BUILDING A CULTURE OF HUMAN RIGHTS : IDEALS, REALITIES AND PROSPECTS

“Human rights are the very essence of man.  These are more than legal concepts. Deny them and you deny man’s humanity”

(Jose W. Diokno)

The resounding words of former Senator Jose Wright Diokno, the father of human rights in our country is being passed from generation to another in the advocacy of respect for human rights.

Comparing with other Asian nations, it is said that the Philippines is a step forward because it has an independent constitutional Commission on Human Rights that is enshrined in Article XIII, Section 17 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution; and in the Constitution, there is Article II, Section 11 which provides for the state policy on human rights that “the State values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights”.

Every December 4-10 of the year, we are celebrating National Human Rights Week as proclaimed in Republic Act 9201 signed by former president Gloria Macapagal – Arroyo in 2003; and December 10 as the international human rights day in observance of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations Council in 1948.

The above provisions and a lot more all gear towards the protection and promotion of human rights in our country; but taking a look at the human rights situation in the Philippines from the past administration to the present, what can be presented is an  emerging culture of human rights violation.

Quoted below from the Wikipedia, the following  describes violation of human rights in our country from 2001 to 2015:

Arroyo Administration (2001 – 2010)

The Arroyo Administration was riddled by its several issues on several forms of violations against human rights. Most of these which include the increase in military power and presence, especially in Muslim Mindanao. Philip Alston, a UN Rapporteur, published Promotion and Protection of all Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including the Right To Development on 2008 that chronicled and reported the situation he had found while in the Philippines. Many incidents of extrajudicial killings were linked to this report, most notable of which is Sichi Bustamante-Gandinao, who was a direct testimony of the abuses concerning the military.

The Sichi Bustamante-Gandinao Murder

 Sichi Bustamante-Gandinao was a peasant organizer in Salay, Misamis Oriental.  She was the chairman of the Misamis Oriental Farmers Organization and the coordinator of the party list group called Bayan Muna. She was also an outspoken critic of the actions the Citizens’ Armed Force Geographical Unit or CAFGU and how they disrupt the relatively peaceful communities in Misamis Oriental.  Philip Alston was a UN Rapporteur, who had Gandinao as a testimony to the extrajudicial killings, and other violations of human rights the military was practicing, whether it was the military is contested by the military. The Alston report was published on 2008, which highlighted these abuses through the United Nations General Assembly. On the March 2007, however, Gandinao, together with her husband and daughter, was walking home after a day of doing farm work. Gandinao was then shot four times by two men on a motorcycle heading towards a nearby military camp, while Gandinao’s family helplessly watched the attack. The local officials and passers-by all told Gandinao’s husband and daughter that they were too busy to tend to the bleeding Gandinao. According to reports, after two hours of bleeding profusely, the assailants went back to the scene of the crime and even watched the entire ordeal of Gandinao. Her husband had to carry her to the Cagayan de Oro ambulance, which took another hour to get to the actual hospital. In the Cagayan de Oro hospital, Gandinao was pronounced dead on arrival.

Vigilantism and Death Squad

According to the Alston report, the presence of “vigilantism” and Death Squad in Davao has been a commonplace occurrence, and has been going on for some time now, prior to his visit in the Philippines from 2006 to 2007 The Death Squad, however, operate with no intention of hiding their identities, and in broad daylight. Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has held office, aside from a brief stint as a congressman, since 1988. Rodrigo Duterte is known for his strict, anti-criminal approach in governing Davao City.  However, in the same report, Rodrigo Duterte has admitted that hundreds of unsolved murders were committed during his time as mayor, and that he takes for “full responsibility” of it.  When Duterte was first elected as mayor, he faced a Davao with problems like rampant youth gangs, the New Peoples’ Army (NPA) killing policemen routinely, and crime. The Davao Death Squad (DDS) has had over 500 victims since 1998; killing targets in public and in broad daylight. These executions were a response to petty crimes, and targets are sent warnings explaining why they are targeted by the DDS.  It was, however, noted that during Duterte’s term as mayor, criminal activity has decreased significantly. It should also be noted, however, that there are hundreds of unsolved murders.

