27 April 2014
As US Pres. Barack Obama visits the Philippines this April 28, human rights activists, peace advocates and justice campaigners in Hong Kong together with Asian and Filipino migrants, stand with the Filipino people in the Philippines and overseas in calling for the rejection of the US-PH Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation and withdrawing aid to the Philippine military who is waging war against activists and civilians.
The US-PH AEDC is a resurrected military bases agreement in a worse and bigger scale as it will make the whole Philippine territory open to US military forces, nuclear armaments and war machines; and a base to use for the US’ arbitrary wars of aggression and intervention or to show to its economic and political competitors US’ military might.
It shall also pave the way for increased assistance to the Philippine military that is yet to account for the numerous human rights violations its personnel have committed against rural people, indigenous communities, urban settlers, and activists from trade unions, peasants organizations, indigenous groups, women, youth and other marginalized people striving for societal changes.
Impunity is much alive in the Philippines; the same impunity that lets the US government get away with the wars it waged, bombs it dropped, and drone strikes it unleashed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere on unjust grounds.
According to the human rights group Karapatan, the victims of extrajudicial killings since President Aquino assumed leadership up to December 2013 reached 169. In the first three months of this year, 19 more were killed including the Ligiws - environmentalist father and sons – in Abra, fair trade activist Romeo Capalla in Panay Island, and human rights defender William Bugatti in Ifugao.
This meant that at least one person was killed per week as a victim of extrajudicial killing.
These numbers are on top of the thousands more victimized by the previous administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for whom the Aquino administration has failed to provide justice. Even AFP Gen. Jovito Palaparan, known notorious human rights violator of the previous administration, has also not been brought it to account for his crimes.
Political prosecution has also been in an upsurge under the Aquino government. This has greatly affected the prospects of the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and is threatening to subvert any advances the talks have made over the years.
The recent arrest of Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria, consultants of the NDFP, and the refusal of the GPH to acknowledge that they are under the protection of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) is yet again another snag in the negotiations.
There can be no peace if there is no justice; and there can be no justice if human rights are violated with impunity.
US Pres. Barack Obama should take this to heart before he signs any agreement that will merely increase the capacity of the Philippine government and military to suppress the rights of the people, and commit more atrocious acts that make human rights meaningless, justice untenable, and peace a mere dream for the Filipinos.
If President Obama’s visit is to have meaning to the Filipino people, it must be geared towards putting a cap to the culture of impunity, and exerting efforts to jumpstart the peace talks again.
The Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP) shall continue to stand with groups under the banner of the International Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) to achieve these ends.#
Endorsed by:
• Abra Tinguian Ilocano Society (ATIS-HK)
• Asosiasi Buruh Migran Indonesia di Hong Kong (ATKI-HK)
• Bagong Alyansang Makabayan – Hong Kong (BAYAN-HK)
• Cordillera Alliance in Hong Kong (CORALL-HK)
• Filipino Migrant Workers' Union (FMWU)
• GABRIELA Hong Kong
• Indonesian Muslim Migrants Alliance (GAMMI)
• Indonesian Migrant Workers' Union (IMWU)
• League of Indonesian Migrant Workers (LiPMI)
• Persatuan BMI Tolak Overcharging (PILAR)
• Promotion of Church People’s Response – Hong Kong (PCPR-HK)
• United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK)
• United Pangasinan Hong Kong (UPHK)
For reference:
Jackie Hung Bruce Van Voorhis
ICHRP, Vice Chairperson HKCAHRPP Co-Convenor
Tel. No. (852) 9268-1803 Tel. No. (852) 9492-3064
*** Formed in 2006, the Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP) is a coalition/network composed of human rights organisations and advocates, migrant workers groups, NGOs, faith-based groups and individuals from the media, academe and legal profession – united in advocating for human rights and for just and lasting peace in the Philippines. HKCAHRPP is a member of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) ***
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