Cybercrime law, killing and arrests, corruption: martial law footprints in the Philippines

Press Statement
February 25, 2014

“BS Aquino is bringing the Filipino people back to the days of martial law with the approval of the Cybercrime Law and the appointment of a member of the defunct Philippine Constabulary to the Claims Board that is tasked to indemnify the victims of the Marcos dictatorship. These, along with the systemic and structural problems in society, retain the martial law footprints in our country,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general, as the 28th year after Edsa 1 is commemorated today.

Palabay said, “This year’s commemoration of the fall of the Marcos dictatorship underscores the reality that 28 years may have passed, but the Filipino people still face the same problems that should have gone with the Marcos dictatorship.”

Karapatan listed “10 footprints that bring us back to the dark days of martial law, debunking that democracy was restored after the Marcos era.”

1. The Marcos family is back in power, like they did not leave government at all. They were as free as in the glorious days; they remain unprosecuted for the crimes they committed against the Filipino people.

2. Justice continues to elude the Filipino people. The membership of the Claims Board, mandated by the law to render justice to the victims of martial law, showed BS Aquino’s distorted sense of justice when he tasked a former member of the Philippine Constabulary, Gen. Lina Sarmiento. Thousands of victims of human rights violations after the fall of the dictatorship up to the present are likewise denied justice as impunity persists and not a single perpetrator is put to jail.

3. Free speech and freedom of expression is threatened anew with the Cybercrime Law in place. The law, aptly called e-martial law, aims to sow fear, especially to those who dare speak against the anti-people policies and programs of the US-Aquino regime.

4. Extrajudicial killings (known as ‘salvaging’ during martial law), illegal arrests and detention, torture, bombings and forced evacuation are unabated. The violations are not simply a product of “aberrations” in the military institution, committed by scallywags. The human rights violations are caused by the government’s counterinsurgency program, Oplan Bayanihan that was preceded by several other Oplans from the time of Marcos and of those who succeeded him. There are now 169 victims of extrajudicial killings under the Aquino regime.

5. Paramilitary groups formerly the ICHDF (Integrated Civilian Home Defense Force) are now known as the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU), SCAA (Special Citizens Active Auxiliaries), Investment Defense Force (IDF) and many other names. The names may vary but the aim remains: to serve as force multiplier of the military and to sow terror among the populace. The gruesome killings from which they are known for continues.

6. Corruption in the bureaucracy stinks. The names of programs and lump sum allocations to the members of the clique in power vary but the nature is the same—the nation’s treasury is used to buy off loyalties to perpetuate themselves in power; and to amass more wealth at the people’s expense.

7. Demolition of shanties to build Imelda Marcos’ “City of Man” never ceased. Now, demolition of urban poor houses is done to build condominiums, shopping malls, resorts and casinos.

8. Land Reform from the time of Marcos up to the present remains a euphemism for landgrabbing and depriving the peasants of the lands they till. How the Aquino-Cojuangco clan skirted land reform through corporatization and through the use of armed force in Hacienda Luisita continues to be a model in the post-martial law era.

9. Marcos tampered the Constitution, with a semblance of a rubber stamp Congress and his law-making powers; Aquino, is playing with the Constitution by a simple resolution of his minions in Congress to sell the country’s sovereignty and patrimony to foreign investors.

10. Lack of jobs, high prices of basic commodities, and low wages were earmarks of the Marcos era that continue up to the present. ###

Betrayal of EDSA: A Throwback to Martial Law era?

NATIONAL UNION OF PEOPLE'S LAWYERS, PHILIPPINES
Press Statement
25 February 2014

Betrayal of EDSA: A Throwback to Martial Law era?

After twenty-eight years of platitudes and grand rhetorics, this year is the height of insult and affront for victims of the Marcos dictatorship as President BS Aquino seems to ignore years of efforts at fundamental change for the benefit of the majority of our people.

In a fundamental sense, the Aquino presidency has practically put us back precisely to the Martial Law era: to the age of widespread corruption and the systematic marauding of government coffers; to monopolies and oligopolies by a tiny elite living ostentatiously amidst penury; to degrading quality of life and diminishing economic power of the ordinary Filipino deprived of basic social services; to flagrant state violence and vicious attacks on human rights and callous denial of such; to the failure to attain real justice in a discriminatory system despite the "rule of law" shibboleth; to US intrusion and domination in political, military, social, and economic affairs; to unresolved roots of the armed conflict raging in the countryside.

Indeed, the only thing missing might be the blanket military and legislative powers exercised by Ferdinand Marcos. Or essentially maybe not.

One outstanding betrayal among so many is BS Aquino’s appointment of a police general as head of the Human Rights Victims Claims Board. It is reminiscent of Marcos’ own dependence on a loyal army and police and his revolving door policy – one important facet of which is appointing retirees to political positions.

In selecting a State law enforcer with no natural affinity, track record, or known advocacy for human rights, Aquino with one fell swoop demolishes whatever gains and progress Martial Law victims have achieved.

The human rights victims are not beggars and are not concerned merely with seeking compensation for themselves for past and continuing atrocities. It is the re-writing the history of human rights violations during the martial law regime that is the bigger picture. By insisting on his choice that escapes reason and common sense, BS Aquino is effectively exonerating the entire system that perpetrated the abuses, justified their occurrence, and concealed them with a veneer of impunity. This is nothing short of contempt and revulsion for “fellow” victims of the Martial Law regime.

The present has become the sum of all our fears: that “never again” will happen again.

Do not the headlines of today – spiraling consumer costs, dissatisfaction or distrust with government, unbridled corruption, breakdown of "law and order," echo those of past?

Are not the perils of before – extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and lack of certain accountability– still menacing us today? It may come in different shapes and sizes, but fears will always feel the same. The sheer dread of losing out to an “unjust” rule of law permeates our society, as the same ruling elite play around with the system.

Or as more things change, the more things indeed basically remain the same? In the end, no real sense of history comes from the ivory tower of caciques.

But as the people become increasingly perceptive, our governors can no longer take comfort in pedigrees or camouflage pretentious self-righteousness.

But it will take only a little before it becomes obvious that, from the point of the view of the people, the beginning of the end of the old society must genuinely start anew, a chance to squeeze out of the gridlock of the long and winding road of so many things that are wrong in Philippine society.#

THE CHOICE WE MAKE

Title: “The choice we make”
Scripture Texts: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18; Matthew 5:38-48

by Frank J. Hernando
Meditation for Filipino community at Zion Methodist Church
Seoul, Korea
23 February 2014

Reflection Points

1. The immediate past week was predominated with news that were emotionally stirring like the reunion of separated Korean families in the DPRK’s Keumgangsan Resort, where tears flowed out when separated family members have the chance to see each other face to face and expressed their love and hopes for each other. There was the frustrating news that Kim Yuna got second place instead of first place in the figure skating event at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Many Koreans expressed their disgust on the unfair judging of the competition. Also there was the political conflict in the city of Kiev in Ukraine where many protesters were killed by the state security forces. These news characterize the world in which we live and in a sense we find ourselves connected to these events. If you are not then perhaps you have been immersed into your personal concerns or trying to figure out how to resolve difficulties you’ve been facing during the week or lingering psychological disturbances that bother you.

2. Holy (banal, Tag., balaan, Vis-Hil.) or holiness (kabanalan, Tag., pagkabalaan, Vis-Hil.) has been a character of God, the unseen One who is sovereign (makapangyarihan, Tag.), meaning able to do what God wants to do and behaviourally contrasted to the mundane or human, and sometimes the profane. As a maturing person in my teenage years, I understood holiness as a psychological state of mind that prevents me from doing something that will displease God or those who have the authority over me like my parents. I might be right with my initial religious perception of holiness, the Levitical instructions in our text today as I understand them present a different view of holiness. The collection of Levitical instructions reminds the Hebrew people that God’s holiness is actually protecting the rights of their neighbors. While we think of these instructions as religious duty, these are almost the same with the Asian and Filipino social customs and traditions of community life. The list of instructions are practical ways in living out holiness.

1. Leaving a portion of the harvest of the field to those who may need food--concern and compassion for poor and hungry. (Lev. 19: 9-10)
2. Promote empathy and solidarity with your neighbors (not stealing, no deception, not lying; 19:11)
3. Be responsible for your actions (19:12).
4. Deal honestly and protect the rights and welfare of workers (19:13)
5. Be accountable to your neighbor, love them as you would to yourself (19:16-18)

These instructions point to the holiness of God which is beyond the religious piety that most of us think are better than practical justice operationalized in social relations and strengthens community solidarity rather than thinking and acting as if some are better of that others or are more spiritually gifted than others (holier than thou). James K. Mead says that “God's holiness requires us to live justly and truthfully in relation to others. Strengthening this theological motivation is the phrase, "love your neighbor as yourself." At the deepest level, loving others flows from the recognition that they are "like us," that they bear the image of God with us.”

