which accused them of being members of the New People's Army (NPA) without substantial evidence. This accusation and the fatal outcome apparently indicates that the government believes their rights and lives can be deprived legitimately. Even before they had a chance to defend themselves in court, they lost their lives. Even if these people are members of the NPA, there should be due process to charge them; they should not be killed.

Many of the victims' families distrust the police since there is a culture of impunity in the country. No perpetrator has been brought to justice in five years. The police rarely carry out an investigation, and the cases are usually dismissed because of insufficient evidence as witnesses frequently fear that there may be further harassment directed at them. Some families need to flee to other areas to escape more persecution.

The government reiterated that they do not have a state policy to kill people. Gen. Avelino Razon Jr. of the Philippine National Police (PNP) denied the figure of more than 700 cases, saying it was exaggerated and claiming it was propaganda by leftist groups. Instead, these killings, he contended, were committed by the NPA because of factional rivalries. However, the mission got a different picture from the interviews outlined below. The names have been changed to protect the relatives of the victims.

Corazon's son, a member of the party-list political party Toiling Masses, was shot in front of her. On that day, her son had returned home after negotiations to stop demolishing a local market. She came out when she heard the gunshot. When she asked the gunmen why they killed her son, they pointed the gun at her.

Borra has been harassed by the military for two years. A group of masked men who wore military uniforms came to his house one day looking for him. He was able to flee though to his son's home in the same neighbourhood and hide. However, he never imagined that his son would become the victim instead.

Not even church workers are exempt from these political killings. Among the 700 victims, at least 20 are church workers involved in the peasant and labour movements. Many of them are members of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI). Fr. William Tadena, an IFI priest, was one of the victims—killed near his church by two masked men on motorcycles in March 2005. He had been supporting the peasants of the Hacienda Luisita where seven striking farm workers were shot and killed by the police and military on the picket line in November 2004 that seemingly sparked the present wave of killings.

The mission strongly denounces these political killings which have snatched people's lives. This political repression suppresses the expression of people's political beliefs and attempts to silence dissidents. We want to remind the Philippine government that the world is watching the alarming and increasing number of human rights violations in the country. Each killing is a blemish on the international image of the Philippines.

The mission demands that the Philippine government protect the life of every citizen. Since members of progressive groups, union leaders, farmers, journalists, lawyers and church workers are the people at greatest risk, the government should take measures to ensure their safety. All threats reported to the police should immediately be followed up, and protection should be provided. When extrajudicial killings occur, the police should promptly and impartially investigate every killing and should bring the perpetrators to justice as soon as possible. As for the loopholes in witness protection, the government and PNP should examine the deficiencies in the programme and quickly reform the system.

Furthermore, the government should stop labelling human rights activists as NPA members without evidence to substantiate these claims. These accusations cannot justify the harassment and human rights violations committed against the victims; these accusations do not give the police and military a state-sanctioned license to kill.

Hundreds of families are now crying for their beloved family members who have died from these political killings. All they want is justice for their family members. Let us cry with them and walk with them by showing solidarity. Please sign the online petition to stop the killings in the Philippines at http://www.pinoyhr.net. More information is available from the web site of Stop the Killings at http://www.cp-union.org/stop-the-killings-in-phils.