Rights violations under Arroyo admin won’t be CHR’s priority

The alleged human rights violations committed during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will not be the priority of the new chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights. Newly-installed CHR chief Loretta Ann Rosales said she will let critics of the previous administration file the charges, which they deem necessary. “The CHR is an independent body that actually monitors and protects human rights so hindi siya actively magpa-file ng (it does not actively file) cases against the Arroyo administration,” Rosales told reporters after the turnover ceremony which signaled her first day in office. She added: “Ang gagawa niyan yung mga nakakaalam na tingin nila dapat mag-file ng cases sa Ombudsman halimbawa (Those who believe they need to file cases before the Ombudsman, for instance, may do so). That’s very political because it has to do with the political policies.” Based on the records of human rights group Karapatan, there were 1,991 victims of extrajudicial killings, 205 victims of enforced disappearance, 1,208 victims of torture, and hundreds of thousands displaced in rural areas due to military operations under the Arroyo administration. In its annual report on global human rights, Amnesty International (AI) scored military and rebel groups for their alleged lapses, which contributed to most cases of human rights violations in 2009 . [See: Lapses of military, NPA contributed to human rights violations, group says]

The group also criticized the Arroyo administration’s supposed failure to eliminate private armed groups.

Extrajudicial killings

The United Nations Special Report on Extrajudicial Killings by special rapporteur Philip Alston earlier concluded that the Arroyo administration failed to make substantive progress in addressing the summary killings in the Philippines, and in some cases, made no development at all.

The report also revealed that the previous administration’s denial of the death squad killings undermined its credibility. Rosales said the CHR should be more involved with human rights violations committed under the administration of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III. Rosales said she has yet to request to have an audience with the President for his “marching order.” “I’m going to request na mag-usap na kami kasi tingin ko dapat lang naman. Meron na kaming ipo-propose na agenda(I think it’s time that we talk because we are going to make some proposals). These will be in support of the human rights agenda of the government,” she said. Rosales intends to focus on the cases of police brutality, torture and summary killings. She also wants to strengthen and consolidate the government’s act against human rights violations. “We should be singing the same song, be on the same page, pareho dapat yung pag-uunawa namin sa karapatang pantao, hindi lang kami dapat bahagi ng bureaucracy,” said Rosales. She said the CHR will be lobbying hard for the passage of their new charter and enough budget “so that the strengthened mandate of the commission can be put into practice.” She vowed to reach out to other groups including the Church and her critics as “the institution can’t do it, no person can do it alone, we have to do it with our partners both the government and non-government groups.”

Dealing with critics Asked how she intends to deal with her critics who were mostly from other human rights groups, Rosales said she will meet with them if they want to. “If they need to come to me, they can visit me, make an appointment kung meron silang (if they have) problem then I will treat them as I treat anybody else,” she said. “I don’t put any particular special attention on their issues against me. I think yung issues nila against me are non-issues in a way because based on my interpretation they see human rights as [their] monopoly. They feel that they are the only ones, sometimes there is a tendency na sila yung me human rights,” she said. Rosales said her critics should realize that even the police and the military have human rights. “The universality of human rights, I think, is the central point. Sa kanila state agents lang dapat ang may kasalanan pero para sa akin kahit mga non-state agents are capable of committing violations,” she said. But she stressed that she will not go out of her way to reach out and talk to them. “In the first place I never harm, I never did anything against them. So sila yung lumapit kung gusto nila,” Rosales said. — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV