MANILA, Philippines – It appears that the military’s approach to the human rights issue was better during the past administration, at least in the eyes of some group leaders.
During the Pantao Human Rights Journalism Fellowship forum hosted by Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Friday, Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) Secretary General Rose Trajano recounted how they were able to stop Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) offensives against indigenous people in South Cotabato.
This was during the time of former President Benigno Aquino III.
“The military then especially the AFP Human Rights office was just one phone call away. I remember one of our campaigns in Tampakan mining, it’s the biggest copper and gold mining company in Asia, and it is contested doon sa B’laan ancestral domain, around 5,000 B’laans will be displaced once this Tampakan mining becomes fully operational,” Trajano told the crowd.
According to Trajano, they immediately called up AFP’s former Human Rights office chief General Rhoderick Parayno, who then called former CHR chair Etta Rosales.
“Nagbabarilan sa bundok ang militar, and they’re looking for some of the indigenous people who were actually fighting back so our organizer called me up, and we called General Erick,” she said. “(I said) ‘General you have to do something, you have to ensure that no violations are committed, that you stop the shooting right now.”
“And true enough, tinawagan niya si Etta Rosales, CHR chief, and they called up ‘yong command sa Tampakan. So that is how open our communications then,” she added.
Is it still the case in today’s military, under President Rodrigo Duterte’s term?
“But now, tapos na lahat ‘yan,” Trajano said.
What differed?
According to CHR Commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit, the past administration itself was not “perfect.” And true enough, most people forget that the Aquino presideny faced several human rights issues, such as the Kidapawan protest incident where two farmers seeking assistance for the dry season were shot dead.
Even renowned human rights group Amnesty International gave Aquino a failing mark after several human rights violations happened under his watch. Just recently, outgoing European Union (EU) Ambassador Franz Jessen noted that their call to uphold human rights started before Duterte was elected into office.
However, the Aquino administration did something with activists that the Duterte leadership had not done, at least after progressive groups were shunned and labeled as communists — which was the willingness to sit down and talk.
“Past administrations were not perfect, let’s face it, even the past administration was not perfect. But at least there was an open window, perhaps for dialogue,” Dumpit said.
“Right now, it is so difficult to have that adult conversation with this government because there is no opening for that. No opening because even the core concept of human rights is being demonized, human rights defenders are being demonized,” she added.
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President Duterte has been vocal about his distaste for the way human rights defenders — whether local or foreign — have criticized his policies, especially the police’s war against illegal drugs.
Last July, he said that United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) member-states who voted in favor of greater scrutiny of his drug war were “fools.” Shortly after, he said he would drag critics of his campaign to hell.
He also lambasted CHR for its supposed hypocrisy, warning them not to interfere with his programs.
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Looking forward
Despite these issues with the current administration, Trajano said she was still open to working with the military, although they do not expect Duterte to change his stand and view of human rights.
“Hopefully we can inform them and that they would be open to really understand again ‘yong totoong konsepto ng karapatang pantao. Because we know the President distorted it intentionally,” she explained.
“And because he is the commander in chief, the AFP really had to follow,” she added.
This was despite criticism of left-leaning groups that the military and the police have lent itself to abusive causes. However, state forces have numerous times maintained that they are for human rights, accusing communist rebels in the provinces of being the groups who disregard the rights of the people.
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Still, Trajano thinks it is important to balance hope with expectations.
“Meron pa ba akong pag-asa? Yes I think not all military are utak pulbura (violent-minded),” Trajano said.
“But we really need to be vigilant; we need to constantly remind all the people that they have to fight back; they have to claim kung ano ‘yong tunay na konsepto ng karapatang pantao,” she added.