Arroyo Ups Ante on Repression

July 13, 2007

By Val G. Abelgas



Despite protests and concerns raised by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), among others, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo insisted on implementing the controversial Human Security Act of 2007, otherwise known as the anti-terrorism law, last July 15 even without the required implementing rules and regulations.

The anti-terror law was passed in haste, with Arroyo calling back the already-adjourned Congress to a special session and while the congressmen and senators were already focused on the campaign for the recent May elections. It is no surprise then that its implementation is now also being done in haste, despite the fact that there is really no imminent threat of terrorist acts that would be considered “sowing and creating a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace in order to coerce the government to give in to an unlawful demand,” and the military is not even in full alert, except the police around Mendiola, where Malacanang is cringing in fear behind barbed wires and parked dump trucks from angry protesters.

The No. 1 leftist-hater National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, who can’t distinguish between a legitimate protester and an armed NPA guerilla, insists that the law is “self-implementing” – whatever he means by that – and therefore does not need to have implementing rules and regulations. Even the United States, which had just lost more than 3,000 lives in the World Trade Center attack and is constantly under threat of terrorist acts, did not implement the Patriot Act until the Department of Homeland Security had issued implementing rules and regulations.

The implementation of the anti-terror law comes at a time when the Arroyo administration is under heavy fire from all over the world for various human rights violations, including the close to 900 unsolved extra-judicial murders, disappearance of several militant activists and church lay leaders, warrant-less arrests, illegal detentions, political repressions, and other illegal acts.

But Arroyo seemed not bothered by the criticisms because the extra-judicial killings remain unsolved and unabated, and political repression continues. And now, she wants to up the ante by working behind a highly dubious and obviously unconstitutional law.

The CBCP expressed concern that the broad and vague provisions of the law may be used “to legalize objectionable methods of fighting and quelling opposition to the obtaining government." The bishops said the definition of terrorism under Sec. 3 of the HSA (RA 9372) is "broad and dangerous" and could "serve and create a condition of widespread panic." Sec. 26, it said, "allows house arrest despite the posting of bail, prohibits the right to travel and to communicate with others."

“Provisions for seizure of assets in Section 39 and surveillance or wiretapping of suspects in Sec. 7, investigation of bank deposits and other assets in Section 28 – raise many eyebrows of lawyers and others," the CBCP said.

Former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, on the other hand, said: “This is worse than martial law, one that is legalized and on paper. Supposedly, it's a Human Security Act, but it's actually Human Degradation Act. A group of church leaders, human rights activists and civil libertarians added: “We believe that this law will exacerbate the human rights crisis in the country. We expect that this will result in more gross and systematic violations of human rights and political persecution of progressive groups and active critics of government under the guise of a counter-terrorism program."

Among other things, the bill would allow authorities to detain suspects for three days without court warrant or the filing of formal charges.

The bill also defined a terrorist act as “sowing and creating a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace in order to coerce the government to give in to an unlawful demand.” The bill, however, does not qualify what constitutes “a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic." An anti-terrorism council, to be composed mostly of Cabinet members, would be tasked to identify these acts and the organizations that would be tagged as terrorist organizations.

For a government that has not shown respect for democratic rights and institutions, the granting of such vague powers can be dangerous. For Cabinet members – like Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales -- who have openly labeled legitimate and legal militant organizations and party lists as either communists or terrorists, to make this determination is even more dangerous.

While the intent of the bill is to prevent “a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace in order to coerce government in to an unlawful demand,” the proposed law could impose the same “extraordinary fear” on the public and thereby suppress legitimate dissent and curtail other freedoms. With the presence of fear of being branded a terrorist, of being arrested without warrant or filing of charges, of being the subject of wiretap or surveillance, the people would be a virtual victim of state terrorism.

I reiterate that there are enough laws to fight terrorism, without having to force the people to give up basic rights that are provided by the Constitution. What the country needs are more laws to protect the people from an increasingly abusive, repressive and oppressive government.

Arroyo’s zealousness to please his American benefactors can only be interpreted as another assault on democracy and freedom. How can the country afford to entrust extraordinary powers to an administration and military that equate dissent to sedition, militancy to insurgency, and insurgency to terrorism?

Puno Summit: Great, but…

July 27, 2007

By Val G. Abelgas

The efforts of Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno to find a solution to the nagging problem of unsolved extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the Philippines are definitely commendable. An important branch of government has finally come out of a state of denial and recognizes that there is a problem that calls for immediate solution.

