Autumn 2009 c/o PIPLinks, Finspace, 225-229 Seven Sisters Road,

London, N4 2DA, UK
Published in Phone: +44(0)207 263 1002 Email: info@chrp.org.uk
London Website: www.chrp.org.uk
Company Registration No. 6878754

CHRP Picket Greets Arroyo

A picket organized by the migrant workers group Migrante and CHRP showed Presi-
dent Arroyo once again that she will be reminded of the human rights violations of her
government any time that she visits London. Her visit to a conference about the global
economic crisis organized by
The Economist magazine on
18 September at the exclu-
sive Riverbank Hotel was
met by Migrante and CHRP
members carrying placards
showing Mrs Arroyo grow-
ing fat as Filipinos starve.

A letter was handed to Phil-

ippine Embassy officials
which noted
“Your visit to London
aims to discuss economic
development in the Philippines. We do not believe that there can be any mean-
ingful economic progress if the human rights of Filipino citizens are violated.
Madame President, you are the head of a state which stands accused of perpe-
trating and rewarding political killings, disappearances, torture, and the vio-
lation of basic human rights.”
The letter called on Presi-
dent Arroyo to Stop Po-
litical Killings and Disap-
pearances in the Philip-
pines. The letter was read
out on radio broadcasts in
the Philippines as part of
the news coverage on her
visit to London.

1
EDITORIAL

T he Campaign for Human

Rights in the Philippines
(CHRP) is a volunteer organization that
seeks to highlight human rights abuses in
the Philippines. We note the continued
pattern of killings that have blighted the
country over the last decade – killings of
journalists, students, lawyers, activists and
and, as if by magic, produce peace. Laud-
suspected criminals – and the lamentable
able as Blair‟s and UK intentions may be,
failure of the Philippine government either
peace in Mindanao will require sustained
to properly investigate these killings or in-
and sincere engagement among partners
deed to place the due process of the law
who actually know something about the
above vigilantism. In the Philippines today,
conflict and its causes. We also note the
the Police and the judiciary are not trusted
passing of Cory Aquino. Cory Aquino‟s
agencies. In this issue of our newsletter we
death in August was reported in the interna-
highlight these on-going problems but also
tional press with the predictable eulogies.
focus attention on moves towards constitu-
Aquino has always been projected as a
tional change (so-called cha-cha) and the
saintly figure whose opposition leadership
forthcoming elections. We also note, with
following her husband‟s murder led to the
bemusement, that former British Prime
end of the brutal and corrupt dictatorship of
Minister Tony Blair has been to the Philip-
Ferdinand Marcos. The emergence of
pines in recent months to lecture about con-
Aquino was in fact sponsored by the US to
flict resolution, and that senior Moro Is-
allow it to drop the increasingly embarrass-
lamic Liberation Front (MILF) cadres have
ing Marcos who was failing to check
been to Northern Ireland, as if the Northern
a radical and broadly based mass move-
Ireland peace process were some holy grail
ment. Cory was part of the traditional elite
that can simply be transposed to another
as shown by the ruthless treatment of work-
country, another culture and different pro-
ers on her own plantations. During her
tagonists on the other side of the world,
presidency, progressive and democratic
reforms were steadily abandoned or re-
jected, and the military was allowed to
become dangerously politicised. Today
political corruption continues to
be endemic in the Philippines and the
use of state-sponsored murder and tor-
ture by a military operating with impu-
nity is more rampant than ever.

