Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on Oct. 30th, 2012

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

You say it continues?

[Neri Colmenares]

Yes. Out of the 114 victims of extrajudicial killings, five are members of a church of various denominations. The normal tendency of church people is to speak out on behalf of their flock, and there seems to be resentment on the part of public officials and the military for advocacies from religious groups on that.

If you look at the current conditions in the Philippines, the Catholic and Protestant churches are very much against the current mining being undertaken in the Philippines. That probably also earned the ire of certain elements who attack and harass members of religious groups there.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

On the political question, is your party particularly targeted?

[Neri Colmenares]

I have to admit that our party, which suffered 157 dead during the time of Arroyo, was not the victim of extrajudicial killings directly, but harassment of our members in the provinces does continue. There are still cases pending before the courts against members of Parliaments like us.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Mr. Colmenares, you indicated in your comments how helpful the response of the international community is, the comments that we make, the letters that we write, and you gave your own personal story of when you were in prison. Certainly we want to continue with those kinds of actions. Are there specific things that you would recommend, in addition to the idea of this committee or a group visiting the Philippines? Are there other things in addition to writing letters, or expressing our displeasure verbally, that this committee could be doing?

[Neri Colmenares]

I don't know how the process in Parliament goes, but a resolution or report expressing concern on these escalating human rights conditions would be very well taken. I'm sure it would have an impact, and people would tell the military to lay off a little if these expressions of support were to take place.

You can, if possible, also ask the Prime Minister to make representations to the Philippine government. If the Prime Minister were going to the Philippines, it would play a major part if he could express concern over this issue. The Canadian embassy in the Philippines could also look into the charges on these Canadian mining firms. An embassy is supposed to promote investment, but Canada is known for human rights, so there could be limits to that promotion. A privileged speech from a parliamentarian, if you have it here, would also make an impact. A study mission would probably be more effective in the Philippines.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Okay, thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you.

We go now to Professor Cotler.

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I had the pleasure of hearing Congressman Colmenares yesterday in a meeting in Montreal. We may not be aware of the extent to which we have an authentic hero in our presence. It's one thing to criticize, but to do so at personal risk, as he has done, where his own party is at the forefront of combatting corruption, abuse, and impunity, is a heroic accomplishment. I am delighted that you are with us.

I should mention that yesterday he spoke about the importance of our having a delegation go to the Philippines and the impact it would have. I want to reiterate that as well. Also, we had with us Reverend Fryday, who spoke about a petition campaign that they are going to organize. They want to have MPs from all parties table petitions in the House about what is happening in the Philippines.

I want to address one related point. You described yesterday and again today the pattern of extrajudicial killings and disappearances. You described enforced and involuntary disappearances, and the culture of impunity. I have some questions in that regard.

What has been the impact, if any, of the adoption by the Philippine Supreme Court of writs of amparo or writs of habeas data with regard to these victims? How many applications have been filed? Have there been successful remedies given?

There had been a request that the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances make a visit to the Philippines. What's the status of that invitation? I know it came up during the periodic review, and some states endorsed it. Where do we stand on that point?

[Neri Colmenares]

Thank you.

The writ of amparo, a novel legal mechanism, was employed by the Supreme Court precisely to stem the tide of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. Our largest human rights organization in the Philippines, the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers, actually supported the Supreme Court's initiative on that, and there were a few victories initially. In fact, the first two cases filed by human rights lawyers, when the writ of amparo was promulgated in September 2007, were victorious. The disappeared were surfaced by the military.

Unfortunately, the military began to study ways to get around the writ of amparo, and because of ignorance and possible corruption on the part of lower judges in the Philippines, the writ of amparo, I have to sadly admit, has begun to lose its effectiveness. Now the writ of amparo being granted, which is a akin to a writ of habeas corpus, is no longer of major significance, so that is an unfortunate development.

With regard to the United Nations, I am informed that there have been various intimations from special rapporteurs, not only from the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, but from other rapporteurs on the rights of indigenous peoples, women and children. However, the Philippine government, as far as I know, has not yet extended an invitation, and as we all know, the United Nations cannot come in as long as there is no invitation from the Philippine government.

It would be good to have comprehensive action by the UN or countries from abroad, but the UN aspect is not moving forward. That is why missions from other countries could probably take its place because that's less regulated, in a way, compared to the United Nations.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

You still have a little time, Professor Cotler.

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Do you think it would be helpful if the committee were to support a visit by the UN working group, to help bring about a favourable response by the Philippine government to receive their delegation? Would it help if they came?

[Neri Colmenares]

I see no reason why it would not help. In fact, it would help bring to the fore the issue that if we have transparency, then we should have no problem at all with UN mechanisms investigating.

I don't know if it will result in a positive response on the part of government because, after all, UN bodies would look into the larger field of human rights. A study mission can look into Canadian firms, which is probably a reasonable prerogative on the part of Canada, but for the UN, it would look into various aspects, so I'm not at all too sure if the Philippine government will immediately accede to that. I see no reason that would not be of help in the current conditions.

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

I did not suggest it as an alternative to our going. It was in addition to our going.