3. Jesus did not desist in teaching the religious instructions from Leviticus and Deuteronomy in the Old Testament, but he interpreted them in the light of his own social context. Jesus was not just another rabbi of his time who just follow the instructions to the letter or literal interpretation, rather he affirms these instructions as prerequisite both in religious and social relations and means toward acceptance and solidarity within the community of the Jews. The historical circumstances in which Jesus lived and did his ministry presented to him the religious malaise (sakit sa gawaing relihyoso) in which the Jewish authorities have concentrated in teaching rigid religious laws that alienated those at the bottom of the social structure. Jesus taught the levitical laws in the perspective of the reign of God as contrasted to the reign of self-righteousness, greed and violence. The points in Jesus’ instructions are:

1. Mat. 5: 38-39, Inflicting violence should be stopped, or put in control because violence is rooted in humanity’s instinctive response to survive and defence of life. The task of a disciple is to overcome the culture of violence and emphasize empathy, compassion and deeper relationships with neighbors and challenge people to leave the kingdom of violence, self-righteousness and greed and move into the kingdom of love and compassion.

2. Mat. 5: 40-42, Be generous and magnanimous with those in need. In the reign of greed and violence people think and behave in a manner that devalue human life and demean those that belong to the lower classes of society. Jesus instructs the disciples that those who want to live in the reign of God must actualize generosity and open mindedness.

3. Mat. 5: 43-47, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. The enemy mentioned here are considered those who live within the boundary of the reign of greed, violence and self-righteousness. When they unleash their violence, the disciples can be harmed and or prosecuted in the courts and even crucified or killed. Loving one’s enemies means living in the reign of love, compassion, solidarity and peace and making it possible for your enemies to leave behind the reign of greed, violence and self-righteousness so they as well life in the new reality.

4. Finally, I would to share with you the thoughts of Richard Rohr on the last verses of Matthew chapter 5 that stressed the practical aspect of Jesus’ teachings:

If you greet only your brother, what’s so great about that? The ultimately alienating process is that if we stay inside our religious/ethnic group, wars and racism continue. That’s just staying inside a kind of magnified self-love. The key is always to love the stranger at the gate. Love the one outside of your comfort zone, the outsider, the other. Until you can enter into the outsider and the other, Jesus says, you really have not loved at all. What’s his motivation for doing this? The all-inclusiveness of God.

What Jesus suggests is a kind of imitatio Deo, an imitation of God. If that’s who God is and that’s the way God loves, then that’s how we want to love. God rubs off on people who hang around God. If God “sets no bounds,” then we have to stop keeping score and weighing worthiness.

The final imperative is … most demanding commandment is going to ask a great deal of us — boundlessness and magnanimity.

Let the reign of agapaeic or unconditional love, compassion, generosity and open mindedness that comes from our Lord Jesus Christ grow and bear fruit in our lives. Amen.

The Task of Christian Education

The task of teaching ministry is to inculcate and illustrate the love of God in Jesus Christ in the present and future contingencies in the immediate and broader social context. The task is not limited and constrained in the structured learning processes but includes the conscious and systematic approaches to effect values reorientation, behavioral and attitudinal changes that form the semblances of Christ-like life and commitment.--frank hernando

Statement Against Clampdown of Non-documented migrants in Korea

KASAMMAKO strongly condemns the January 03, 2014 directive ofLabor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz of the Philippine’s Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to reduce the number of non-documented OFWs in South Korea which allows the South Korea’s Immigration Bureau to intensify clampdown on migrant workers. We detest this act of DOLE Secretary Baldoz for this put the lives of OFWS in South Korea in alarming and precarious situation and exacerbate unemployment problem of millions of Filipinos and dim the right and hope of families of OFWs for a decent and honorable life. Anonline media revealed,

 

The Department of Labor and Employment seeks to reduce the estimated 8,000 overstaying overseas Filipino workers in South Korea so that it could increase its deployment in the north Asian country through its Employment Permit System (EPS). DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said South Korea’s annual quota for foreign workers under its EPS is decided by its Foreign Workers Policy Committee with due consideration on the number of overstaying workers, as well as labor market trends, level of labor shortages, and economic condition. In 2014, Baldoz said she will aggressively address the issue of illegally staying EPS Filipino workers in South Korea.