The military and the executive branch’s continued state of denial had been cited by the United Nations’ Alston Commission as the reason the spate of extrajudicial killings remains unabated.

In a direct rebuke of its co-equal branches – the executive and legislative departments – the honorable Chief Justice Puno said Lady Justice must now “unsheathe (her) unused power” since elected political leaders entrusted with upholding human rights cannot fulfill that role. Puno made the stinging remarks at the start of the two-day National Consultative Summit on Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances.

The summit came up with several recommendations to solve and stop the killings and disappearances, but whether Malacanang and Congress shall take heed remains a big question. Apparently, despite the presence of AFP Chief Hermenegildo Esperon Jr. at the summit, Malacanang itself has not shown the political will to stop the killings. Congress members, in the meantime, are still trapped in their own battles for control of the Senate and the House.

With the present composition of the Cabinet panel tasked to implement the dreaded Human Security Act of 2007 or the anti-terrorism law, I don’t see how things would change despite the frantic appeals of Puno and the summit attendees. Among those tasked to enforce the law are Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, who have consistently shown a personal hatred for militant activists.

Worse, it would seem that the extrajudicial killings and disappearances are actually an integral part of what is now looking like a government policy to decimate the ranks of the Left.

Recent articles that appeared in Philippine publications in the past week tend to confirm allegations that the decimation of the ranks of leftist militant organizations is part of a government policy to neutralize what were deemed as communist front organizations.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer ran a two-part series at the start of the week revealing the contents of an alleged confidential Malacanang document that detailed plans to “neutralize” the Communist Party of the Philippines by curbing the expansion of the party-list group Bayan Muna. Most of the more than 800 activists killed by unknown assailants since Gloria Macapagal Arroyo assumed power in 2001 belonged to Bayan Muna. Other victims were members of leftist groups Gabriela and Anakpawis.

The alleged document, titled “The Bayan Muna Party-List Victory and the Prospects for Wider National and Local Political Participation,” was written after Bayan MUna topped the party-list election in May 2001 and was submitted to the Office of Special Concerns, which was then under National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales. The document was part of the evidence submitted by the Left to UN special rapporteur Philip Alston, who was in the Philippines last year to investigate the unsolved extrajudicial killings.

Gonzales admits there was such a proposal but that it was never implemented by the administration. Gonzales’ dread for the Left belies his denial. In the recent elections, Gonzales insisted that Bayan Muna is part of a “single politico-military complex controlled by the Communist Party of the Philippines.”

Gonzales said the alliance between the NPA and the party-list groups becomes obvious during elections because NPA rebels campaign for their candidates and at the same time intimidate or harass rival groups. He has also been pointing out that the extreme leftist party-list groups have never denounced the violence of the NPAs.

His statements were almost lifted from the secret Malacanang document, which called for the use of “massive intelligence operations” to counter the “grassroots clout” of Bayan Muna and its allied organizations. The paper also details the alleged involvement of the CPP in the parliamentary struggle through Bayan Muna and other party-list groups.

The secret document called for “strict monitoring of all Bayan Muna activities… Get the exact data of Bayan Muna’s electoral coverage, membership and network” and also recommended “the implementation of special intelligence operations to neutralize the members.”

Gonzales has been accused by Bayan Muna and the leftist party-list groups of instigating the arrest of, and filing of charges against the so-called Batasan 6 – representatives to Congress of the party-list groups Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Anakpawis and Akbayan.

Also last week, Arroyo was quoted as having talked to a Reuters reporter about “the use of both soft and hard power because we want to remove the breeding grounds and recruiting grounds of the terrorists.” What Arroyo meant by soft power and hard power is beyond us, but she was obviously referring to the militant groups, such as Bayan Muna and Gabriela, as the “breeding grounds and recruiting grounds” of the terrorists.

We can only hope that the “hard power” does not include killing the militant members of these groups. We also hope that the “special operations to neutralize members of leftist organizations” mentioned in the secret document did not include murder.

But what is equally disturbing are statements attributed last Wednesday by Melo Commission chairman former Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo to retired Army Gen. Jovito Palparan, which he said, fanned suspicions of military involvement (and, if we must add, an indication that the document was actually implemented): “I want communists totally erased, by neutralizing not just armed rebels but also members of communist front organizations that include leftist political parties, human rights and women’s organizations, lawyers and members of the clergy.”

From these developments, it would seem that Alston was wrong about saying that the problem is that the government remains in state of denial about the killings. From all indications, it would seem that despite its denial, the government has pursued a policy of neutralizing the militant Left, which some sectors of the military interpreted to mean eliminating them by murder.