http://www.thepoc.net/images/stories/politiko/
political_killings.jpg

2

President Arroyo
Challenged to Act on
Indigenous Racial
Discrimination
The letter that was handed in and more in-
formation on this can be read at:- http://
philippines-cerd.blogspot.com/2009/09/
text-of-letter-from-piplinks-to.html
Indigenous Peoples Links (PIPLinks), a
UK-based support group on indigenous
rights, used the opportunity of the visit of
President Arroyo to London to also hand in
a letter raising issues around the recent
concluding observations of the United Na-
tions Committee on the Elimination of Ra-
cial Discrimination (CERD).
UK campaigners had been part of a Philip-
pine delegation that travelled to Geneva
when the CERD met in August 2009. The
CERD, which reviews how country‟s are
implementing their obligations to elimina-
tion racial discrimination, was reviewing
the Philippine Government‟s overdue re-
port. They presented a „shadow report‟,
and video, to counter Government claims
that there was no racial discrimination in
3
the Philippines. This particularly focus-
sed on how indigenous peoples were be-
ing seriously discriminated against, and
how the Philippine Government was fail-
ing to protect them, even though there is
an enlightened law that is supposed to
protect them, called the Indigenous Peo-
ples Rights Act (IPRA). However, on the
ground the lands and lives of indigenous
peoples are under threat, often from the
activities of multinational companies,
such as mining companies, many of
them based in the UK.
The CERD published an extensive set of
recommendations regarding the Govern-
ment‟s implementation of indigenous
peoples‟ rights, including urging the
Government to acknowledge that racial
discrimination exists in the Philippines
(which the Philippine Government con-
tinually denied). They also asked for a
review of how the IPRA law was, or
rather wasn‟t, working and asked the
Government to report within the year.
PIPLinks was keen to find out how the
Government would respond to that. On
past experience there is not a great deal
of optimism – especially as the President
spent her time meeting with UK-based
mining companies rather than discussing
the issues of the rights of the poorest and
most marginalized of her people.
ILO investigates killings
of union activists
Condensed from a report by the Interna-
tional Labor Rights Forum, Sep-
temb2009
The International Labor Organization
(ILO) is undertaking its first high level
mission to the Philippines from Septem-
ber 22nd to 29th to investigate serious
union rights violations including the kill-
ing of 92 labor union leaders since 2001.
They will meet with families of victims
and survivors of unexplained killings,
enforced disappearances and labor-
related harassment, and they will inspect
two major manufacturing plants in Cen-
tral and Southern Luzon.
The ILO mission was triggered by a
complaint the KMU brought before the
ILO‟s Committee on the Freedom of As-
sociation in 2006. In the complaint,
KMU alleged, “Killings, grave threats,
continuous harassment and intimidation
and other forms of violence inflicted on
leaders, members, organizers, union sup-
porters/labor advocates of trade unions
and informal workers' organizations who
actively pursue their legitimate demands
at the local and national levels.” Specifi-
cally, KMU mentioned the deaths of 64
trade unionists and advocates since Ar-
royo took power in 2001.
The ILO responded to the Complaints by
stating: “The Committee deplores the
gravity of the allegations made in this
case and the fact that more than a decade
after the filing of the last complaint on
this issue, inadequate progress has been
made by the Government with regard to
putting an end to killings, abductions,
disappearances and other serious human
rights violations which can only rein-
force a climate of violence and insecu-
rity and have an extremely damaging
effect on the exercise of trade union
r i g h t s . Widespread use of
As a result, the ILO made several rec-
ommendations to the Government of the
Philippines, including establishing an
independent judicial process in order to
review all allegations of violence, ending
prolonged military presence in the work-
place, and ensuring emergency measures
enacted by the government don‟t inter-
fere with workers legal rights to organ-
4
ize. Most importantly, it called on the
Philippine government to allow it to send
a team to look into the complaints and
establish more clear recommendations for
action. Yet, perhaps fearing what the ILO
may find, each time the ILO sought per-
mission to send a team to investigate the
violations and propose recommendations,
the Philippine government refused per-
mission. However following increasing
pressure from the international labor
movement and foreign governments at the
ILO this summer, the Philippine govern-
ment finally relented and allowed the ILO
to conduct its mission
The ILO Mission, though several
years late, is still extremely timely. Labor
activist in the Philippines continue to al-
lege government violence and harassment
targeted at workers and activist engaged
in organizing activities. KMU alleges
that: “After the complaint, 28 more work-
ers were [killed]. Also, a relatively new
form of repression hit the workers since
last year after the complaint: using
trumped up criminal charges to detain
workers.”
UN Committee Condemns
Torture in the Philippines
Information from Bulatlat and FIACAT
The United Nations Committee on
Torture (UNCAT) issued a report this
May 2009 expressing “its grave concern”
at the “routine and widespread use of
torture” in the Philippines and the
“climate of impunity for perpetrators
of acts of torture, including military,
police, and other State officials”.
During two days of sittings of
the 42nd session of the UN Commit-
tee Against Torture, the Committee
heard two torture survivors, farmer http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/images/stories/
large/2008/08/13/torture_57514181.jpg
Raymund Ramalao and Pastor Berlin
Guerero of the United Church of Christ,
