Philippine Abuses Noted As President Visits NZ

Political repression and assassination are the norm in the Philippines, says a touring trade unionist. Most weeks another political activist is killed by the military, says Dennis Maga. Since 2001 “838 people have been killed in extra judicial killings”.

Mr Maga is a Filipino trade unionist and spokesperson for the Free Ka Bell movement. He is travelling New Zealand talking on government abuses in the Philippines.

Arbitrary detentions using weak or non-existent evidence were among the issues raised by Mr Maga, who is particularly highlighting the detention of Crispen “Ka Bell” Beltran.

Ka Bell is a 74-year-old Filipino congressman unconstitutionally arrested last year using manufactured evidence, says Mr Maga.

Ka Bell is an iconic representative of the people in Filipino left-wing politics. He is now in hospital and his support group is struggling to find the funds to supply the health care he needs.

Another Filipino congressman is facing charges for a murder that it is not possible for him to have committed, Mr Maga says, as it was during a previous imprisonment he suffered under the previous dictator, Ferdinand Marcos.

Mr Maga’s claims of human rights abuses are backed by a recent report on the Philippines by the United Nations and another report released last year by Amnesty International.

Tim Parritt is a special rapporteur for the United Nations Human Rights Commission. He recently spent 10 days in the Philippines investigating extra-judicial killings.

His report to the UN shows how the killers act with “virtual impunity” and many of the killings are “convincingly attributed” to the Philippines’ military.

An earlier report, also by Mr Parritt in his other role as South East Asia researcher for Amnesty International, outlines how the military actively goes after left-wing activists.

Newspapers carry almost daily reports of senior military officials urging that such groups be neutralized, the report says.

“This practice was openly and adamantly defended by nearly every member of the military with whom I spoke.

"No-one deserves to die for their political affiliation," Mr Parritt wrote in the report.

"It should be a deep embarrassment to the Government that people in the Philippines cannot freely exercise their rights of political expression and association."

Many of the Filipino killings are either classified as terrorist activities or if the military is clearly implicated they are justified by saying that the soldiers are battling terrorism.

Mr Maga’s arrival is timed to raise awareness the week before Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo arrives in New Zealand for Interfaith talks at Waitangi this week.

The Interfaith talks are co-sponsored by the governments of New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

According to the New Zealand Government, the idea of the talks is to increase understanding between faiths and through this to “counter religious radicalisation and promote peace and non-violence”.

This idea has come under fire from human rights groups that say it is a hypocrisy and claim the Philippine government is behind much of the killing in the Philippines and it is behind more terrorism then the “terrorists”.

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