[Neri Colmenares]

That would help a lot, Professor Cotler.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you.

Mrs. Grewal, go ahead please.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Colmenares.

We are honoured to have you here as a representative of the Bayan Muna party in the Philippines.

Your party seeks to raise the quality of life for all Filipinos by establishing a very meaningful representative government as well as by fighting corruption in government. It is extremely disheartening, however, to hear that your party and its members have been targets of numerous violent attacks, including murder and arbitrary arrests.

As you know, the next elections in the Philippines are due to take place in 2013. How do you think your party will be affected in these elections? Regarding those who might otherwise have voted for you, how have the violent actions taken against your party had an impact through fear of personal attack? How has this affected those who are thinking about running as possible candidates in the coming elections? On a more personal level, what has been your experience working within a government that appears largely hostile to your party?

Please comment on that.

[Neri Colmenares]

The killing of the 157 members of our party in the previous election did have a lot of impact on our party. I would charge it to the very strong support of our constituents and the Filipino people that our party, Bayan Muna, survived the attack. Not only did we survive the attack, but we were still able to put members into our congress.

The current trend is no longer to the same extent, shall we say, as having 157 killed. Now we have some harassment cases in court. One member was killed last year. It's not the same. However, the impact of instilling fear in members and in our constituencies is still there. It does impact a lot, but maybe there are certain choices in life that you have to make. A lot of our constituents did make the choice of supporting and voting for us.

Does it impact on future members? It really does. In fact, I hope I don't sound arrogant, but I think we would have garnered more votes and more support had it not been for the various attacks on us. But I guess that's the price to pay for the continued principled position on the part of Bayan Muna to expose the atrocities committed by the military and the human rights violations.

On a personal note, I have been involved in human rights advocacy since I was in high school. As I mentioned a while ago, the Marcos government arrested us—including me, at the age of 18 years—and the four years in prison and the torture actually discouraged me. When I left prison, I was thinking that I would no longer continue, but as I mention in all my talks, the fact is that people continue to die, not just from bullets, but from poverty. That's probably the reason many Filipinos come to places like Canada, to escape the poverty, which I think should not be allowed to exist in a society.

As a personal choice, I made the choice to continue with that advocacy. Am I afraid of the possible threats against us? Of course. I don't think anybody can say that I'm brave enough to weather everything, but I guess there are certain moments in life when you have to make your choices, and I just have to go wherever this leads me.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

We heard testimony in a previous session from Bishop Marigza, who spoke on behalf of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. He informed the subcommittee of the extrajudicial executions of ministers, leaders, and of course the members of the church, and noted that on average almost one person per week continues to be a victim of extrajudicial killings.

There was also an incident in 2008, when Muslim rebels forced hundreds of mainly Christian families off their farms in the southern Philippines. This incident was conducted by heavily armed members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, who were claiming that the lands there belonged to the Muslims.

Now, and in fact just this month, the government has signed a framework peace plan with the former group, so the Moro Islamic Liberation Front will set up an autonomous region in part of the south, where Muslims of course are a majority. Given the persecution of Christians that has been seen in the south in general, how do you think this newly signed framework will affect the rights and livelihoods of the Christians in that region?

[Neri Colmenares]

There has been an ongoing war in Mindanao where the mining firms actually are and have been for a long period of time, way back to the 1960s. That is an issue of the right to self-determination of the Moro people, who believe—and I would agree with the Moro people—that they were discriminated against by the central government for a long period of time.

The recent peace framework by the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is something that we have to study ourselves. We want to find out whether or not it genuinely gives the right to self-determination to the Moro people and is not another peace agreement concocted between two groups that will not amount to anything.

In Bayan Muna, we've always been very supportive of any attempts at peace. I think a genuine and lasting peace in our country would do much in helping to alleviate poverty in the country, as long as it's genuine and lasting and, of course, based on justice. I think we would encourage any attempts and efforts to find that elusive peace in our country.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Chair, do I have some more time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

I'm afraid not.

We go now to the last round of questions. Mr. Marston and Monsieur Jacob have agreed to split their time, with Mr. Marston going first.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

First of all, sir, I didn't begin my last round by saying how much I respect you and the risk you've taken. You've outlined it in a very clear way.

I agree with the fact that letters and interventions from government, from committees, all keep a focus on the activities of any government and they do have a positive reaction.

There was a misunderstanding about the difference between a study mission and an investigation. To be truly on the ground doing a proper investigation, I think will require the UN rapporteur or a group from there to succeed at a comprehensive study. On the other hand, a study mission by this committee would make sense, where it's more of a symbolic gesture than a physical investigation. The other side of it is we wouldn't be going there to investigate Canadian companies. We would be going there to look at the human rights situation in the Philippines. A part of it may well be Canadian companies, but we would be there if we decided to do that.

I want your comments on that. I believe the potential for doing some good with that is very much there on a study mission level.

[Neri Colmenares]

Yes. I would certainly agree with that. In fact, a study mission would look into human rights conditions. The committee can decide where the study would go. Yes, we would heartily support such a study mission. I'm sure it would create a lot of impact.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you.

Monsieur Jacob