Rights group calls for Philippines removal from UNHRC

MANILA, Philippines — A group of human rights activists is calling for the removal of the Philippines from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and for it to initiate an international fact-finding mission in the country.

Karapatan, through its secretary-general Cristina Palabay, said these actions are needed in the light of the government’s stubborn refusal to acknowledge its accountability on the numerous killings resulting from the war on drugs, the counterinsurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan, and the declaration of martial law in Mindanao.

The group made the call in the light of worsening trends on human rights and people’s rights violations under the Duterte government and after the release of a joint statement of 38 states, led by Iceland, on human rights in the Philippines.

Karapatan also documented in the past two weeks the killing of three peasant leaders and illegal arrest of at least seven individuals, including volunteer teachers of a Lumad school and a peasant activist in Mindanao.

“Fake surrenders were staged by the military, while they continue to terrorize residents whom they tag as NPA supporters,” Palabay said. “We call on the international community to continue its support for the Filipino people’s calls and campaigns against the tyrannical rule of Duterte. Such forms of international solidarity are most needed by the growing number of victims of this murderous regime.”

In San Fernando, Pampanga, the peasants’ group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) warned yesterday that the amendments to the Human Security Act or Republic Act 9372 would worsen the human rights situation and put the entire country under virtual martial law.

“House Bills 7141 and 5507 are twin bills that will complete Duterte’s de facto Martial Law. The proposed amendments will only make worse an already bad law. The Human Security Act must be junked altogether,” KMP said in a statement adding that “these bills will put an end to human rights and civil liberties as we know it.”

The group noted that the proposed amendments “want blanket authority and full force against what it categorizes as terrorism.”

It stressed that the proposed amendments “are dangerous because it will allow for the proscription of individuals and organizations as terrorists and seizure of assets without trial; criminalization of mere membership or intended membership in proscribed organizations.”

Meanwhile, Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles, also the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president, said they are depending on the Philippine National Police (PNP) to protect the citizenry, including priests, as he reiterated his objection to priests arming themselves in the light of the killing of Frs. Marcelino Paez, Mark Ventura and Richmond Nilo.

The PNP reported that from the period of June 2017 to June 2018 there were 188 Catholic priests and 58 ministers, preachers and pastors who applied for permit to carry firearms.

But running priest Fr. Robert Reyes challenged church leaders to go beyond issuing pastoral statements and become more visible in areas where killings have taken place so people would feel the presence of their prelates more.

He believes that Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle should not just issue pastoral statements but “should be seen in areas where a shepherd is needed to guide their sheep.”

“It is no longer a time to reflect, to pray, to study. The content of the pastoral letters of Cardinal Tagle is to ‘let us pray, let us fast, let us study, let us ring the bell’. They (bishops) have been doing that. I am not saying that that is wrong, but it is not enough,” Reyes said. – With Ding Cervantes, Evelyn Macairan