give personal testimony about their abduc-
tions and torture at the hands of the secu-
rity forces. Manalao was abducted with his
brother by the military in Bulucan, a prov-
ince north of Manila, and subjected to dif-
ferent forms of torture for 18 months. Pas-
tor Berlin Guerero was abducted by the
military in May last year and tortured. The
Philippine human rights organization Kara-
patan and the World Organisation Against
Torture (OMCT) presented a joint report
documenting 1,016 victims of torture from
2001 to 31 March, 2009. According to
Karapatan, “Many people believe that tor-
ture has now become a covert national pol-
icy, together with extrajudicial killings,
enforced disappearances and other griev-
ous rights violations resorted to by the
State to quell the protests and dissent of the
people”.
A 27-strong Philippine government
5
delegation headed by Executive Secretary
Eduardo Ermita, who is chair of the Phil-
ippines Presidential Human Rights Com-
mittee defended the government‟s human
rights record. Ermita was asked by UN-
CAT about government steps to address
the concerns expressed by Philip Alston,
the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial
summary or arbitrary executions, who vis-
ited the Philippines in 2008. Ermita re-
sponded that much of the UN special rap-
porteur‟s reports was “unfounded, unbal-
anced, incomplete and at best premature.”
Ermita emphatically asserted that in the
Philippines torture is not practiced by state
security forces.
After reviewing the evidence and
testimonies and other documentation, UN-
CAT concluded that in the Philippines tor-
ture was widespread and routine. They
noted that members of the security forces
who commit torture are seldom investi-
gated and prosecuted, and that the perpe-
trators “are either rarely convicted or sen-
tenced to lenient penalties that are not in
accordance with the grave nature of the
offences.” The Committee also con-
demned the Human Security Act passed
in the Philippines in 2007 as having an
“overly broad” definition of “terrorist
crimes” and the provision allowing the
detention of suspects without warrant or
charge for up to 72 hours.
The Committee asked the Philip-
pine government to take immediate steps
to prevent acts of torture and ill-treatment
throughout the country and to announce a
policy of total elimination in respect of
any ill-treatment or torture by State offi-
cials. As part of this, the Philippines
should promptly implement effective
measures to ensure that all detainees are
afforded all fundamental legal safeguards
from the very outset of their detention.
These include the right to have access to a
lawyer and an independent medical ex-
amination, to notify a relative, and to be
informed of their rights at the time of de-
tention, including details of the charges
laid against them, as well as to appear be-
fore a judge within a time limit in accor-
dance with international standards. The
Committee has given the Filipino authori-
ties one year to improve this situation.
6
More Philippine
Journalists Targeted
Information from the Committee for the
Protection of Journalists
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PpXAfOwAa-s/
SOcRkDQtTBI/AAAAAAAAACk/
T_uKmE2wmoU/s400/free_press.jpg
An unidentified attacker stabbed and fa-
tally shot Philippine radio commentator
Crispin Perez on 8 June 2009 in San José
in the central Philippines. The attack took
place in the broadcaster‟s home shortly
after his morning show at the local
DWDO radio station. However, some
news reports indicate he was standing out-
side the station when he was attacked.
Perez was a former politician who had
also worked as a lawyer. Police told jour-
nalists they were investigating possible
motives for the murder. AFP cited a local
politician as saying that Perez had re-
cently “made enemies” over a local en-
ergy deal but did not elaborate on the con- forts of the Philippine government in
tent of his radio programme. solving these murders and we hope it can
The perpetrator fled on a motorcy- exert every effort to ensure the prosecu-
cle, according to the news reports. Perez tion of the remaining cases”.
was declared dead on arrival at the local
hospital. Perez is the fourth journalist to ELECTIONS AND
be killed in the Philippines this year.
There have been 24 unsolved murders of CHARTER CHANGE
journalists in the last ten years, making (CHA-CHA)
the Philippines the sixth most deadly
country in the world for journalists and
Benny Clutario
one of the few which is not an active war
zone. However, Philippine President Glo-
Under the Philippines 1987 Constitution,
ria Macapagal-Arroyo‟s chief aide, Edu-
the President is allowed only one term in
ardo Ermita, recently declared that the 24
office. Desperate to hang on to power,
murders of journalists in Philippines had
Arroyo‟s supporters in the Philippine
all been “properly attended to”, in re-
House of Representatives passed House
sponse to the New York-based Committee
Resolution 1109 on 2 June 2009 enabling
for the Protection of Journalists. “It is out-
themselves to convene the House as a
rageous for the Philippine government to
“constituent assembly” with the power to
declare that these murders have been
amend the constitution – even without the
„properly attended to‟ when not one single
concurrence of the Senate.
conviction has been made in any of these
This was widely seen as a manoeu-
cases”, said Joel Simon, the CPJ‟s execu-
vre that could pave the way for a change
tive director. “There‟s no mystery how
in the constitution to allow a switch in the
the Philippines got on the CPJ‟s global
government set-up from presidential to
impunity index „Getting Away with Mur-
parliamentary form. President Arroyo‟s
der 2009‟: the unsolved murders of 24
term of office is set to end in 2010. A
journalists. There is also no mystery how
change in the form of government would
the Philippine government can get off the
potentially allow Arroyo to run again as a
list: convict the killers of these journalists.
member of Parliament without any term
The CPJ will continue to support the ef-

