Selective human rights concern of CHR noted

HUMAN RIGHTS: Have officials of the Commission on Human Rights and their foreign guests gone on vacation after that tiring trip to Maguindanao to register their concern for the massacre victims in Ampatuan country?

After they have rested and their visitors are done with their sightseeing, maybe they can find time and show as much concern for other Filipinos whose human rights have been violated in flagrant fashion.

With due respect, I think the ire and fire of the CHR and their foreign guests should not be reserved only for government personnel who may have overstepped the line of maximum tolerance.

*      *      *

WHERE’S CHR?: Just to tick off some glaring incidents over which the CHR and its foreign visitors may want to express concern for Filipinos whose human rights had been trampled by armed goons not related to the government:

• A vice president of the Basilan State College, his wife and a neighbor were snatched last Thursday by armed men who later demanded P20 million for his release. The family of the victim, Orlando Fajardo, who is suffering from diabetes and a heart ailment, does not have that kind of money.

• Let us hope Fajardo will not suffer the same grisly fate as factory worker Mark Singson, another kidnap victim whose head was found in a bag in the city plaza after his employer failed to pay the ransom demand of P1.5 million.

• In Agusan del Sur, 42 hostages taken by tribal gunmen were released over the weekend after four harrowing days in the mountains. The victims, aged 17 to 62, are too dazed to even wonder what ever happened to their human rights. –Federico D. Pascual Jr. (The Philippine Star)