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203 victims of abduction; 1,010 victims of torture; 1,017 victims of extrajudicial killings; 201 victims of enforced disappearances.
These are the reported numbers of souls who suffered from the hands of the Philippine Military who should have been protecting our divine rights of freedom and liberty enshrined not only on our constitution but also in the basic humanity of each and everyone of us. These are the number of souls who had seen the glimpse of hell with most of them not able to see another daylight with their loved ones. And many more souls are still searching and crying out for the elusive justice to be rendered on perpetrators of such brutal display of arrogance and power.
This Is Not Something New
Fil-Am Melissa Roxas recounted yesterday during a press conference in Los Angeles how she was abducted and tortured of what she believed to be military agents in Tarlac on May 19. She was constantly being interrogated, beaten, asked to sign some documents and tried to suffocate her by pulling plastic bags over her head. When one of her tormentors told her that they are just mere “instruments of God” for rebels to return into the fold of law, she said that “that my God does not torture people”.
Roxas’ experience of walking into the valley of death is not something new at all; it is but just once again an affirmation of the lingering ill of a grave cancer in our country. The tumor that has once been sporadic instances of human rights abuses on remote barrios and villages has grown into a full-blown ferocious beast that devours our country and challenges our harmonious living under the banner of freedom and democracy as a nation.
Until today, those faceless people who were tortured and simply vanished in the middle of the night during the time of the dictator are still crying out for justice. Hundreds and thousands of them perished with hands on their backs and wounds of their hearts.
In 2007, UN Special Rapporteur for Extra Judicial Killings Phillip Alston reported that the Philippines government is to be blamed for all these human rights abuses and atrocities.
A Government in Denial
With this latest issue of human rights abuse capturing the attention of all nations, the military has once again dismissed these allegations saying, “Nothing of that sort happened. We already asked all units in the area and we found that they have nothing to do with that.” Wow, this is like my classic version of lying in exchange of a fake gold ring. And other operatives of the government are calling Roxas’ story as “stage-managed.”
Remembered what the former Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzales said on the Alston Report? He lambasted it with his usual gift of sarcasm and senselessness unheard of from a government official, calling it baseless, written with much bias against the government and full of unsubstantiated facts that tries to intervene on the sovereignty of our nation. He even called Phillip Alston nothing but a “muchacho” of the United Nations, so why believe him anyway. A rare virus from the jungles of Africa has surely gotten of the sanity of this old man. I am just so thankful that he is already out of the helm of raping Lady Justice with his sarcasm.
I am getting tired of this usual gobbledygook that all the spokespersons of this inutile government has to say to appease the clamor for accountability. I have so much already with the usual twisting of the arms of justice and a new sex scandal (Hayden Kho and Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, wahahaha!) to divert our attention to constantly tune in to YouTube. The usual path of justice has to be taken to the next level and torturers, murderers and all their demi-gods should be thrown into the burning pit of damnation.
An Eye For An Eye, A Tooth For A Tooth!
Melissa Roxas through her US-based lawyer Atty. Arnedo Valera is going to file a case in the US Federal Court and seek damages against the Philippine government. They are also set to file a complaint in the US State Department and the United Nations. “I want the world to know what happened because the Philippine government and military should not get away with what they did to me,” she said.
If this case therefore progresses in the United States and gives Roxas the justices she is asking from the court, it will send a chilling effect on the present administration and the judicial system of our country. First, being an affirmation and condemnation of the obvious rampant human rights abuses that this government is primarily sponsoring; and in effect harboring fugitives and murderers on its fold and paycheck. When the federal court and the US State Department finds the Philippine government guilty over this particular human rights abuse, it will also drive a stronger US and international pressure to the government to act against human rights abuse. And second, this case could render our justice system and law enforcement agencies as nothing but kangaroo courts and rubber stamps. Then our government will have a dose of its medicine.
Roxas’ battle here could only affirm that our very own government could never protect its own people rather, even have all the means and chance to hurt the freedom and rights of its citizens. I am pretty sure that this is not the kind of nation that our founding Fathers and our martyrs died for and this is not the kind of nation that our heroes sacrificed their liberty for, unless you are reading a DepEd funded history book. I think that they sacrificed their lives for more people to live, and they offered their own liberty for the rights and freedom of the next generations to flourish; and of course for more bloggers to write without fear or hesitation and tweet to their hearts’ content.
Well, if these torturers and murderers think that they are “instruments of God”, then maybe they should check first who really the God on that side of the fence is.
Do you think that filing a case against the Philippine government in the US Federal Court, US State Department and the United Nations could solve the problem of human rights abuses in our country? Any suggested remedies to make all these torturers, murderers and demi-gods hold accountable?
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30 comments:
palagay ko matatabunan lang yan ng ibat ibang kaso.kung may batas na bago at maidagdag sana,at gawin ng tama,naniniwala parin ako na may hustisya para dyan.
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At least there would be some more pressure on the military and the Arroyo government especially with elections coming up, this would help paint a picture of what needs to be done with the next elections.
This is shocking. To me as an immigrated Filipino, I would have not imagined that such atrocities still exist. If there was at all any misinterpretation with the Roxas case, then the current administration should tackle with this problem right away.
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with those numbers, kulang pa ang writ of habeas corpus, data, and amparo! Well, what could you expect from Sec. Gonzales? Di ba he went overboard his mandate nung 80s kaya sya nakasuhan ng administrative case.