 

This DOLE directive in collusion with Seoul POLO is a reprehensibleconspiracy against the interest and welfare of OFWs in South Korea. We know that this year 2014 is the year for evaluation and review of the EPS Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between labor sending countries including the Philippines and the Human Resource Development (HRD-Korea). This is the main reason why DOLE andSeoul Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Seoul-POLO) are compelledand have gone overboard in their attempts at reducing the number of non-documented OFWs in Korea.

 

Following HRD-Korea’s impositions and allowing itself to be driven by conditions for renewal of EPS MOU the DOLE, POEA and POLOhave not been exercising their sovereign negotiating power and bias for the rights and welfare of OFWs but subservient to South Korea’s government interest to benefit from docile and cheap labor of Filipino migrant workers. The increase of non-documented migrant workers in South Korea has been due to the flaws in the EPS that limits the term of employment of migrant workers to four (4) years and ten (10) months, transfer of work places is only three times in three years, delayed ofunpaid wages, unpaid overtime work, discrimination in work places and physical and psychological abuses of employers.

 

In the same press statement, it purports that Secretary Baldoz instructed Labor Attaché to South Korea Felicitas Bay to coordinate and link with the Human Resource Development Service and Ministry ofEmployment and Labor of South Korea on measures to ensure that Filipino workers under the EPS leave South Korea at the end of their contracts. This is a go signal to the Korea’s Immigration Bureau to arrest and deport non-documented OFWs, even if the privacy and human rights of migrant workers have been violated in the conduct of arrest, which have been likened to raiding criminal syndicates in houses, city streets, factories and other places where clampdown have been conducted.

 

We despise this manner of treatment of non-documented migrant workers. Migrant workers are not criminals. They are economic refugees and their rights are protected under the United Nations Convention for the Protection of the Rights of Migrants and their Families.

 

Landlessness, poverty situation, unemployment and low wages are the main causes of forced labor migration of more than 8 million Filipinos and exacerbated by the government officials corruption and inutility to institute social justice and national industrialization. The Philippine Labor Export Policy (LEP) has been the culprit of the modern day slavery of Filipino migrant workers.

 

KASMAMAKO urge the governments of the Republic of Korea and the Republic of the Philippines to do or address the following:

 

1.

Stop clampdown of non-documented migrant workers for clampdown violates the right to decent life and employment of migrant workers and their families as enshrined in the United Nations Convention for the Protection of the Rights of Migrantsand their Families.

 

2.

President B.S. Aquino III should urgently implement programs that will provide decent jobs for all Filipino workers including OFWs and stop forced labor migration through the Labor Export Policy carried by the government agencies such the DOLE, POEA and its subordinate agencies such as the POLO in South Korea and many other countries around the world.

 

3.

The Philippine government agencies should provide economic and welfare support for deported OFWs. Many deportedOFWs are still poor even after staying in Korea for four or five years.

 

4.

Pursue legalization of non-documented migrant workers. The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea should enact lawsthat will provide for amnesty of non-documented migrants workers who have worked in the country for a definite period of time and has proven their competency and skills in their particular occupations.

 

5.

Change EPS to Work Permit System. The Employment Permit System (EPS) as mechanism for importing cheap labor in South Korea has been found faulty in many aspects as experienced by migrant workers. The EPS limits the term of employment of migrant workers to four (4) years and ten (10) months, transfer of work places is only three times in three years, delayed of unpaid wages, unpaid overtime work, discrimination in work places and physical and psychological abuses of employers. A Work Permit System should replace the EPS. It should be one that allows a continuous employment of migrant workers based on their skills,transfer of work places should not be limited to three times. Protection of the rights and welfare of migrant workers must be ensured by the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).

 

6.

Stop exploitation of migrant workers and grave violations of their human rights. These have taken numerous forms, including labor flexibilization, human trafficking, sexual abuse, harsh living and working conditions, social exclusion of migrants including marriage migrants, domestic workers, refugees, and child laborers. The abuse becomes even more tragic, and support and protection more acute among non-documented migrants.

 

 

FOR KASAMMAKO:

Mr. Pastor E. Galang, Jr.

Secretary Genera

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