|
| |
Ulat
ng kawalanghiyaan
A documentary on ‘Repression
and Resistance’ |
|
As
books go, this one will make your heart flutter and
your eyes open wide – in amazement, anger or,
we hope not, in fear. You might say it’s a bit
of heavy reading to start off the year. But without
meaning to, the book reminds us that Filipinos are
brave, freedom-loving and worth dying, being abducted
and tortured for. It is also impetus to help stop
these killings ASAP by passing the book to all your
friends around the world. |
| ____________________________________________________________ |
| |
|
| |
The
stories in Repression and Resistance, Filipino People
vs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, George W. Bush, et.al.
(there’s also a CD) are graphic, factual and
illustrative of the abductions and extra-judicial
killings that have been reported at one time or another
by the media since 2001 (that’s when Arroyo
first ascended the high chair in Malacañang).
They were first told before the Permanent People’s
Tribunal (PPT) in The Hague, Netherlands on March
20 last year.
“It’s more than a tribunal, it’s
a testimonial and documentary evidence,” says
Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, chair of BAYAN (New Patriotic
Alliance) of the PPT.
Antonio Tujan, head of the International Department
of Ibon Philippines, a non-profit non-stock research
think tank, minced no words in describing the purpose
of the book: “Para lalong iulat ang kawalanghiyaan
ni Arroyo.”
While the book shares the proceedings of the second
PPT held on Filipinos’ charges versus its government
and its support of the U.S. government, it also explained
the human rights situation in the Philippines.
The first was convened more than 25 years ago in October
30 to November 3, 1980, where the PPT “found
the Marcos regime guilty of political repression and
blatant abuse of state powers, violation of the sovereign
rights of the Filipino people and the Bangsa Moro
people and other grave and numerous economic and political
crimes.”
According to PPT General Secretary Dr. Gianni Tognoni
at the ceremony announcing the Permanent People’s
Tribunal Second Session on the Philippines, “The
(first) case of the Philippines was at the time especially
significant as it provided evidence of the dramatic
role of dictatorship in Southeast Asia, a region of
the world considered by many to be a ‘natural’
component of the US Empire.”
Three reasons
The Tribunal has three reasons in assuming the Philippines’
new case and in convening the second session on
the Philippines. One, Dr. Tognoni said the “Filipino
case is a model of what is occurring in the world
today with respect to the prevalence of so-called
economic ‘low-intensity war,’ conceived
and implemented to substitute for old-style dictatorships.”
Two, the cases in the Philippines are dramatic examples
of the “silence” which exists in the
world today. “During the time of Marcos, at
least everybody knew what was going on.” Tognoni
said the present situation in the Philippines is
a “successful case of silent repression,”
so it’s become important to make this case
“visible.”
Three, Tognoni mentioned that the Philippines is
a model of globalization. “Filipinos are spread
out all over the world as migrants, yet they are
not considered as such but as ‘moving workers,’
part of a kind of ‘natural economic law.’”
The tribunal sees the exploitation of host countries
of Filipinos forced to migrate to earn a living,
and in the process, strengthen the local economy.
Court of public opinion
While the Tribunal acts as a court of public opinion,
it has no power to impose its decision or judgment.
“What we hope,” said Dr. Tognoni, is
to show “evidence of what is going on, through
the important collaboration of many people, to recreate
a memory and to help the more effective universal
implementation of human and people’s rights.”
While the book has launched in Amsterdam, Brussels
and Kuala Lumpur, Dr. Tognoni urges more groups
to hold their own launch in order to shine the light
on the book’s message.
Around the time the PPT convened to try the presidency
of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for its grievous human
rights violations, 748 have been summarily killed,
111 have been kidnapped and disappeared.
“The killings, kidnappings, torture and other
abuses show a clear pattern of state policy,”
according to the studies made by the groups that
requested the PPT for a second session on the Philippines.
Before that, well-documented cases of human rights
abuses have already been brought to the attention
of the United Nations. International entities have
also conducted fact-finding missions, issued reports,
recommendations and condemnations of Macapagal-Arroyo’s
lack of resolute action to stop the killings.
Various church organizations have likewise issued
statements and resolutions calling on the Manila
government to end the killings. Members of Parliament
from Europe and a number of officials from other
countries have also expressed concerns over the
deteriorating human rights situation in the Philippines.
Despite mounting local and international pressure,
the killings and abductions have gone on. . Carol
Pagaduan-Araullo sees nothing short of Mrs. Arroyo’s
ouster as a way to solve the killings.
In the meantime, Repression and Resistance makes
visible the tales the lot of us has been unable
or would rather not see.
|
| |
| |
| by
Amy Oliveros |
| |
|
|
