MANILA, Philippines?Today?s observance of Human Rights Day is a source of ?shame and embarrassment? for Filipinos, according to Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, the president of the Catholic Bishops? Conference of the Philippines.

?We are ashamed, and we hope it is not completely true that our country is said to be the most corrupt in Asia and the second most corrupt in the world. This is because of human rights violations in various degrees. Does this call for a celebration?? the prelate said in a statement issued Tuesday.

Lagdameo noted that the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights came on the heels of Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao?s victory over Mexico?s ?Golden Boy? Oscar De La Hoya.

He said Pacquiao?s triumph ?makes us proud to be Filipinos, to be identified with the victorious Pacman,? but the observance of Human Rights Day ?gives us a feeling of shame and embarrassment because of the innumerable human rights violations that have remained unexamined, unexplained and unsolved or covered up by events.?

Lagdameo said, however, that despite the dismal human rights situation, the people should view the 2010 elections as an occasion for hope.

?We are not losing our hope, that we can still discover in our midst candidates who are above all honest and truthful, men of vision and integrity, inspiring and competent,? he said. ?We should learn from our past history, and face our future with hope.?

57 new cases

In its yearend report issued Tuesday, the human rights group Karapatan said it had documented at least seven new cases of forced disappearances and 50 victims of extrajudicial killings from January to October.

?The Arroyo government?s continued persecution of political activists clearly shows that it is more interested in coddling and covering up for the criminals responsible for the killings rather than in unmasking their identities,? it said.

In the last eight years of the Arroyo administration, Karapatan documented 977 victims of extrajudicial killings. It said 1,010 were victims of torture, and that 1,464 were illegally arrested.

?The Arroyo government has not lived up to the promise of respecting the dignity and fulfilling the human rights of Filipinos, as we have not been any better over the last eight years despite repeated claims to eradicating poverty and improving democracy,? Karapatan said, adding:

?The government has instead unleashed the brutality of its armed forces against the very people whose lives it has sworn to protect.?

Karapatan lamented that despite the huge number of human rights violations, no one had been convicted.

?Whatever little gain or remedy that may have been achieved in our largely ineffectual justice system, through the introduction of the writs of amparo and of habeas data, is now systematically undermined by the very institutions tasked to act judiciously on these incidents,? it said.

According to Karapatan, there are clear ?patterns? in pursuing legal remedies: The court dismisses a petition for insufficiency of evidence despite adequate evidence; court orders favorable to victims are ignored; the military pressures victims to claim they were detained voluntarily; the military files cases against leaders of legal democratic groups to pass the blame.

4 pending bills

But at the House of Representatives, lawmakers are focusing on amending the 1987 Constitution while human rights bills languish on the back burner.

Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III Tuesday told reporters that if President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo were ?really sincere on the issue of human rights,? she should certify four pending human rights measures as urgent to give them a better chance of getting passed in the 14th Congress.

Tañada, who chairs the House committee on human rights, identified the pending legislation as the bill seeking to compensate victims of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the bills against torture and forced disappearances, and the bill on internally displaced people.

He said the compensation bill had long been ready for plenary debates and that he had appealed to Speaker Prospero Nograles to help it forward, but that his request was ?met with an uncooperative stance.?

The three other bills have been passed by the committee on appropriations and are to be transmitted to the committees on justice and on rules for approval.

Recommendations

Tañada also presented Tuesday his report on the hearings conducted by his committee. (The report will have to be presented to the committee members for approval.)

One of his recommendations is the passage of a law on command responsibility so that those responsible for extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances?tagged by activists as the military?would be penalized.

Tañada said the bill was still pending at the committee on national defense, and that he doubted that it would even be passed by the committee.

?Of course they would not want to rock the boat at this point; that?s why they don?t want to touch [the bill],? he said.

Tañada also recommended that the House:

? Pass a resolution to effect a mandatory review of the military?s counterinsurgency operations, and the removal of extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, illegal arrests and torture from its strategy.

? Conduct its own study on the effectiveness of the Supreme Court?s writs of amparo and habeas data, which were made available as a response to the killings and disappearances.

He said that if necessary, the House could pass supplemental rules to support these judicial remedies.

Tañada also called for the strengthening of the Witness Protection Program and of the charter of the Commission on Human Rights.

CHR Chair Leila de Lima, who was the guest during the House?s human rights celebration Tuesday, seconded these recommendations.

Defending the defenders

For good measure, Tañada and some party-list lawmakers filed a bill seeking to provide security to those involved in protecting the people?s rights.

?Human rights defenders in the country have been tagged as ?enemies of the state? by the Arroyo government and harshly dealt with as such ... Scores from their ranks have been physically assaulted, tortured, treated inhumanely, cruelly and degradingly, and threatened, harassed, and intimidated. These violations are being committed with impunity by government security forces,? the Human Right Defenders? Protection Act reads in part.

The other authors of the bill are Bayan Muna Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño, Gabriela Representatives Liza Maza and Luz Ilagan, and Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano.

The bill notes that activist leaders such as Eden Marcellana, Eddie Gumanoy, Leima Fortu and Benjaline Hernandez have been killed, and that several others have been abducted, illegally arrested or illegally detained.

Under the bill, government officials are mandated to stop violating the human rights and fundamental freedoms of human rights defenders, and to not compel other people to do so.

Human rights education

The government should also take precautionary measures to protect human rights defenders against violence, threats, retaliation, discrimination, pressure or any similar act in relation to their duties, the bill states.

It adds that human rights education should be mandatory in elementary and high school.