Benigno Aquino Administration (2010 – 2016)

 On 30 June 2010,  Benigno Aquino sworn into office as the President of the Philippines.  Notable acts during his term include the implementation of the  K-12 program, the revocation of midnight appointments, the founding of the Philippine Truth Commission,  the creation of agencies such as the  Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), and the framing of the Bangsamoro Basic Law. The administration vowed to eradicate corruption within the government system, but has yet to resolve such cases as those regarding Hacienda Luisita and the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam. Listed below are the cases of human rights violations under the second Aquino administration:

Lumad Killings

The Lumads are people from various ethnic groups in Mindanao island. Residing in their ancestral lands, they are often evicted and displaced due to the Moro people’s  claim on the same territory. The Lumads have lost parts of their ancestral land due to a failure to understand the modern land tenure system. To counter this, the Lumads established schools in their communities, supplying essential knowledge for the tribe members that would protect their rights, property and culture.  However, the Lumad communities are located in mountains that are distant from urban areas. These areas are also the location sites of armed conflict between the New People’s Army and the Armed Forces of the Philippoines (AFP). Caught in the conflict, the Lumad people’s education, property, and security are endangered because of the increasing amount of military activity by the armed parties. Increasing military activity have eventually led to the displacement of the communities to shelter sites.  Anxiety continues to grow among the Lumads with the escalation of armed conflict and detainment of community leaders (tribe leaders and teachers) labelled as rebels by the military. Alternative schools within the communities (aided by NGOs and universities) face concerns of closing down or demolition of their property, with some buildings converted by the military for their use.  Lumad leaders and tribesmen, having experienced political detention due to false suspicions as well as the displacement of their tribes from their areas, have demanded respect for their human rights.

In response to the killing, detention, and displacement of members of their tribes, the Lumads have organized groups to gain the public’s attention, calling for the halt of militarization in their communities. Students, religious leaders, and human rights advocates have supported the Lumads in their movement against the militarization. Activities held to support the Lumad movements have included concerts, cultural festivals (focusing on ethnic culture), and commemoration of Lumad leaders killed in the conflict. Activity leaders have included Fr. Fausto Tentorio, Fr. Tullio Favali, and Fr. Salvatore Carzedda. Groups like the Manilakbayan 2015 supported the movements through recruitment and the handing out of national situationers to students to spread awareness about the Lumads’ dilemma. The Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has been investigating the incidents in regard to the 2015 murder of Lumad leaders and a school official by a group called Magahat/Bagani (in line with the idea of CAFGU) created by the AFP to hunt for NPA members. The AFP denies the allegation and attributes the killings to tribal conflict. However, the AFP has admitted that CAFGU has Lumad recruits within its ranks while asserting that the NPA has also recruited Lumads for the group. There is also delay of a decision on the CHR investigation due to the noncooperation of the Lumad group after the interruption of the investigation by the spokesman of Kalumaran Mindanao, Kerlan Fanagel. Fanagel insists that the group need not have another ‘false’ dialogue with the CHR since CHR has yet to present the results/findings of the investigations from the past months when Lumad leaders were killed. Because of the lack of data, CHR decided to postpone the presentation of their initial report to the second week of December 2015.

Political prisoners

Political prisoners are people arrested because of their opposition towards the current Aquino government; they are seen as ‘enemies of the state’ and are imprisoned upon arrest. As recorded by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) in September 2014, 840 political prisoners were held in detention cells and prisons. To promote human rights, the government has permitted access to international humanitarian organizations and have granted pardon, parole, and amnesty programs based on NGOs’ lists.

Journalist killings

The number of journalist killings under the Aquino administration has been noted to be the highest since 1986. Because of this, the Philippines has been ranked by CNN as the third deadliest country for journalists. Information about disappearances and murders of reporters are kept from the public, making several agencies/organizations as well as whistleblowers at risk of exposure to harm. Some of the well-known journalists killed in their line of work during the Aquino government include: Henry Araneta, Desidario Camangyan, Joselito Agustin, Gerardo Ortega, Romeo Olea, Christopher Guarin, Mario Sy, Fernando Solijon, Joas Dignos, and Rubylita Garcia. According to the 2014 Human Rights Watch Report, only 6 out of 26 cases managed to identify/capture their suspects.

