Something To Smile About
Finally, things are turning up pretty well amidst the circus brought by Election 2007. The Permanent People's Tribunal (PPT) based in The Netherlands handed a guilty verdict for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her Administration for 'crimes against humanity'. PCIJ story (filed by former journalist Rommel Regalado Bagares, who is now working as a lawyer and pursuing masteral studies in The Netherlands), stated that President Arroyo and her government is responsible for:
- Gross and systematic violations of civil and political rights; extrajudicial killings, abductions and disappearances, massacres, torture;
- Gross and systematic violation of economic, social and cultural rights; and
- Gross and systematic violations of the rights to national self-determination and liberation.
The families of victims of human rights violation committed by the government will continue to grieve, but this, for sure, is something for them to smile about.
Jove Francisco wrote in his blog, By Jove! interesting replies from President Secretary Ignacio Bunye and Secretary Norberto Gonzales about the PPT's decision. Bunye sent several BLANK text messages (To read: NO COMMENT? Was he just to lazy to simply type the two-word reply?) when prodded to comment; Gonzales, on the other hand grabbed the wrong portion of his balls (Oopppsss!) by saying words like "propaganda front" and "kangaroo court" as he refered to PPT. Is Gonzales in partial denial of his guilt over his share of wrong advices over issues of national security?
Inquirer said yesterday that PPT will send copies of the verdict to United Nations and International Court of Justice. However the Administration continues to resist facing the issue of human rights violation, international and local attention given to it will force the issue of the Administration's apparent lack of moral standing on protecting human rights.
***I wonder though, what the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will say on this. Last week, CHR released a statement that there were no direct evidences to pin down Major General Jovito Palparan on the charges of killings and human rights violations in Central Luzon.
Hmmm...
Labels: Arroyo administration, human rights violation, PPT
posted by Athena @ 9:55 AM
10 Comments:
Surprise! :P
The Netherlands' ambassador to the Philippines on Monday said that his government is concerned about reports of alleged human rights violations in the Philippines. The Dutch government, however, said the ongoing deliberation of the Permanent People's Tribunal (PPT) in The Hague should not be regarded as an official exercise.
Ambassador Robert Vornis told ABS-CBN News that the PPT's activities are more of a political exercise than a traditional one. He said that Filipinos should think of it as a "kangaroo court."
Hi Miko,
True. The statement is not judicially binding, but PPT has proven its significance in bringing to light issues of grave human rights abuses in the past, to name a few: the case of desaparicidos of Argentina and abuses during the Marcos regime. So it has got to be worth something for us - and not for 'kangaroos'. (hehe. Nasobrahan ako ata sa kape.)
And, "kangaroo court" or not, the government's denial would not prove that it is innocent of human rights abuse charges. There's the "Melo Commission" to look at to, and it's hardly believable that the media would create myths of Victim #1 to Victim #839? (Or to whom did we end count?)
- Rey
@ Rey: EXACTLY.
this gonzales, so duh! Am supposed to dedma this kangkang, but so kainis na siya most of the time as in duh. I feel like making tuhog his asshole tuloy with isaw sticks and all.
Anyway.
Naisip ko lang while looking at one of the para-military barangay defense Systems setup by the military in Nueva Ecija. Our mayor, fearing that the city has started to look like a battleground (and therefore results to negative impressions among local visitors) ordered that the sandbags placed as protection against incoming bullets (supposedly from NPA attacks) were scrapped from the BDS huts (there's a hut in every barangay zone).
Ngayon, parang gusto ko tuloy gumawa ng campaign targetting the foreign travel agencies and tourists chorvas:
839 DEAD AND COUNTING. KEEP YOUR SELF SAFE. DON'T COME TO THE PHILIPPINES, LAND OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS.
Tapos naka-package sila na parang WOW-Philippines.
Come to think of it Jun, sa dami ng weirdo, kikita iyang advisory mo sa mga masokista at sa mga naghahanap ng asim ng buhay nilang mapanglaw. Wehehehe...
but i'm not really worried about this verdict. we have our spin doctors in malacanang working overtime on this.
if nothing wlse works, i'll tell my hunnybunch Glo to just say "I am sorry" again...
that will work.
Ang kulit ni 'paolo'. Haha... Fine, tell your hunnybunny to say sorry.
I... AM... SORRY.
Hahahahaha!
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