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sa palagay ko rin, pipilitin ng gobyerno na ito na maghahanap na naman ng panibagong isyu panglihis nag attention ng bayan.
pero ang isang magandang bagay na nakikita ko dito ay yung siste na nagfile ng kasi si roxas sa US being a Fil-Am. with that, this case will be devoid of the usual paligoy-ligoy at harassment at suhulan. sana nga, eehhe!
yes, this is one grave issue that the voting public will have to weigh on their choosing of our new president come may 2010. and of course a greater challenge for the new president to address.
tsk tsk tsk... why am i not surprised... military tortures were part of Philippine history then... especialy during the Marcos' regime... why not surprise now? It's like a tradition in every government system, in every administration that these military abductions would occur... i pity those victims... my prayers are for them...
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in the 21st century, it is quite unimaginable for such brute use of force from the government do still exists.
what makes this case so interesting is that, ms. roxas is a fil-am and so is covered and for we all know will always be protected by the US.
and if i may add, this administration however is seen to be the perpetrator of human rights abuses.
di ko nga alam kung ano pang batas ang kelanga para masupil tong human rights abuses.
as a law student yourself, do think that our laws has loopholes that is why we cannot solve this ill?
a bad tradition at that bro. and it does not mean that since it is already there during the spanish period and we are still hearing these things now, we just have to let it pass by us.
hey, that macarthur thing is still there on the link! kainis ka talaga!
This is sad. Really really sad. And to top it all, they invoke the name of God. Zheez. By all rights, they should be struck by lightning by now.
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I would not like to think of those young students who have been arrested during the martial law regime with an ASSO, no warrants were served, they were just "picked up". Is this still happening today? It makes one wonder about how effective the government is. :'(
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I dont think the law has loopholes. Siguro, outdated lang sila. And this is not purely a matter of law but a matter of politics.
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We could have made significant progress when Marcos was sent packing from Malacañang. We could have used the powers of the Revolutionary Government under Cory Aquino to go after those responsible in the summary executions during Marcos' regime. And that include the abductions, the tortures and other military atrocities. The government did nothing. We did nothing. That certainly set a bad precedent.
We have selective memory. We go for convenience. We don't want to rock the boat.
Even the succeeding governments did nothing to defang the military. E pinamper pa nga so these presidents can have a stranglehold on power.
We even elect them to high office.
Tapos ngayon aangal tayo? Goodness gracious. We are not born yesterday as a nation, but boy, we really have a lot to learn. Nakakalungkot ang mga missed opportunities sa kasaysayan natin as a nation.
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Hindi ito ang unang beses na may napapatay na mga lumalaban para sa pagbabago. Dapat na matigil na ito, lagi na lang kasi nila tinitingnan na mga 'rebelde' ang sinumang naglalantad ng tunay na lagay ng ating lipunan. Makikitid ang utak.
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obviously there are two sides in every story, where is melissa associated? why this happened to her? what are the motives? not to forget what is the role of the afp.
tama bro! fr. bernas was here in our school a couple of weeks ago and he said na wala namang problem sa batas, yun nga la ang problema ay nasa pag-implement at pagbibigay-kulay politika sa mga isyu ng bayan.
or, some real jedi knights come storming down from heaven and slash these people by the jedi's light saber :D
it is still happening mam jena. here in cavite for instance, maraming cases ng abduction and torture sa mga farmers and student activists. one of the infamous case is that of the Tagaytay 5...and isa sa mga tropa naming poet na hinuli ay si Axel Pinpin.
i share with your sentiments bro. we elected government officials who had given much power to the military instead of taming them. and what has happened is that goverment officials are held hostage by the military at baka matulad sila kay erap. and then, to appease the military and hold on the power, they put them to lofty government positions. badtrip eh!
sobrang dami ng opportunities. i don't know kung tamang sabihin na we deserve the government that we have, coz tayo din naman ang mga naglukluk sa knila eh.
yun ang nakakatuyo ng utak bro! ehhehe! kapag nagsabi ka ng totoo at nakibaka ka which is basically part din naman ng ating karapatan pangtao, eh pinapatahimik ka.
parang dapat siguro wag ng turuan ang mga anak nating magsabi ng totoo ano? hay...
may mga sarili kasing interes.
thanks for the balance comment brag.
it is worth to look indeed with some details of association and motive. ms. roxas is a member of an activist group. she went here in the philippines to attend an exposure program when she was abducted.
obviously, ms. roxas will not sing praises about the afp. and this is a crucial point of discussion.
and afp of course as we all know is trying to curb insurgents, with their goal to totally wipe them out by 2010. reading between the lines, there could be a tinge of machiavellian stance here.
but, in the end, we could see clearly that there are indeed human rights violations in the country. with or without ms. roxas, we have recorded so many violations already. and it should be addressed properly, put behind bars those perpetrators and make ways for these abuses not to happen again.
Exactly - we truly deserve the government we have. Poor taste tayo eh.
Ahahaha
sa politics lang naman siguro tayo poor taste, sa blogging sigurado ako, astig ang taste natin...kasi first criterion, dapat cute! eheheh~
tama ba ako dun bro?
Isang kang dakilang mangingisda. Always fishing for a compliment. Oo na,
cute ka na po. Ahahaha
ahahha! mangingisda na di marunong lumangoy, ehehe! alam ko naman na cute ako eh, ahahah! kaya nga may guts akong ipost pic ko, ewhahahaha!
Amen. Bro, tulungan kita magbuhat? Parang nabibigatan ka yata? lols
ahaha! don't worry, i can manage of my kayabangan eheheh! tutal sa harap mo lang naman ako may guts magyabang eh, kaya medyo sanay na mga braso ko sa kabubuhat ehehhe!
May kwento dyan sa perceived kayabangan mo. But not here. Remind me
sometime pag di na busy tayong dalawa. Nice story of first impressions.
ahahaha.
ahahah! ano kaya un? mukang di ko alam un ah... naintriga tuloy ako.
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