Honourable members of the Canadian House of Commons subcommittee on human rights, thank you for providing us with an opportunity to report on the state of human rights in the Philippines.
As general secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, which has more than 2,800 local churches, as well as vice-chairperson of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, it is my honour to speak with you today and appeal for your support in bringing an end to the climate of impunity that prevails in the Philippines.
A member of the United Church, Rabenio Sungit, was extrajudicially killed on September 5, 2011. He is among 68 persons extrajudicially killed since President Aquino came to power. The reality that on average almost one person per week continues to be a victim of extrajudicial killing sobers any illusion that the human rights situation in the Philippines has been rectified under the new Aquino administration.
During the previous regime of President Macapagal-Arroyo, over 1,000 extrajudicial killings were recorded by the human rights group Karapatan, or Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights.
According to a report by Al Parreño, a lawyer with the Asia Foundation who conducted an audit of 364 cases of extrajudicial killings from 2001 up to the present, only 1.37% of the 364 extrajudicial killings audited were solved as of August 21, 2011.
These killings are strategically carried out in the name of national security. Prosecutions often do not progress because witnesses are too intimidated or feel too terrorized to report or testify. Despite repeated recommendations from different United Nations bodies, the government has not instituted a protection mechanism for witnesses.
International agencies with funding from governments, including Canada, train the military, the police, and the judiciary to promote human rights. Unfortunately, such training only provides a shield for military and police forces, who now claim to be national human rights defenders.
The state security forces engage in so-called civil-military partnerships and community peace efforts under the government's counter-insurgency program, Operation Plan Bayanihan. Military operations are particularly intense in areas where there is foreign investment, including Canadian agribusiness and mining projects.
As entire communities are militarized, civilians are subjected to intimidation, harassment, arbitrary arrest, and strafing. Under the name of national security, those responsible for human rights abuses are practically considered untouchable by the judicial system.
Even Christians and churches are targeted for living out the demands of their faith to love their neighbours. Pastors and leaders of the United Church have been gunned down—on their front steps, in their markets, while walking, or driving on the streets—by state agents, who are all, by all indicators, trained and directed by the state.
Imagine the feelings of loss, horror, and fear that pervade our cities, towns, and communities. Imagine the frustration at not having access to redress or justice, as it becomes an open secret—a truth dangerous to speak—as to who is responsible for the killings, attempted killings, disappearances, abductions, and torture.
The United Church of Christ in the Philippines has resorted to the historic action of filing a civil suit against past President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her responsibility in human rights violations. This was done outside the support of the government.
In June 2011, together with the families of five victims of extrajudicial killings and a surviving victim of abduction, torture, and illegal detention, we filed a legal case. The suit cites 28 cases of UCCP members, lay leaders, and ministers having been killed, extrajudicially abducted and tortured, forcibly disappeared and believed killed, or surviving attempted killings.
The listing of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines and other churches as enemies of the state, combined with the climate of impunity promoted during the Arroyo administration, laid the foundation for human rights violations to proliferate. The legal suit filed by the United Church of Christ in the Philippines caused the former president to account for all the lives that were lost and destroyed. As president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Philippines, former President Arroyo and now-President Aquino are responsible for the actions being taken by the military.
This legal suit is a concrete action to help them seek redress and to put an end to the continuing cycle of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. Our faith compels us to continue our stand with victims of human rights violations in striving for justice. We are not alone in these efforts to hold the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity accountable. Hundreds of families of victims of human rights violations are committed to seeking justice and an end to impunity. We appeal to you to stand with us, demanding that impunity be ended in the Philippines.
Given that Canada has strong relations with and an interest in the Philippines, the Canadian government has a role to ensure that the Philippines upholds its human rights obligations. The United Nations Universal Periodic Review of the Philippines in June 2012 provides an opportunity for the Canadian government to press the Philippines to put an end to extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations. The other venue is to do it through the bilateral diplomatic relations with the Philippines.
Through the subcommittee, we ask the Canadian government to support and endorse the recommendation of Philippine churches and organizations to the universal periodic review, and we call on the Philippine government to immediately grant general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty for all political prisoners; to reform the judicial and criminal justice system; to address the pervading climate of impunity by instituting special laws, procedures, remedies, and courts that will effectively prosecute cases of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and other human rights violations carried out by state forces; and to urge the government to pursue peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The subcommittee may also consider sending a parliamentary delegation to the Philippines to investigate the targeting and attacks on churches and church people.
Thank you for providing this time to the Philippine Ecumenical Voice and the UPR Watch. Together we hope we will bring an end to human rights violations in the Philippines.
God bless us all.