NZ Groups Join Filipino Mothers’ Appeal to Aquino

NZ Groups Join Filipino Mothers’ Appeal to Aquino: Surface the Victims of Enforced Disappearance, Release Political Prisoners!

Philippine solidarity groups in New Zealand are raising alarm that there will be more brazen
state-sponsored human rights abuses after the GPH’ unilateral termination of peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

“We have just heard that Estelita “Nanay Neneng” T. Tacalan, a 60-year old peasant rights advocate, went missing for 10 days. Though she was eventually surfaced by the military, it is deplorable that she now faces trumped-up charges – the same fate suffered by over 300 political prisoners in the Philippines. With the termination of GPH-NDFP peace talks, we fear the Aquino government will further ignore the calls to stop the abductions, killings and filing of trumped-up criminal charges against political activists,” Cameron Walker, spokesperson of Auckland Philippines Solidarity (APS).

"When I visited the Philippines last year, I met Angie Ipong of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, who, like Nanay Neneng, was abducted by state forces and held incommunicado before being surfaced to a prison to face trumped up charges. Angie was physically, mentally and sexually abused by her captors. While Mother's day is being celebrated, it is disturbing to hear that mothers like Nanay Neneng, Angie Ipong and many others have been grossly violated by state security forces," Walker lamented.

In an earlier statement, APS together with Wellington Kiwi Pinoy (WKP) and Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa (PSNA) noted, “The GPH’ unilateral termination of peace talks with the NDFP bodes ill for human rights. This major setback in the GPH-NDFP peace talks is a serious mid-term crisis which will likely spell more brazen human rights violations in the next three years of the Aquino administration.”

“In the spirit of international solidarity, we echo the appeals of Mrs Edita Burgos and all mothers of the disappeared for Pres. Aquino to do everything in his power as Commander-in-Chief of the Philippine military to surface Jonas Burgos and all the victims of enforced disappearance. We join the demand of the families of “Nanay Leleng” and all political prisoners for Pres. Aquino to grant unconditional amnesty and stop the government forces from committing any more illegal detention and torture,” Walker concluded.

Cameron Walker
Spokesperson, Auckland Philippines Solidarity (APS)

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The GPH-NDFP Peace Talks In Peril: Aquino’s Major Mid-term Crisis, Failure to Promote Peace & Uphold Human Rights 

Mid-way into its 6-year term, the Aquino administration is now sending signals that clearly bode ill for the Filipino people’s quest for justice, peace and meaningful change.

One is the recent unilateral declaration by GPH peace panel chair Alex Padilla of the termination of GPH-NDFP peace talks. Another is the continuing failure to bring to justice the men in uniform behind the wave of extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances, as in the outstanding case of Jonas Burgos where strong evidence point out military involvement. There has been a complete failure to successfully prosecute members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) who have committed grave human rights abuses during both the Aquino and Arroyo administrations. 

The GPH’ unilateral termination of peace talks with the NDFP bodes ill for human rights. This major setback in the GPH-NDFP peace talks is a serious mid-term crisis which will likely spell more brazen human rights violations in the next three years of the Aquino administration.

When Philippine President Benigno Aquino III visited New Zealand in October 2012, the Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa (PSNA), Wellington Kiwi Pinoy (WKP) and Auckland Philippines Solidarity (APS) conveyed a message to him: “We don’t like our milk going to a country where activists are tortured and killed.”

The GPH’ termination of peace talks doesn’t bode well for human rights as this would spell intensified military operations victimizing community activists and ordinary civilians.

International human rights watchdog groups have already expressed disappointment that President has not fulfilled his promises to end impunity in the Philippines since he assumed power in June 2010. Under Aquino, there is an alarming record of 137 victims of extrajudicial killings, 72 victims of torture, 498 cases of illegal arrests, and 30,260 victims of forced evacuation based on documentation of the human rights group Karapatan.

When PSNA, WKP and APS hosted the peace speaking tour “Justice and Liberation: The Road to Peace in the Philippines” in November 2010, we recall that Luis Jalandoni of the NDFP peace panel stressed, “The peace negotiations should address the roots of the armed conflict through fundamental economic, social and political reforms which will pave the way to a just and lasting peace.”

Pres. Aquino has three more years to disprove the growing criticisms about his administration’s human rights record and sincerity in the peace process. If he fails to deliver on his promises to bring about better lives for the poor, Filipinos and the international community will remember him as the president-son of the Philippines’ democracy icons who only proved to be another big disappointment.  

Murray Horton
Secretary, Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa (PSNA)

ENDS

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