 |
| President Aquino signs the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act at EDSA in this Feb. 25, 2013 file photo. On the eve of the 2014 International Human Rights Day, various groups assailed his administration's record in human rights. |
MANILA - On the eve of International Human Rights Day, a coalition of major trade unions and labor organizations assailed the "culture of impunity translated into extra-judicial killings (EJK) and other forms of human rights violations" that it said prevailed in a country once hailed as the beacon of democracy in the region.
The alleged rights violations target, among others, leaders and labor organizers under the Aquino administration's ‘tuwid na daan [straight path]’, the Nagkaisa! coalition said in a statement Tuesday.
Since 2011, Nagkaisa! said it had engaged the Aquino administration in dialogues on several labor issues, including 62 unsolved cases of EJKs involving labor.
The most recent involved the murder of a labor organizer in Negros Occidental. Rolando Pango, a full time organizer of Partido Manggagawa (PM) was gunned down in Binalbagan town in Negros Occidental on November 29, 2014, according to a Nagkaisa! statement.
“Prior to his death, Pango was deeply involved in both the agrarian and labor disputes in Hacienda Salud, a 135-hectare sugar plantation in Barangay Rumirang, Isabela leased and managed by Manuel Lamata,” said PM Chair Renato Magtubo.
Pango had helped organize the plantation workers in Hacienda Salud who in June applied to have the land under CARPER coverage. Salud workers had also filed a case of illegal dismissal before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) against Lamata for unlawful termination of 41 workers.
PM and Nagkaisa urged both the national and local governments to render immediate justice in Pango's case.
Josua Mata, Secretary General of Alliance of Progressive Labor–Sentro, said Nagkaisa will raise this issue before the Tripartite Industrial Council (TIPC) and the DOJ panel investigating the EJKs.
Before Pango, another PM organizer, Victoriano Embang, leader of the Maria Cecilia Farm Workers Association (MACFAWA) in Moises Padilla town in Negros Occidental, was also killed on December 29, 2012. A failed assassination attempt against his brother, Anterio Embang, followed a few months later, February 28, 2013.
Magtubo, a Negrense himself, said Negros remains a labor hotspot because of strong resistance by landlords to agrarian reform and their outmoded serf-type treatment of their laborers.
“Perhaps this regional feudal context has escaped the eyes of the labor department and the national government. Or they simply don’t care,” added Magtubo.
March to Mendiola
Meanwhile, human rights organizations are mobilizing a big march to Mendiola on Wednesday morning to mark the International Human Rights Day.
Groups will start to assemble at the UST Espana footbridge in Manila starting at 8 a.m. to be at Mendiola by 9:30.
Protesters will deliver a GUILTY or “BAGSAK” verdict on human rights records of the Aquino administration, including impunity on climate justice as one major human rights issue facing our country, according to an advisory from the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA).
Aside from EJKs, Nagkaisa! said the "resurgence of other forms of human rights violations" is also alarming.
Last October, Antonio Cuizon, president of the Panaghiusa sa Mamumuo sa Carmen Copper, was arrested on trumped-up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The union and the management were then in the thick of labor dispute when the case was filed against Quizon.
But the most widespread of human rights violations, Nagkaisa! said, is the violation of labor’s right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.
Anakpawis: implement agreements with NDFP
In observance of International Human Rights Day, Anakpawis Partylist representative Fernando “Ka Pando” Hicap urged the Aquino administration to honor and implement the agreements between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). Hicap is particularly referring to the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (Carhrihl) signed on March 16, 1998 and Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig) agreed earlier on February 24, 1995.
“Kung kinilala lamang ni Aquino ang mga resulta ng peace talks, sa isang antas ang paggalang sa human rights ay mapo-promote at maiiwasan ang mga paglabag,” (If Aquino had only recognized the results of the peace talks, respect on human rights would somehow be promoted and further violations could be avoided)," Hicap said at a protest led by Karapatan human rights group in Mendiola.
Hicap invoked article 12 of the Cahrihl, “The GRP shall respect the rights of peasants to land tenure and to own through land reform the land that they till, the ancestral rights of the indigenous peoples in the areas classified as public domain and their rights against racial and ethnic discrimination, the right of the poor homesteaders or settlers and the indigenous people to the areas of public domain on which they live and work and the right of poor fisherfolk to fish in the waters of the Philippines.”
"If Aquino had only respected this provision, Lumad and Mindanao farmers need not to protest against massive militarization here in Manila, farmers rights in Hacienda Luisita, Looc, Yulo and other haciendas across the country could have been protected," Hicap said.
Anakpawis is also demanding the immediate release of NDFP consultants Benito and Wilma Tiamson; and political prisoners whose immunity, it said, are provisioned by the Jasig: Alan Jazmines, Leopoldo Caloza, Emeterio Antalan, Eduardo Serrano, Tirso Alcantara, Ma. Loida Tuzo Magpatoc, Ramon Patriarca, Edgardo Friginal, Jaime Soledad, Eduardo Sarmiento, Alfredo Mapano, Pedro Codaste, Renante Gamara and Roy Erecre.
Anakpawis said Aquino’s implementation of Oplan Bayanihan only resulted in more human rights abuses and demanded justice for the victims.
Anakpawis urged Aquino to resume formal peace talks with the NDFP and start discussing the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (Caser). - InterAksyon.com
