Congress to hear report on Philippine killings
Religious leaders open a 2003 peace march through
the streets of Davao in the war-torn Philippine province of Mindanao. A
UMNS file photo by Paul Jeffrey, ACT.
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By United Methodist News Service*
March 12, 2007 | WASHINGTON (UMNS)
Philippine religious leaders will testify before a U.S Senate panel
March 14 on extrajudicial killings in their country in the hopes of
turning the spotlight on "unabated and unpunished politically motivated
murders."
The delegation wants to send a message back home that U.S. leaders
are concerned about what is happening in the Southeast Asian nation.
They also hope the meetings will serve as a wakeup call to Congress
and the White House to stop sending money to a government implicated in
human right abuses.
"We are trying to rattle the chains of the House and Senate and put
some pressure on the State Department to insist that the government of
the Philippines not be engaged in human right abuses," said the Rev. Bob
Edgar, a United Methodist who is top staff executive of the U.S.
National Council of Churches.
Presenting to Congress
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on
East Asian and Pacific Affairs, called the congressional hearing to find
ways to end violence that has claimed the lives of more than 800 people
since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001.
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Bishop Solito Toquero
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Two Filipino witnesses to the hearing, Bishop Eliezer Pascua, general
secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, and Marie
Hilao-Enriquez, general secretary of the human rights alliance
Karapatan, are part of a nine-member ecumenical delegation that includes
United Methodist Bishop Solito Toquero.
The delegation also will be part of a briefing with staff of the
House Committee on Foreign Affairs, headed by Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif.
Both the Senate hearing and the House briefing resulted from concerted
efforts of church and ecumenical bodies led by Edgar, a former member of
the U.S. Congress.
"The delegation was anxious if not desperate to have a voice and an
audience with Sen. Boxer's committee and also Rep. Tom Lantos," Edgar
said. The delegation knows speaking out will "put them on lists to be
threatened or harmed," Edgar said. "They indicated the risks were worth
the dangers."
Others scheduled to testify before the Senate panel are Eric John,
State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Jonathan Farrar, Democracy,
Human Rights and Labor Department; T. Kumar, Asia and Pacific of Amnesty
International USA; and G. Eugene Martin, Philippine Facilitation
Project of the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Other delegation members are Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes, general
secretary of National Council of Churches in the Philippines; Fr. Jose
P. Dizon, executive director of the Workers Assistance Center, Inc.; the
Rev. Deogracias Iniguez, Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of
Kalookan; Edre Olalia, of the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties;
Athea Peñalosa, representing the Children's Rehabilitation Center; and
Amirah Ali Lidasan, secretary general and co-founder of the
Moro-Christian People's Alliance.
The latest killing took place March 9, Edgar said, and brings the
total deaths since January 2001 to 836. In 2006 alone, there were 207
extrajudicial killings, or an average of four people a week.
Spreading the word
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The Rev. Bob Edgar
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The Filipino
delegation knows speaking out will "put them on lists to be threatened
or harmed. They indicated the risks were worth the dangers." -The Rev. Bob EdgarThe
Filipino delegation is speaking out to various organizations and
conferences about the atrocities in their nation and advocates for the
United States to put more pressure on the Philippine government
regarding human rights.
Members spoke March 10-12 in Washington during the fifth annual
Ecumenical Advocacy Days Conference, attended by 1,300 faith-based and
civil society leaders and activists concerned with U.S. foreign and
domestic policies.
They also will present findings March 12-14 during the International
Ecumenical Conference on Human Rights in the Philippines, called by
U.S., Canadian and ecumenical church leaders. The Philippine Working
Group of the Church World Service Asia Pacific Forum and the National
Council of Churches in the Philippines are sponsoring the conference.
A recent report of the National Council of Churches in the
Philippines (NCCP) details cases of political killings and studies the
chilling pattern and alarming number of deaths. The report links the
unbridled political killings to the Arroyo government's
counter-insurgency program.
"The manner with which the victims were executed or abducted was done
professionally and systematically, establishing a connection between
the national security strategy and the incidents of violations," the
report states.
The document notes the poor record of the Philippine government in both
complying with procedures required of a member of the United Nations and
keeping its declared commitments to the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Evidence grows
The NCCP report is the latest study to link responsibility for the killings to Philippine military and security forces.
On February 21, Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur of the United
Nations Human Rights Council on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions, asked the Armed Forces of the Philippines to acknowledge its
involvement and investigate the matter. Alston had spent 10 days in the
Philippines exploring the killings and related human rights violations
and met with Arroyo and other government officials, human rights groups
and victims' families
On March 6, a U.S. State Department report said unexplained killings
in the Philippines during 2006 were committed "apparently by elements of
the security forces."
A commission formed by Arroyo herself to investigate the political
killings has produced its own report naming retired Philippine Army Gen.
Jovito Palparan, along with other generals, as the "prime suspect
behind the extrajudicial killings." The commission, headed by a former
Supreme Court justice in the Philippines, called on Arroyo to punish
those responsible.
Victims reportedly are killed for political beliefs, exercising
freedom of expression and opting to serve others as Christians. Among
those killed have been lawyers, human rights defenders, journalists,
church leaders, local officials, community leaders and organizers,
students, peasants, indigenous leaders, workers, professionals, women
and children.
*Noel Pangilinan, media representative for the International
Ecumenical Conference on Human Rights in the Philippines, contributed to
this report.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Audio - The Rev. Bob Edgar
"Sends a message back to Philippines"
"Trying to rattle chains of House and Senate."
"This is a courageous act on their parts."
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Resources
International Ecumenical Conference on Human Rights in the Philippines
Ecumenical Advocacy Days
Global Connections: The Philippines |