Truth commission as political vendetta?

I read an article that the Aquino administration’s displeasure with the Supreme Court may have had something to do with its decision on his Executive Order No. 1. (I think Hacienda Luisita is the real bone of contention!).

The Supreme Court was still deliberating the issue but already a group of experts from the US were in Manila to advise the truth commission. They were Wendy Luers and Adam Levy for the Project on Justice in Times of Transition. I attended the first meeting held at the Ateneo Law School in which the two Americans were facilitators.       

Among the group were Cesar L. Villanueva, Dean of the law school, Annabelle Abaya, presidential adviser on the Peace Process in the Arroyo government, Sr. Cres of Task Force Detainees, Susan Granada of the Ecumenical Council and Bishop Yniguez. Carolyn Mercado of the Asia Foundation was also there.

I was surprised that even before the Supreme Court decision there should be an American project to assist their local institutional partner, the Ateneo School of Law on the truth commission. The showpiece of work done by such truth commissions was South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. There was no clamor for a truth commission on the Iraqi war and the graft committed in the name of a trillion dollar war.

The context of the Truth Commission is President Noynoy’s Executive Order No. 1 to investigate the “alleged corruption issues in the nine-year Arroyo administration.” That did not seem to fall within the remit of truth commissions that are usually engaged after a civil war or the fall of a dictatorship but not after an election.

From Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, USA: “Truth commissions are a strategy designed for situations in which war crimes and human rights abuses have largely stopped and societies are struggling to come to terms with the tragedy. One focus is investigations to determine what actually happened, especially to people who may have just “disappeared.” There is also the challenge of determining who was responsible and assigning appropriate punishment. This requires one to consider the forces that led people to commit such crimes.”

Despite the credentials of the visitors the Filipinos in the group understood what it was about. They said bluntly that if it this were to be a political vendetta then it would not achieve what needs to be done.

As one of them said “it will be just a witch hunt and will do nothing for the poor and weak.” Truth commissions all sound very nice but would it address the problem of peace and justice? Someone objected that the truth commission should concentrate on “graft and corruption” of the previous government when there were graver issues like human rights violations that were just as bad if not worse in previous governments.

It is widely known that even bigger, more damaging graft and corruption were committed in other administrations including the first Aquino government.

If the intent of the truth commission is justice then it should encompass all previous governments  to be just. The visitors were surprised at the reactions they heard from the group.

Our justice system is alive and well among those most affected by it. “It must be made to work to strengthen the rule of law and to last long after the victorious Aquino government is gone.”

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MISCELLANY: It is worrying to know that some NPA members are busy making hay with the floods in Mindanao. “The flash floods that killed more than 1,200 in the southern Philippines this month are providing Asia’s longest-running Communist insurgency an opportunity to reinvent itself as a steward for the country’s badly depleted environment  and that’s triggering a fresh public relations battle with the country’s armed forces.” according to a report by James Hookway of the Wall Street Journal.

The floods have uses for hardline Maoists of the New People’s Army. Hookway interviewed rebel spokesman Jorge Madlos.

Madlos said “the guerrillas will demand major plantation companies such as Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. and Dole Food Co. pay up in recognition of the damage rebels say that their businesses have caused the local environment.

“We aim to discuss with the companies how they can compensate the local people through our revolutionary cadres in the National Democratic Front. If they don’t participate, well, we’ll have to see what happens,” Madlos warned.

The public must be informed about how the NPA uses environment concerns for their benefit. With the help of media and sectors of the Church the “NPA is trying to portray itself as a group of ecological avengers that punishes polluters and protects the local environment.”

Hookway gives as an example how in October, NPA guerrillas raided three mining sites in Mindanao, destroying valuable mining equipment and suspending operations at the Philippines’ single largest nickel-producing mine in what they described at the time as an act of retribution.

The rebels so far this year have extorted at least P300 million, or nearly $7 million, in revolutionary taxes. That compares with about one billion pesos last year, when the rebels managed to extort vast sums from candidates campaigning in national elections according to the report.

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I regret that I was not able to go with the Philippine Red Cross team led by Chairman Richard Gordon to Mindanao. I wanted to see the destruction in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City first hand as well as how the different aid groups were working to help the victims.

Most contributors trust Red Cross to do the job better than other groups because it has the experience as well as the facilities for calamities. In an email to this column, Gordon said they have set up 1,000 tents as transitional shelter for Sendong evacuees.

There are more than 8,000 families struggling with life at the 28 evacuation centers in Cagayan De Oro (CDO) and Iligan because of the congestion and lack of basic service facilities. Schools resume on January 3 and they would have to leave the school that serves as an emergency shelter.

“Natatakot po kami. Saan po kami pupunta?” one of the evacuees cried to PRC Chairman Richard Gordon.