A GLIMPSE ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES On October 24, 1945, in the aftermath of World War II,

the United Nations came into being as an intergovernmental organization, with the purpose of saving future generations from the devastation of international conflict. The Charter of the United Nations established six principal bodies, including the General Assembly, the Security Council, the International Court of Justice, and in relation to human rights, an Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The UN Charter empowered ECOSOC to establish commissions in economic and social fields and for the promotion of human rights. One of these was the United Nations Human Rights Commission, which, under the chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt, saw to the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration was drafted by representatives of all regions of the world and encompassed all legal traditions. Formally adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948, it is the most universal human rights document in existence, delineating the thirty fundamental rights that form the basis for a democratic society. Following this historic act, the Assembly called upon all Member Countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories. Today, the Declaration is a living document that has been accepted as a contract between a government and its people throughout the world; and most especially, the Declaration has become the source of the modern idea on the concept of human rights. But in general, what is the fundamental characterization of human rights? Human rights are based on the principle of respect for the individual. Their fundamental assumption is that each person is a moral and rational being who deserves to be treated with dignity. They are called human rights because they are universal. Whereas nations or specialized groups enjoy specific rights that apply only to them, human rights are the rights to which everyone is entitledno matter who they are or where they livesimply because they are alive. Generally, human rights are international norms that help to protect all people everywhere from severe political, legal, and social abuses. Examples of human rights are as follows:

life, liberty and security of person freedom from slavery and servitude freedom from torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment equality before the law (isonomia) not being subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile freedom of movement and residence

nationality the right to marriage and to found a family freedom of thought, conscience and religion peaceful assembly and association work education.

However, here in the Philippines, despite being a signatory in many human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights conventions and treaties, several key institutions that are in-charge in recognizing, protecting, and promoting the Filipinos human rights remain weak. Therefore, human rights abuses such as political, social, and legal abuses towards Filipinos still remain rampant and large in number. The Philippines is a multiparty democracy with an elected president and legislature, a thriving civil society sector, and a vibrant media. Several key institutions, including the judiciary and law enforcement agencies, remain weak and the military and police still commit human rights violations with impunity. Armed opposition forces, including the communist New Peoples Army (NPA) and various Islamist Moro groups, also commit abuses against civilians. According to the speech of Hazel Galang, Amnesty Internationals International Secretariat in London, in the Human Rights in the Philippines conference held in Berlin, Germany on June 2011, before Benigno Noynoy Aquino became the President of the Philippines on 30 June 2010, he ran a platform that promised to reduce poverty, combat corruption, restore good governance and uphold human rights to better the lives of Filipinos. President Noynoy exclaimed in one of his speeches that he grew up in an era where human rights were often violated, and he knows more than anyone that the blatant disregard of liberties will only bring us further into the dark. But nevertheless, President Noynoy had not shown in his first year as president that human rights are a priority for his administration according to the Amnesty International (AI). One can remember that even before President Noynoy took his oath as the 15th president of the country, he gave the impression of being committed to solve cases of human rights violations perpetrated under GMA. President Noynoy maintains that the government is working overtime to prevent new cases of human rights violations and to resolve previous cases, and has pleaded for patience. Yet despite promises of reform, his administration has made little progress in addressing impunity, according to the Human Right World Report 2012 of Human Rights Watch (HRW). Extrajudicial killings of leftist activists and petty criminals continue,

with the government failing to acknowledge and address involvement by the security forces and local officials. As what have the Karapatan, an alliance for the advancement of peoples rights, stated in its 2010 Human Rights report, barely four months (July to October 2010) into Noynoys presidency, there are already 20 victims of extrajudicial killings, making an average frequency of once a week. There are two victims of enforced disappearance, 16 victims of torture, 23 of arbitrary arrest and detention and almost 900 who were to evacuate their homes and croplands due to intense militarization (see Table 1). These numbers grew larger and larger as the scope of the report spans from July 2010 to June 2011 of Noynoys administration (see Table 2).

