The Guardian 6 April, 2005
Philippines — a people under siege
Rob Gowland
In August this year, an "International Solidarity Mission" will be convened in the
Philippines. Its purpose will be to bring to the attention of the world community the
gravity of the human rights situation in the Philippines; to muster international pressure
on the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo; to gather support for the
victims of state terrorism in the region; and to put the worsening human rights situation
into its context of the "War on Terror" being led by the US. The Bush Administration has
declared the Philippines as the "second front" in the "War on Terror" and described the
government of the country as a major "Non-NATO ally".
Aside from the occasional and superficial coverage of unrest on the island of Mindanao and the
various political crises that overtake the country from time to time, relatively little news of
developments inside the Philippines is carried by the international media. This situation has
helped successive governments in the Philippines carry out their brutal campaign against
opponents of the rule of corporations and privileged elites.
Organisers of the International Solidarity Mission point out that, in less than four years, the
Arroyo government has committed 3560 documented violations of human rights victimising
198,308 individuals, 18,977 families, 123 communities and 1016 households.
There are 236 political detainees nationwide as of January 31, 2005. Renewed violence against
leftist organisations has resulted in at least 11 killings and five abductions or disappearances
from January 1 to the beginning of March this year, according to Bayan Muna Party
representative Satur Ocampo.
Of course, all these victims have names. Human rights activist Eden Marcellana and peasant
leader Eddie Gumanoy were with others investigating human rights violations in Mindoro Oriental
when they were stopped by soldiers at a checkpoint. The others were allowed to proceed after
being questioned and harassed. Marcellana and Gumanoy were later found dead.
Union leader Samuel Bandilla and community leader Melita Carvajal were gunned down by the
military in Leyte and Laguna respectively. Joel Baclao, a church worker and volunteer for the
Promotion of Church People's Response (PCPR), was shot dead in front of his house in Albay in
November last year. Two months before, soldiers had attempted to search his house without a
warrant.
Marcing Beltran was assassinated on December 8 last year. Beltran was a leader of two peasant
organisations and a key witness to the Hacienda Lusita Massacre which occurred in November
2004 when soldiers attacked picketers outside a plantation near Tarlac. Among the 14 dead
were strikers and members of their families including two children aged two and five who died
later after being suffocated by the teargas used by the military and police.
The list of victims of this type of repression goes on and on and the situation stands to get worse
as the Arroyo Government moves to introduce new anti-terror legislation and a National
Identification System. Military figures — for example the heads of the Northern Luzon Command
of the Armed Forces of the Philippines — have already made it clear that they consider the
demands and activities of perfectly legal political, trade union and human rights organisations to
be terrorist threats.
The convenors of the International Solidarity Mission are the International League of Peoples'
Struggle, the Philippine chapter of the Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People's
Rights, the Promotion of Church People's Response, Bayan (New Patriotic Alliance), the
International Association of People's Lawyers and the Bayan Muna Party List. They aim to attract
overseas MPs, academics, trade unionists, peasant leaders, students, religious leaders,
solidarity activists, scientists, human rights activists, judges, law students, medical and other
professionals to take part in activities from August 13 to 20.
It is proposed that participants will divide into teams and travel to five different regional centres to
investigate human rights violations and hold local public forums and media conferences to
publicise the issues. They will then reconvene in the National Capital Region for a People's
Tribunal on the findings of the teams and then join in a march to highlight the human rights
situation in the Philippines.
Those wishing to participate should email the National ISM Secretariat at
solidaritymission@yahoo.comor titapl@qmail.comor phone the Philippines numbers (632) 410
7623 or (632) 925 1786.
Locally, Action for Peace and Development in the Philippines is calling on Australians to demand
improvements in the human rights situation in the Philippines by writing to:
Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
President of the Philippines
Malacanang Palace
Manila
Philippines
or
Hon Alexander Downer
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Parliament House
Canberra 2600
More information can be obtained by contacting Peter Brock on 0425 363 370
or emailing apdp@spinfinder.com