Some sectors in Philippine society, especially those sympathetic to the law enforcement and prosecution agencies of the Philippine government, assail the lack of diligence and interest of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of the Philippines in protecting the rights and interests of the civilian victims of assassinations, like peasants, workers, and businesspersons, committed by regular or rouge members of the rebel group National People’s Army (NPA) and the secessionist Muslim groups Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), and the bandit Al-Qaeda-linked Muslim group Abbu Sayyaf.
Below is a letter to the editors of the Philippine Daily Inquirer written by an official of the Department of Justice, Emmanuel Velasco, articulating the abovementioned view.
In effect, he is sub silencio saying: When policemen, soldiers, law enforcers and prosecutors harm, injure, kill or abuse Filipino civilians, it is called human rights violation. When rebels and secessionist do the same, it is called an act of civil war or rebellion which in theory and under existing Philippine jurisprudence absorbs the said acts which would otherwise be classified as ordinary crimes under the Revised Penal Code and existing special penal laws.
Form your own opinion.
As far as I am concerned, the human rights violators from the government side who wittingly or unwittingly commit atrocious, heinous and abusive acts against innocent Filipino civilians, who are not active or inactive participants in the unseen and dirty de facto civil war in the Philippines, have no moral and legal right to raise the abovementioned argument as a defense for their illegal and harmful acts because they are mandated by the Constitution and the law to enforce the rule of law and the Bill of Rights in the country even as their dedicatedly perform their law enforcement and prosecutorial duties. Such despicable human rights violators and felons disguised and masked as law enforcers in uniform and as prosecutors in coat and tie must themselves be arrested, prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law.
As to the rebels and secessionists who commit ordinary acts of atrocities, like murder, homicide, robbery, and the like, during and by reason of such rebellion, they must be arrested, prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law for the special crime of rebellion as defined by the Revised Penal Code, which felony, under existing Philippine jurisprudence, absorbs the aforementioned ordinary crimes.
Selective human rights advocacy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:17:00 11/05/2009
I HAVE ALWAYS HELD people and organizations advocating human rights in great reverence, those who believe that the rights of an individual should always be upheld, regardless of the person’s social standing or beliefs. I am among those who are convinced that if there is any way to advance as a nation, it should be with reverence for people’s inherent rights.
What I do not get though is the seemingly random, if not selective, “focus” of human rights advocates.
I commend Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Leila de Lima for her campaigns to uphold human rights, including those of suspected rebels for, truly, even the rights of rebels must be respected. Her eloquence though cannot account for her failure to speak up for people victimized by rebel groups. She has no word of encouragement for the families of NPA victims to fight for justice; neither have there been pledges of CHR support in their lawsuits against NPA liquidation squads. Recently, two civilians were wounded when NPA rebels shot to death a soldier in Paquibato District, Davao City, but nothing has been heard from the CHR chair. The silence has been long and we don’t know where it is going to end.
Some people suffer in silence, including NPA victims who are afraid of retaliation. Everybody’s rights should be respected. In many instances, the NPA rebels are more fortunate because their rights are acknowledged while those of their victims are ignored. We can champion the rights of the rebels, but we should do so without ignoring the rights of the people they victimize. Otherwise, how can we claim to be champions of human rights?
—EMMANUEL VELASCO,
many_vee70@yahoo.com
See:
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/letterstotheeditor/view/20091105-234490/Selective-human-rights-advocacy