The Aquino administration implemented reforms towards more effective criminal investigation procedures, in addition to passing laws to better uphold human rights. However, these reforms are underdeveloped. An example is Administration Order 35. which acquired problems in identifying which case to pursue due to the process requirements.

Human Rights Initiatives

 As far as initiatives is concerned, there are government agencies that are given the functions to protect, promote and fulfill the people’s human rights like the Department Of Justice, Department of Labor and Employment, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and the Commission on Human Rights and some others.

 As a CHRian, I find it a role to present an overview of the National Human Rights Institution in our country.

Commission on Human Rights (Wikipedia)

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is an independent office created by Section 18, Article XIII of the Philippine Constitution, with the primary function of investigating all forms of human rights violations involving civil and political rights in the Philippines. The Commission is composed of a Chairperson and four members, majority of which must be lawyers under the constitution.

The Commission is empowered to investigate all forms of human rights violations involving civil and political rights, adopt rules of procedure and issue contempt citations, provide appropriate legal measures for the protection of human rights of Filipinos within the Philippines, and several other powers in relation to the protection of human rights.

Programs

The CHR is in charge of the following programs:

1. Human Rights Protection Program
   • The Human Rights Protection Program implemented the Legal and Investigation Office which provides legal aid and counseling services; conducts monitoring of cases/complaints with concerned agencies; conducts rights based public inquiry on issues and concerns of marginalized and disadvantage sectors; and conducts studies to establish certain human rights conditions/situations affecting human development for the adoption of policies, programs and measures for the promotion of human rights. The Legal and Investigation Office also provides appropriate human rights investigative interventions; medico-legal services; conducts alternative dispute resolution of cases thru mediation; quick reaction activities; fact finding missions; rights based situation tracking and rights based investigative monitoring.

2. The Human Rights Education Teaching Exemplars
   • The CHR established linkages and collaboration efforts with the Department of Education with this effort, the two agencies forged a Joint of Declaration of Undertaking (JDU) in 1992 and a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in 1996 which provided development of human rights education curriculum for integration across the two levels of education. To implement the main provision of the Memorandum of Agreement, a joint project was undertaken entitled: Writing Workshop in the Development of Human Rights Education Teaching Exemplars for the Elementary and the Secondary Levels.

3. Human Rights Linkages Development and Strategic Planning
   • The CHR established a Legislative and Program Division which is in charge of monitoring bills with human rights implications filed in Congress and coordinating in the preparation of the CHRP position on proposed measures. The LPD has participated in almost all committee hearings and Technical Working Group meetings in both houses of Congress and in such other fora on matters with human rights implications. Right to Development Program. A system of developing and monitoring rights-based programs and measures across institutions aimed at creating enabling environment for poverty reduction linked with the nine (9) components of good governance as follows: Electoral and Political Reforms, Right to Development, Judicial Reform, Anti-Corruption, Governance Review, Civil Service & Economic Management, Globalization and Corporate Citizenship, Decentralization & Local Governance.

Going back to our chosen title “Building a Culture of Human Rights:  Ideals, Realities and Prospects”, this student and an information officer of the Commission in Human Rights-Cordillera Administrative Region is drawn with the call of the times.

Having joined the CHR organization way back in August 1990,  I recall my first encounters conducting human rights education at the hinterlands of the Cordillera where there are internal armed conflict; and now we are faced with keeping the cry for the observance of human rights and rule of law amidst the current administration’s ‘war on drugs’ agenda.

Every seven years, we have new sets of Commissioners and every Commission comes out with new vision, mission, goals, objectives, strategies and programs to adopt with the needs of the changing times all for the purpose of building a culture of human rights.

So, when can a culture of human rights be a reality?

The year 2017 marks the thirtieth founding anniversary of the Commission on Human Rights, and it envisions

“A just and humane Philippine society of persons equal in opportunity, living a life of dignity, and forever vigilant against abuses and oppression”

(www.chr.gov.ph)

In ending, it is always said that making human rights a reality can never be overemphasized.  It requires both the impatient rage of an advocate and the patience of a teacher.//

REFERENCES

 Wikipedia

www.chr.gov.ph

1987 Philippine Constitution

Republic Act 9201