7
limits and even become Prime Minister. remain in power – by hook or by crook.
This has been met with protests by tens of The recent announcement by Aquino‟s
thousands who took to the streets in vari- son “Noynoy” to run for President may
ous towns and cities across the Philip- yet add a new and unpredictable ingredi-
pines against this act of betrayal by the ent to the mix.
Arroyo government.
Then former President Corazon
Aquino died. Hundreds of thousands ACTION NETWORK
again took to the streets to bid farewell to
a former President who was clearly much
HUMAN RIGHTS -
loved by the Filipino nation. In stark con- PHILIPPINES
trast, the incumbent President stood out as
a lone and isolated figure, widely reviled
For further information on the findings of
and hated. The Filipino people clearly do
the ANHR-P mission, contact philip-
not want an extension to Arroyo‟s term as
pinenbuero@asianhaus.de
head of state. They want an end to corrupt
government and an end to extra judicial
The German-based „Action Network Hu-
killings.
man Rights – Philippines‟ this year con-
While President Arroyo and her
ducted a human rights mission to look
political supporters have had to rethink
into political killings in the Philippines.
their options and backtrack a bit, the pros-
Representatives met with Philippine gov-
pect of extending Arroyo‟s term as Presi-
ernment, military and police as well as
dent is not entirely off the agenda. With
church officials, local human rights advo-
the June 2010 elections fast approaching,
cates and victims and their families. De-
politicians are busy positioning them-
spite the declared willingness of the Phil-
selves with a view towards running for
ippines government to address the human
political office.
rights problem, the government denies
Forcing through the “constituent
that there is any official policy regarding
assembly” idea would be a very unpopu-
deaths quads and maintains that the kill-
lar measure, but Arroyo has consistently
ings are carried out by armed groups in
acted in her own interests rather than
the context of factional rivalries and
those of the country. Clearly, she wants to
purges between and among criminal and

8
insurgent gangs and armed groups. How-
ever, the vast majority of the killings re-
main unsolved and this fact is “having a
corrosive impact on the confidence of the
public in judiciary processes”.
Police Death Squads in
Davao, Philippines
This is a summary of reports that ap-
peared in The Irish Times and The Inde-
pendent. David McNeill writes for The
Independent and other publications, in-
cluding The Irish Times and The Chroni-
cle of Higher Education. He is an Asia-
Pacific Journal co-ordinator. See David
McNeill, „The Terminators. Police Death
Squads in the Philippines‟, The Asia-
Pacific Journal, Vol. 24, No. 6, June 15,
2009. See also David McNeill in Davao,
The Philippines – http://japanfocus.org/-
David-McNeill/3174
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wLQt0uHm3UI/SrLhWp-430I/AAAAAAAAAEQ/-
G25uN6gtkc/S660/Silence+Kills.JPG
9
Police death squads are out of control in
Davao in the southern Philippines, say
human rights campaigners, murdering
slum children, the poor, suspected crimi-
nals and political enemies with impunity.
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte boasts that he has
made Davao the safest urban zone in the
Philippines, but Davao‟s motto: „love,
peace and progress‟ is belied by an ugly
killing spree that has claimed nearly 900
lives, including dozens of children. The
mayor says they all deserved to die.
“What I want to do is instil fear,” he told
reporters in February. “If you are doing an
illegal activity in my city, if you are a
criminal or part of a syndicate that preys
on the innocent people of the city, for as
long as I am the mayor, you are a legiti-
mate target of assassination.”
Condemnation and press coverage
have failed to stop the summary execu-
tions of what Mayor Duterte calls
“society‟s gar-
bage,” Davao‟s
own slum dogs:
alleged petty drug
dealers, young
toughs and street
children. Vigilantes
have murdered 894
people in the last
decade, including at
least 80 minors, ac-
cording to the Tam-
bayan Centre for
Children‟s Rights, a
Christian NGO that
operates in Davao‟s
city centre. It is the
only organization
keeping a systematic
account of the execu- http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00179/philippines-
tions. The youngest missing_179668s.jpg