Instead of directly ordering a stop to the killings, the Arroyo administration is now hell-bent on raising the tempo of political repression by insisting on enforcing an anti-terror law that would terrorize the people more than it would the terrorists. Already, troops are back in Metro Manila villages -- a move that was also recommended by the secret document -- obviously in preparation for the full implementation of the anti-terror law.

But are we surprised? Not now that the Malacanang document has been exposed, because one of the proposals in that paper was for the passage of the anti-terrorism bill as a means to further control the insurgency.

With the anti-left engine in full throttle, will Malacanang listen to the Puno summit’s recommendations and stop the drive? I don’t think so. In fact, just as the summit was about to conclude last Tuesday, death squads killed another activist in Tacloban.

(valabelgas@aol.com)

Death in the Family

April 27, 2007

By Val G. Abelgas


MANILA -- A family tragedy has brought me back to the homeland this week, a hurried and very brief visit that I had always dreaded to make. My older brother died from complications of kidney failure Wednesday after fighting bravely for about 75 days at the Kidney Center, during which time he ebbed in and out of the throes of death and celebrated his 60th birthday in the presence of loving family and friends.

On the very first news that he was rushed to the Kidney Center because of extreme internal bleeding and breathing problems in mid-January, I suspected it was just a matter of time. But my brother Jun loved his family so much that he was not ready to leave them, and so decided to fight back. He was in and out of the ICU and tubes were stuck to his body to drain the blood in his stomach and the fluid in his lungs, and to help him take in oxygen.

On his birthday on February 7, he appeared winning his battle against the inevitable. He was up and about, cheerful in the presence of his wife, children, our 83-year-old mother, my brothers and sisters who were in the Philippines, other relatives and friends. The four of us brothers who lived abroad called to greet him, as we all did regularly throughout his 75-day ordeal. His voice was low and his speech was slow, but he sounded optimistic he would be out of the hospital soon. In fact, a physical therapist was helping him learn to walk again in anticipation of his full recovery.

But the bleeding came again and fluid started drowning his lungs again after a day or two, and he was back again in the ICU fighting for his life. For about 50 more agonizing days, he alternately hovered between hopeful and hopeless, and the situation drained him and his family physically and emotionally, not to mention financially because the hospital bill had exceeded the P1 million mark and still growing.

He couldn’t talk in his last few days because a respirator was stuck to his throat, but he appeared cheerful and still hopeful each time family and friends visited him. Then one night, he suffered a series of seizures and was soon declared brain dead. Doctors tried to revive him and after several attempts, told his wife he would never wake up although a respirator kept him alive.

The family was put in a situation thousands of families had gone through before -- a situation that asks the living to decide for the dying, whether he would be allowed to hang on and hope for a miracle, or to pull the plug and let the patient finally find peace and relief. Although all of those who were around knew there was not much choice, nobody was willing to pull the plug, until Fr. Sonny Ramirez, a longtime family friend, told them Jun need not suffer anymore and that it was time to let him go in the grace of the Lord.

His wife called us four brothers who were abroad one by one before they pulled the plug, and with the cell phone placed on Jun’s ear, we said our last goodbyes, hoping that deep inside his frail and nearly lifeless body, he would hear our loving and comforting words one last time.

It was one of the saddest moments in my life, giving me the same pain as when my father died in 1996 and I couldn’t be with him in his last moments. Jun was the nice guy in our large family, and we all looked up to him as our second father – always ready to listen to our problems and always ready to extend a helping hand.

But I know that he was happy to have realized how his wife, children, mother, brothers, sisters and friends loved him. His wife and children stayed him all the time, and my mother and brothers and sisters came to visit him daily at the hospital, and those of us who couldn’t, spoke to him regularly through long distance phone. His friends from way back dropped by to cheer him up.

My three brothers in Australia and Saudi Arabia, and I who live in California, decided we have to be with Jun before he is finally laid to rest, and despite tough booking problems, we all managed to be there one day before the funeral. And for the first time in many years, we were all together – not just to mourn, but to celebrate the happy and meaningful life that my brother spent in this world.

His death brought us together again, and I know that there in the great beyond, Jun shared that joy. Each death, like all tragedies, strengthens the survivor, for whom life must move on, left with nothing but the wonderful memories of the departed.

Farewell, my dear brother. May you rest in eternal peace.

(valabelgas@aol.com)