Also in the Karapatan 2010 report, it was clearly stated that the Noynoy Aquino governments mantra of change is now unravelling its true promise that is but a continuation of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyos legacy of state terror, political repression and economic exploitation. Not exceptions to these are the violations against the Filipinos human rights. Referring to Table 1 and 2, the numbers of victims in each type of violation rose higher though some numbers have a very little increase. Moreover, from 2004-2010, the Philippines witnessed one of the worst waves of human rights violations in its history. These human rights violations can come in many different forms and what remains alarming until the present years are the extrajudicial killings, enforced

disappearances, illegal detention of political prisoners, and intense militarization, which will be elaborated in the proceeding paragraphs. In fact, Hazel Galang stated in her speech in the previously stated conference that in February 2010, after a consultation with the national and local human rights groups in the Philippines, AI wrote to Presidential candidates, including President Noynoy, to call their attention to pressing human rights issues. Galang presented the majority of their recommendations on issues that needed to be prioritized in the new governments human rights agenda: End political killings, unlawful arrests, secret detention, enforced disappearances, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Prevent the use of counter-insurgency and counterterrorism to justify human rights violations. EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS AND ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES The Institute for Human Rights has defined extrajudicial killings as killings committed outside the judicial process by, or with the consent of, public officials, other than as necessary measures of law enforcement to protect life or as acts of armed conflict carried out in conformity with the rules of international humanitarian law. On the other hand, according to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, enforced disappearance is considered to be the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law. The 2012 Human Rights World Report of HRW has stated in their discussion about the Philippines human rights situation: Hundreds of leftist politicians and political activists, journalists, and outspoken clergy have been killed or abducted since 2001. The government has largely failed to prosecute military personnel implicated in such killings, even though strong evidence exists in many cases. Only seven cases of extrajudicial killings from the past decade have been successfully prosecuted, none of which were in 2011 or involved active duty military personnel. Furthermore, the Karapatan organization has provided accurate figures on the numbers of victims of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearance under both the Arroyos and Aquinos administration spanning from January 2001 to June 2010 and from July 2010 to October 2010, respectively.

Basing from the Karapatan 2010 Report, over a thousand lives have been summarily killed snuffed out by extrajudicial killings (EJKs) under the U.S.-Arroyo regime. Documented records of Karapatan bare that EJKs claimed 1,206 victims (see Table 3). Her administration had recorded 645 EJK victims in Luzon, 186 victims in Visayas, and 375 victims in Mindanao, with Bicol region, Eastern Visayas, and ARMM having the highest number of EJK victims in each of the main islands, respectively. 475 of these victims nationwide have experienced organized EJK and 153 of all victims are women. 506 of all victims came from the peasant sector and 111 from the Moro people (see Table 4).

Under Arroyos administration, Luzon had the highest number of victims among the three main islands. But the number of victims in Visayas and Mindanao is still large, especially in the latter. Among the Mindanao regions, the ARMM region has the highest number of victims at 145 and SOCSKSARGEN region the lowest number of victims at only 27. The two regions are in stark contrasting to each other in terms of political stability. Politics has been more stable in SOCSKSARGEN than in ARMM, which is experiencing a bit huge political turmoil. In Aquinos administration, in contrast, barely four months in his presidency, there are already 20 victims of extrajudicial killings, making an average frequency of once a week (see Table 5). However, in the Mindanao setting, there are only 3 victims of extrajudicial killings

according to the reports gathered by Karapatan and all of those came from the Southern Mindanao. Among the 20 victims, 14 are peasants and there was 1 youth or student (see Table 6). Unfortunately, the data only included Northern Mindanao and Southern Mindanao in the 2010 report.

On the other hand, a record of the number of enforced disappearance cases has also been included in the Karapatan 2010 report spanning from January 2001 to June 2010 under Arroyos administration (see Table 3) and from July 2010 to December 2010 under Aquinos administration (see Table 4). In the recorded ED cases under Arroyos administration, the number was very alarming especially in the Luzon area. The numbers indicated in the Visayas and Mindanao record are not totally lagging behind from each other. There were 120 victims from Luzon, 37 from Visayas, and 49 from Mindanao. Southern Mindanao and CARAGA regions had the highest number of ED victims in Mindanao with 13 and 11, respectively. On the other hand, SOCKSARGEN had the lowest number of cases with only 5. All in all, enforced disappearances left 206 people still missing after her more than nine-year rule. An atrocious fact of having 131 victims of ED who were peasants has remained alarming while the next sector/group that has the second highest number of victims was from the workers sector with only 15 victims. Nevertheless, the numbers of enforced disappearance victims under Aquinos administration were only 2 and that time spanned from July 2010 to October 2010 only. All the two victims surprisingly just came from Northern Mindanao; and these two belonged in the peasant sector. However, in the Karapatan 2011 Human Rights report (see Table 2), from 2 victims, the number rose to 5 victims as of July 2010 to June 2011 of Aquinos administration. The increase is not that quite high, though.

