Church Activists Say Philippine Gov't Fails to Combat Human Rights Abuses

(Photo: World Council of Churches)Activists hold up signs at a public hearing on “human rights violations in the Philippines” hosted by the World Council of Churches at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on May 30, 2012.

Philippine church activists were among a group that arrived in Geneva last week on a mission to highlight what they say are continuing human rights violations in the country – including extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, and "violent evictions" - and the failure of their government improve the situation to combat them.

Last Tuesday, over 60 countries took part in asking questions to the Philippine government on its human rights record during the United Nations' Universal Periodic Review process of the Philippines, according to the United Nations.

The UPR process reviews all 192 UN member states' human rights records once every four years. The forum allows countries to declare what actions they've taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries an fulfill their human rights obligations.

Among the recommendations by participating states were that the Philippines step up its efforts to fully prohibit and address cases of torture, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances and ensure there were mechanisms in place to address such cases. The government said it had set up a special task force to address extrajudicial killings, according to a UN report.

The states also remarked on two high-profile fugitives, calling on the government to bring them to justice.

Former military general and lawmaker Jovito Palaparan Jr, indicted for counts of kidnapping and illegal detention and whom activists accuse of being involved in extra judicial killings, went missing late last year. Former Palawan province governor Joel Reyes went missing recently after being named a suspect in the killing of a broadcaster.

Among other recommendations, states also called for justice in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, an incident which involved the killing of 57 people, including 32 journalists and media workers. Legal efforts, including a case against a former local mayor accused of the crime are still ongoing.

Activists at WCC Public Hearing

After testifying before the UN in Geneva last week, Church activists from the Philippines took part in a public hearing on May 30 hosted by the World Council of Churches.

The hearing was organized by the WCC's Commission of the Churches on International Affairs in collaboration with the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and the Philippine Universal Periodic Review Watch.

The hearing's theme was "Human rights record of the Philippine government: Telling it as it is!"

Father Jonash Joyohoy, executive director of the Ramento Project for Rights Defenders and Representatives of the NCCP highlighted statistics which he said were a contrast to President Benigno Aquino III's administration's claims of a "dramatic decline" in human rights violations.

A 29-member delegation led by the Philippine's Department of Justice presented at the UPR event last week.

"Human right defenders, the victims and their families have submitted reports that belie the overstated achievements of the Philippine government. We count 76 victims of extrajudicial killings and 9 victims of enforced disappearances since Aquino took office," he said.

"While the government report is claiming a 'dramatic decline' in the killings, our count of a total of 85 precious lives speaks otherwise," added Joyohoy.

Father Joyohoy mentioned the killings of Archbishop Alberto Ramento of the Philippine Independent Church, Father William Tadena and the lay church volunteer Benjamin Bayles as examples of the government's inability to curb human rights violations.

Moving on to other violations, he said a government report made "almost no mention of the conditions of national minorities, Indigenous Peoples and the violent demolitions while highlighting so-called successes in the dole-out Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Programme."

Philippine UPR Watch, citing a report by the Center for Trade Union Rights, says 14 cases of forced eviction and demolition of houses of "informal settlers from 2010-2011 affected 27,233 families, or 105,555 individuals. The group notes 152 people were injured "during these violent demolitions."

Another presenter, Edre Olalia, secretary general of the National Union of People's lawyers, said activists and dissenters are charged with criminal offenses.

He called it a failure in the legal system and recommended that the international community "study the creation of special human rights courts to exclusively try and dispose of civil and criminal cases of human rights violations and implement a special procedure for such a purpose to make legal remedies simple, expeditious and accessible."

"We do not need those fancy and sophisticated schemes, bureaucratic agencies and mechanisms and even grandiose structures and plans. We need clear and plain answers," he concluded.

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