Thank you very much.
I represent Anakpawis, the worker and peasant party-list in the Philippines Congress, a party that is being targeted in the current state of extrajudicial killings and human rights violations in our country.
Trade union repression resulted in the extrajudicial killings of 87 union leaders and members; 29 were tortured; and a number of our members have disappeared. There has been a total of 1,272 cases of labour rights violations, including systematic “no union, no strike” policies, union busting, violent dispersals, and illegal dismissal of striking union members.
I myself was a victim of trumped-up charges of rebellion. I spent 16 months in prison immediately after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state of national emergency in 2006. I was released after the Supreme Court of the Philippines dismissed the rebellion charges against me. However, the sedition charges against me are not withdrawn, and my colleagues in Anakpawis continue to be targeted.
We are here to appeal for your support and intervention. Canada provides support to the Philippines military and police training. This summer, Canada will be training 12 mid-level officers of the Philippines military here.
Canada provides development aid to the Philippines at about $14 million a year, making it the eighth-largest official development assistance contributor to the country. About 60% of CIDA funds go to projects in Mindanao, where a Muslim insurgency has been active for the past few decades. We have good reason to believe that Canadian funds are used in internal security campaigns of the Arroyo government, such as the national internal security plan. We would like this committee to look into this and ensure that Canada is not complicit in, or contributing to, the violations of Filipino people's rights.
Last year the Philippines government enacted the Human Security Act. The Arroyo government continues to use the war on terror as a means to silence dissent, turning legitimate acts of protest into crimes punishable by 40-year sentences.
International civil society groups and governments are holding the Arroyo government accountable and demanding an end to extrajudicial killing. The European Union, the governments of Finland, Spain, France, and Japan, have all issued statements of concern or outright condemnation. We ask you to take a firm and principled position against the human rights violations of the people of the Philippines.
Thank you.