Finally, politically motivated killings have continued despite President Aquinos pledges to address the problem. Human Rights Watch has documented at least seven extrajudicial killings and three enforced disappearances for which there is strong evidence of military involvement since Aquino took office in June 2010. ILLEGAL DETENTION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS Some understand the term political prisoner narrowly, equating it with the term prisoner of conscience (POC). Amnesty International campaigns for the release of prisoners of conscience, which include both political prisoners as well as those imprisoned for their religious or philosophical beliefs. To reduce controversy, and as a matter of principle, the organization's policy applies only to prisoners who have not committed or advocated violence. The phrase "political prisoners" though has little meaning in legal terms; there is no internationally recognised definition of a political prisoner. However, a de facto definition is provided by the human rights organisation Amnesty International: "Any prisoner whose case has a significant political element: whether the motivation of the prisoner's acts, the acts themselves, or the motivation of the authorities."

In the Philippines, however, despite the strong and international cry for the release of the 43 health workers who were illegally arrested and detained in Morong, Rizal in February 2010, the victims of arbitrary arrest remain incarcerated and falsely charged with mostly nonbailable offense o keep them in jail indefinitely, thus depriving poor communities of barefoot doctors and

midwives. This absolute example can somehow be a small picture for the illegal detention of prisoners happening in the Philippines, which is then a bigger picture of the whole scenario. As of 31st of October 2010, there have been 369 political prisoners who were illegally detained (see Table 7). 356 of which were arrested under Arroyos administration and the remaining 13 were arrested under Aquinos. Unsurprisingly, Luzon had the highest number of persons who are politically and illegally detained with 251 political prisoners. There were 49 prisoners in the Visayas region and 69 prisoners in Mindanao, nonetheless. Surprisingly, on the other hand, only 1 person was politically and illegally detained in the ARMM region despite of the then-ongoing political instability. MILITARIZATION Militarization has always been the response of the Philippine government to the age-old insurgency in the country. There has been no organization that has an internationally recognized definition of militarization, though. However, generally, militarization is defined as the process by which a society organizes itself for military conflict and violence. According to a paper presented to the Workshop on Women and War, Asia Pacific Research Network on 2008, in July 2007, the Human Security Act (HSA) came into effect in the midst of international criticism and public outcries against the massive human rights abuses being perpetuated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) under the Gloria MacapagalArroyo regime. Arroyo signed the HSA into law despite warnings from the Supreme Court that its passage could lead to more violations of human rights. Even before the enactment of the HSA, the Arroyo government has been realizing the aims of the program Oplan Bantay Laya (Freedom Watch), a counter-insurgency program patterned after the US military strategy on its war on terror. The Arroyo government received US$4.6 billion in US military assistance for the armed forces, with an additional US$ 30 million allotted for counter-terrorism trainings. The program divides military operations into four stages: conduct of military operations to clear the area of terrorists or insurgents; hold the area by forming paramilitary groups and an intelligence network; consolidate the area by improving relations between the AFP and the civilian population through civic action operations such as medical and dental missions; and develop the area by introducing livelihood and development projects. The programs pre-emptive strikes, particularly the abduction, torture, and killings of suspected terrorists, have been widely condemned by human rights watchdogs in and outside of the country, including the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial executions, Mr. Philip Alston. On the other hand, the provision of services like medical and dental missions are

