Foreign alarm shows killings at ‘level of madness’ -- Left Veronica Uy INQ7.net
November 14, 2006
THE CALL of foreign chambers of commerce and multinational companies to stop political killings in the Philippines shows that human rights abuses in the country have “reached the level of madness,” militant groups said Tuesday.
“We are happy to hear the perennial opponent of workers take such a strong position in our behalf, denouncing the killings and asking the government to stop it,” said Elmer Labog, chairman of the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement).
In a phone interview, Labog said the call of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce (JFC) and foreign firms on the government to put an end to murders of left-wing activists and journalists “clearly shows the gravity of killings in this country, that it is unprecedented, and that it has reached the level of madness.”
The JFC on Monday called on the Philippines to end hundreds of politically-motivated killings of leftists and journalists or risk losing foreign investment and aid.
The unprecedented appeal followed a spate of unsolved killings that some government critics point to security forces, which often refer to leftwing and human rights activists as fronts for communist rebels.
The human rights group Karapatan said 783 people, including 336 left-wing activists, have been killed since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took power in 2001.
London-based Amnesty International has reported 51 political killings in the Philippines in the first six months of this year, compared with 66 for all of 2005.
From the KMU's ranks alone, Labog said 29 have been killed this year and 72 since 2001.
"Such violence has no place in a modern democratic state," said a joint statement issued by the American, Australian-New Zealand, Canadian, European, Japanese and Korean business chambers, as well as an association of multinational companies with regional headquarters in the country.
Labog pointed out that the business groups are last in a long line of organizations that have condemned the killings, after Amnesty International, the International Confederation of Trade Unions, and the European Union in the Helsinki Asia-Europe Meeting.
“This is a welcome surprise because even Wal-Mart, an anti-union business group, came out,” he said.
Wilson Fortaleza, president of the party-list group Sanlakas, said he doubts if the President would heed the call of the business groups.
“Would she heed the call for economic reasons? Or would political survival, the main motive behind these killings, prevail? I am afraid it will remain 'business as usual' under this regime,” he said.
Fortaleza said these state-sponsored assassinations are not just an internal policy, but “also linked up to the United States' global war of terror against those who resist imperialist globalization and US policies, including the Left.”
The foreign chambers welcomed President Arroyo's establishment of the Melo Commission, but urged the probe body "to hasten the investigation and ... to bring an end to a serious blemish on the country's national image, which could impact negatively on future foreign investment and foreign economic assistance."
Arroyo has condemned the killings and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice, but human rights groups say the government is not doing enough.
A Human Rights Watch report in September found deep public distrust of the government's investigative effort, widespread fear among witnesses and victims' families and a climate of fear in areas where the killings have occurred.
Police deputy director Avelino Razon said over the weekend that authorities had narrowed down the number of suspected politically motivated killings to 136 since 2001 and solved 62 cases. He didn't say how many suspects have been arrested, and expressed doubt over the higher figure cited by Karapatan.