victim was 12 years old.
The executions follow a similar
pattern. Police officers or government
officials from barangays – local admin-
istrative units – approach alleged trou-
blemakers to warn that they have made a
hit list known as the “order of battle” or,
in Davao, as the “Duterte‟s list.” Failure
to heed the warning by quitting “illegal
activities” or leaving town is a death sen-
tence, usually carried out by men on mo-
torbikes carrying butcher‟s knives or .45
-caliber hand-guns. The vigilantes have
achieved their purpose: instilling terror
in the city‟s slums, says Renante Ven-
tula, who lives on Davao‟s streets.
“When we talk about them, we do so in
low voices because we don‟t know who
is listening.” Last October, he says his
friend was murdered in a local Internet
café. “He had been warned by the San
Pedro police. Two men arrived on mo-
torbikes without license plates, went into
the café and took turns stabbing him. He
had ten stab wounds”.
Officially sanctioned vigilantism
is spreading as the country‟s economic
woes deepen, warns Edith Casiple, Tam-
bayan‟s executive director. “The prob-
lem is now all over the country. Other
leaders are copying Mayor Duterte”. In
several cities, including the capital Ma-
nila, politicians have praised Davao‟s
style of rough justice. Police officers in
collusion with local city governments
across the southern island of Mindanao
are involved in targeted killings – known
in the local press as “salvagings” and
“rub-outs” – say human rights groups.
Executions have also been reported in

10
the troubled holiday resort of Cebu. Philip- ment agencies, including the Department
pine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, of National Defence, Department of Jus-
who once appointed Duterte as an advisor tice, and Philippine National Police.
on peace and order, has “largely turned a CHR said the agencies would have to
blind eye” to the murders, claims Human cooperate, citing its constitutional power
Rights Watch (HRW). Can central govern- to request assistance of any department,
ment influence events in Davao? As late as bureau, office or agency.
April, Malacañang Palace, the president‟s
official residence, publicly told Duterte that
he should regain control over the city police
force, but rejected talk of an investigation
into the killings. “The mayor is an elected
official. We can‟t act on something that is
not based on actual facts on the ground”,
said government spokesman Eduardo Er-
mita. Observers say Duterte is beyond the
reach of the president, who has distanced
herself from him. “He is well protected po-
litically and therefore untouchable”, said
Irish priest and human rights campaigner,
Shay Cullen. However, on June 17 this year,
the Philippine Commission on Human
Rights (CHR) announced the formation of
an inter-agency task force that will look into
Davao‟s death squads. “The CHR is con-
cerned because these killings demonstrate
violations of not only the right to life but
also the right of persons suspected of
crimes”, the CHR said. The rights body will
head the task force composed of representa-
tives with ranks “not lower than an assistant
secretary or its equivalent” from 11 govern-

11
 Abductions and Disappearances:
Breaking the Chains of Impunity in the
Philippines
For the past eight years, hu-
man rights groups estimate
there have been over 200
cases of enforced disappear-
ances in the Philippines and
new cases are being reported
every year. Victims of these
abductions come from all
sectors of society – from la-
bour activists to human
rights defenders.

Not a single one of these cases has been solved. Families of the disap-
peared continue to wait and search for their loved ones.

Mrs. Edita Burgos, the mother of the missing activist Jonas Burgos, who was
abducted by unknown elements in April 2007, has been actively seeking
justice and campaigning for the ‘surfacing’ of her son for the past two
years.

21 October 2009 6:00pm

Amnesty International
Human Rights Action Centre
17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC21 3EA

Speakers:
Edita Burgos, Desaparecidos
JL Burgos, Free Jonas Burgos Movement
Hazel Galang, Amnesty International Nick Sigler, UNISON

12