merely palliative and do not provide impoverished communities with long-term access to essential services. With the Oplan Bantay Laya in place, the curtailment of civil liberties became rampant. Since Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came to power in 2001 until October 2007, there have been 4,969 incidents of state-sponsored human rights violations (HRVs), 1,010 of the cases involved women and 303 involved children victims of HRVs. In the first quarter of 2008, 21,456 human rights cases were recorded: 7,442 persons were displaced, 2,815 were threatened or harassed, more than 3,000 experienced food blockades, and more than 5,000 experienced indiscriminate firing. As women become more assertive in fighting for their rights, they are more vulnerable to violence. Activists and human rights advocates are outrightly considered by the military as communists and therefore enemies of the state who ought to be humiliated, tortured and even eliminated. They are often abducted. As of October 2007, 28 women activists have been reported missing after being abducted by military men, Lisa Posa-Dominado, a human rights activist and organizer in the Philippines, among them. Owing to the active condemnation of the international community and the unwavering vigilance of Filipino human rights groups, the number of cases of extra-judicial killings has tapered off since 2007. Even so, there were 13 victims of extrajudicial killings, four of them women, by the start of 2008. There are around 235 women political prisoners jailed in different parts of the country, 204 of them imprisoned under Arroyos term. As of March 31, 2008, 18 women are still detained in different parts of the country. Sexual abuse as a form of torture by state security forces are not rare or isolated occurrences as shown in the case of a woman named Angie Ipong, who even at her senior age of 64 had suffered molestation from the military. KEY INTERNATIONAL ACTORS Because of the still ongoing human rights violations in the Philippines, the government somehow needs financial support and any from their multilateral relationships with foreign countries. According to the HR World Report 2012, The United States is the Philippiness most influential ally and, together with Australia and Japan, among the countrys largest bilateral donors. The US military has access to Philippine territory and seas under a Visiting Forces Agreement, and the two militaries hold annual joint exercises. In fiscal year 2011-2012 the US government appropriated $12 million to the Philippines under Foreign Military Financing for

procurement of US military equipment, services, and training. Of this sum, $3 million is contingent upon the Philippine government showing progress in addressing human rights violations, including ending extrajudicial killings. US Ambassador Harry Thomas, Jr. has publicly called on the Philippine government to do more to end impunity for extrajudicial killings. The European Unions 2009 to 2011 3.9 million ($5.3 million) program to address extrajudicial killings and strengthen the criminal justice system concluded in April. In May, UN member states elected the Philippines to the UN Human Rights Council. References Aktionsbndnis Menschenrechte. (2011). Human Rights in the Philippines: Trends and Challenges under the Aquino Government. Aktionsbndnis Menschenrechte Philippinen (Ed.). BBC News. (1998, January 9). BBC News | Special Report | When is a 'criminal' a 'political prisoner'?. BBC News - Home. Retrieved May 3, 2012, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/46095.stm Claiming Human Rights. (n.d.). Definition of 'Enforced Disappearance'. Claiming Human Rights in Africa. Retrieved May 3, 2012, from http://www.claiminghumanrights.org/disappearance_definition.html?&L=1%2F%3Foptio n%3Dco...%2F%2Findex.php%3Foption%3Dcom_ckforms%2F%2Findex2.php%3Fopti on%3Dcom_ckforms Education For Development. (2010, January 20). Militarization in the Philippines. Education For Development. Retrieved May 3, 2012, from http://edm.iboninternational.org/component/content/article/399-special-features/239militarization-in-the-philippines Human Rights Watch. (2012). World Report 2012: Events of 2011. World Report, 376-382. Retrieved May 4, 2012, from http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/wr2012.pdf Karapatan. (2010). 2010 Year-End Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines. Karapatan. Retrieved on May 2, 2012 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/44443589/2010Year-End-Report-on-the-Human-Rights-Situation-in-the-Philippines Ocasiones, L. (2010). The Lives of Women in Militarized Zones. The Lives of Women in Militarized Zones. Retrieved on May 3, 2012 from http://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/pssr/article/viewFile/1269/1624 Somogod, S. M. (2012). Education and Militarization of Indigenous Communities: Our Experience as Rural Missionaries in Mindanao. Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights and Advocacy.Northern Mindanao: RMP-NMR. United For Human Rights. (n.d.). UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights: United for Human Rights. Universal Declaration of Human Rights Campaign: What are Human Rights? Definition. Retrieved May 3, 2012, from http://www.humanrights.com/what-are-humanrights/universal-declaration-of-human-rights.html