PUBLIC STATEMENT

http://amnesty.org.ph/news.php?item=news&id=132

9 February 2010

The worst pre-election violence in Philippine history – the Maguindanao massacre – has focused global attention on the human rights situation in the country. Now more than ever,candidates in the 10 May presidential elections need to clarify how they will address key human rights issues facing the country.

Today as the presidential campaign period officially begins, Amnesty International calls on all of the presidential candidates to make clear, public commitments on the actions they will take in the first 100 days of office to address serious human rights violations. In a public letter to the candidates, Amnesty International called on them to affirm their commitment to:

1) Revoke Executive Order 546, and ensure full accountability over all state-sponsored militias and paramilitary groups.

Despite the mass killing of 63 civilians on 23 November in Maguindanao, members of state-armed local groups and private armies are still free to operate in other parts of the country The Philippine government’s continued failure to establish accountability for members of these armed groups undermines the rule of law and denies human rights protection for civilians.

Within 100 days, the new Philippine president should revoke Executive Order 546, which allows for militia and paramilitary groups to provide active support in counterinsurgency operations. In practice, these groups have been ill-trained, unaccountable, poorly integrated into the military chain of command, and responsible for serious human rights violations. In some provinces, Civilian Volunteer Organizations(CVOs) effectively as private armies for local politicians, heightening the risk of pre-election violence.

2) Establish a presidential commission aimed at preventing and prosecuting enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.

In the last decade, at least 200 Filipinos have been subjected to enforced disappearance, and as many as 1,100 have been executed in political killings. The incoming president needs to establish an impartial and independent commission to review these cases, with the aim of enabling timely and effective investigations and, where warranted, prosecutions.

The new president should initiate legislation that specifically criminalizes enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions. He or she should sign the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

3) Order the administrationto fully implement the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement in order to ensure the safety and well-being of the displaced.

Despite the ceasefire in Mindanao,more than 125,000 people remain displaced by the 2008 armed conflict alone.To address this grave humanitarian situation, the incoming president should publicly instruct the administration to ensure that policies comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

Under the Guiding Principles,the government must ensure that the displaced are provided with adequate food, water, shelter, and clothing, as well as essential healthcare and sanitation. It must also guarantee unimpeded humanitarian access to are as under its control. In addition, the government must implement a sustainable plan of action so that the displaced can return to their villages, safely and voluntarily.

As commander-in-chief, the new president will be directly responsible for ensuring that the armed forces comply with international humanitarian law. As a core principle,this law explicitly prohibits direct or indiscriminate attacks against civilians, and this includes displaced persons and all other non-combatants.

About ten million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sent back to the Philippines $17.3-billion last year amid the global economic crisis, up by 5.6 percent compared to 2008 figures.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country’s central bank, said migrant remittances accounted for 10.8 percent of the Philippines’ gross domestic product.

The World Bank representative in Manila also credited migrant remittances for saving the Philippine economy from the adverse effects of the global recession.

What does these information all mean?

For one, our OFWs deserve our total respect for what they do to family and country.

They have been called “modern-day heroes” but each week and each month, we hear of Filipino diplomatic officials ignoring the plight of abused or distressed OFWs especially in the Middle East and in countries where they are prone to abuses and racism. The empty title “modern-day heroes” should give way to a more pro-active approach in defending the rights and promoting the welfare of OFWs wherever they may live and work. The Department of Foreign Affairs should be on its toes 24/7 to address their concerns.

Second, our OFWs appear to be really having a hard time living in crisis-stricken receiving countries and at the same time try to salvage their families from ruinous conditions in the Philippines.

In my talks with OFWs and migrant leaders, they have always stressed that, of late, OFWs have been working on two jobs at the least to earn and send home the same amount of remittances they used to remit in the past. No thanks to the global economic crisis, a number have lost their jobs or their benefits scaled back. Those lucky enough to find an alternate job appear to be trying to recoup lost earning via second or third jobs.

Third, the Philippine government owes OFWs big time!

That may already be the understatement of the year or of the decade. The corruption and flawed policies of the Arroyo government have brought to the country to the brink of economic bankruptcy. It only has the OFWs to thank for saving its skin.

The very least that the Arroyo government could do is to STOP all forms of exactions on OFWs, including the documentary stamp tax on remittances and a halt on mandatory payments of all sorts of unaccounted fees that previously ended up in the campaign kitty of presidential candidate Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2004 (Remember?).

Government must fully account for all OFW contributions to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, the Social Security System, Philhealth, Pag-ibig and other agencies that view the OFWs a mere milking cows. Based on experience, these agencies are slow in releasing benefits (including those intended for departed or murdered OFWs) but are quick in raising fees and premiums or in collecting them.

Finally, this is not the way to raise and build a strong economy. We are living off the backs of fellow Filipinos who toil endlessly for family and country while in foreign shores. We must end this over-dependence on OFW remittances and the flawed labor export policy.

The next government would do well to craft a new economic policy that stresses mass employment opportunities through industrialization, agricultural modernization based on land reform and the establishment of enterprises capable of employing hundreds of thousands to millions. It should encourage the rise and development of entrepreneurs, especially the former and returning OFWs who wish to start anew in the country.

In the meantime, while the government and the country prepares for this medium and long-term assault on mass poverty, we expect government to give due respect and recognition to OFWs, to be champions of their rights and welfare, to rescue those in desperate need or in abusive situations, and to fight back against erring employers and illegal recruiters who prey on them.

That is what our “modern-day heroes”, who routinely save the economy from total ruin, fundamentally deserve.

“Ano’ng (UK) Migrant Issue ang dapat pag-usapan ngayong Eleksyon?”

Below are some of their views. You can contribute by making your own video commentaries using your camera phones, etc. and sending them to ukpinoymigrants@gmail.com for posting on our blogsite!

Vote for Migrants Rights! is a joint project of Kanlungan (alliance of Filipino organisations), Migrante UK, and CHRP-UK, that aims to highlight pertinent issues and aspirations of Filipino migrants in the UK and their families that they want to put forward this Philippine election season.

The project aims to gather issues and opinions from different Filipino migrant community organisations and individuals in the UK, in the light of producing a consolidated migrant agenda of the country. A national consultation is planned to take place on 17 April 2009 in London, where selected delegates from different migrant organisations across UK regions will gather to unite on their issues and endorse our own agenda.

Today, as the official campaign season starts, we simultaneously launch our official site so as to empower and encourage us to voice out our issues, reactions, commentaries on migrant matters and the elections. This will also serve as a space where we’ll publish various updates, news, community surveys, mock polls, etc. as events towards Election Day unfold, in order to empower us and our families back home to make an informed choice on 10 May 2010.

Though we may be oceans away from our homeland, we stand firm in registering our concerns and agenda in this significant event; we, who are dubbed “the new heroes” of the Philippines, want our long unheard voices to be heard. We are Filipino Migrants and we want change.

We are UK Pinoy Migrants and We Vote for Migrants’ Rights!

Emma Bibal
Vice-chairperson, Kanlungan

Sheila Tilan
Chairperson, Migrante UK

Rafael Joseph Maramag
Chairperson, CHRP UK