Certain must-do's for human rights

President Aquino has taken contrasting stands regarding two groups of detainees accused of anti-government activities.

He has proclaimed an amnesty for the military rebels involved in three incidents against the Arroyo government, but has declined to act on the appeals, local and international, for the release of the 43 community health workers known as the “Morong 43”. They were arrested during a seminar in a resort house in Morong (Rizal) last Feb. 4, held under restrictive conditions in a military camp, and accused of being members of the CPP-NPA.

Mr. Aquino acted resolutely on the amnesty without consulting Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and AFP Chief Gen. Ricardo David. He disregarded the Makati regional trial court that has heard the case against the military rebels for seven years and was set to issue a decision this October 28. The amnesty proclamation awaits implementation after concurrence by Congress; meantime, almost all of the detained military officers have been freed.

As for the health workers, President Aquino has left their fate to the Morong court, which has yet to start hearing the charge against them (illegal possession of firearms and explosives), despite the findings of Secretary de Lima, whom he had directed to review the case, that the arrest warrant was questionable and the firearms and explosives alleged as evidence were obtained without a search warrant.

President Aquino took note of the established legal norm that evidence wrongly acquired cannot be used as evidence in court. On that basis he should have instructed Secretary de Lima to direct state prosecutors to withdraw the charge so the court could order the release of the Morong 43. By not doing so, Mr. Aquino is allowing their continued illegal detention.

The contrasting actions of President Aquino underline a bias against those identified with the Left revolutionary movement, or alleged by the military to be linked to it. Which puts into question the President’s supposed policy, as articulated by his spokesperson, Edwin Lacierda, of “seeking reconciliation on all fronts - from enemies of the state [i.e., Left activists, according to the military] to rebel soldiers.”

Where’s the parity in the government’s treatment of the two groups?

Such bias — manifested by all previous presidents, it’s true — may also explain why President Aquino has been deaf to the appeals of various human rights groups, local and international, for him to put an end to the following:

1) Extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

The human rights alliance Karapatan has documented 1,207 extrajudicial killings and 206 enforced disappearances under the nine-year Arroyo regime. In the first three months of the Aquino government, it has reported 16 cases of extrajudicial killings.

A linkage between these crimes and the Arroyo counterinsurgency program, Oplan Bantay Laya, was found by the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Philip Alston, when he conducted an investigation here in 2007. Alston urged the removal of extrajudicial killings from the counterinsurgency program. Mrs. Arroyo remained silent. The killings continued.

Oplan Bantay Laya was to have expired at the end of Mrs. Arroyo’s term last June 30. Human rights groups were thus outraged when the Aquino government announced its extension until the end of 2010. And so the killings go on.

Yesterday, some 2,000 peasants marched to Mendiola, near Malacanang, demanding land and justice. For four days they had marched on foot or motored from Bicol, Southern Luzon, Cagayan Valley, Ilocos, and Central Luzon. A small delegation from Negros joined them.

They also denounced the continued crimes against peasant leaders: eight killed so far under Aquino, after nearly 200 under Arroyo.

2) The practice, initiated by the Arroyo-created Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG), of filing trumped-up criminal charges against Left activists.

Alston characterized IALAG’s job as prosecuting the victims rather than their persecutors, and recommended its abolition. The IALAG has been abolished, yet the filing of trumped-up charges continues under the Aquino government. (This columnist is one of these victims, as I mention below.)

3) The filing of common-crime charges, such as murder, kidnapping and arson, instead of the political charge of rebellion, against those tagged as leaders and members of the CPP-NPA/NDF.

“The criminalization of political offenses” is what human rights lawyers call this repugnant practice, which is meant to deprive the accused of the right to bail to which they are otherwise entitled. Under long-established jurisprudence, all common crimes that may be committed in pursuance of rebellion are deemed subsumed by the charge of rebellion.

In 2006 the Arroyo government filed a rebellion case against me and five progressive party-list colleagues in Congress — the “Batasan 6” — alleging we were leaders of the CPP-NPA. Finding the charge baseless, the Supreme Court ordered its dismissal. The government retaliated by charging me and several others with “multiple murder,” a non-crime. Hence, individual murder cases that allegedly occurred in the 1980s were filed instead, the one last July being the latest.

If President Aquino truly seeks reconciliation with the Left, he should stop these unjust practices. Will he, or can he?