Honourable Chairman and members of the subcommittee on human rights, good afternoon.
We members of the Philippine House of Representatives appear before you to seek your help in urging the Canadian government to put more pressure on the Philippine government to end the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in our country.
We appear before the committee both as representatives of the victims and as victims ourselves of political persecution and human rights violations by the Arroyo government.
In the seven years that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has held power, there have been almost 900 extrajudicial killings and 180 enforced disappearances. Of the 900 killed, 226 were members of the three political parties we lead and represent in Congress. We, the elected representatives, have been charged with spurious crimes such as rebellion, which have been justly ordered dismissed by the Supreme Court. Other charges, however, are still pending in the lower courts.
The victims of extrajudicial killings are renowned activists who include workers, peasants, students, women, indigenous people, the working poor, and journalists.
Two fact-finding reports were submitted to both the Philippine government and to the United Nations. Both reports make recommendations to the government on ways to put an end to the killings; however, none of the recommendations have been implemented by the Arroyo government.
The more definitive report is by the UN-commissioned special rapporteur, Philip Alston. The report directly attributes the killings and human rights violations to the armed forces of the Philippines and its counter-insurgency program called Oplan Bantay Laya, or “operation freedom watch”. Professor Alston recommends the removal of extrajudicial executions as a component of this program.
President Arroyo is at the top of the program. Last year she ordered the full implementation of Oplan Bantay Laya by 2010, when her term of office ends. The counter-insurgency program implements the military aspect of a national internal security plan, or ISP, also approved by the president. This plan combines military campaigns to secure peace in conflict zones with poverty reduction and developmental objectives. It is worth noting that CIDA funds these building efforts in the conflict-affected Mindanao.
The Arroyo administration has stubbornly refused to assume accountability and act decisively to end the political killings and penalize those directly responsible. This is why it is important for us to ask for Canada's support to follow the lead of the European Union by taking definitive action toward inducing the Philippine government to end the killings.
I'll ask my colleague to provide his testimony.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.