Poor record, missed vows mark Aquino’s second year

CHURCH, HR GROUPS POUND ON NOY’S FAILURE TO PROTECT RIGHTS

The second year of the Aquino administration was highlighted yesterday by a contrast between achievement or the lack of it and spins on more promises of what President Aquino intends to achieve in his four remaining years in office with both human rights groups and the Church pounding on Aquino to show results in the protection of civil rights.

In a letter to media to follow up on a statement that Aquino had done little to arrest perpetrators of human rights violation during the two years he is in office and issued last Thursday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said not much is being done to arrest alleged human rights abusers such as retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan and that the administration’s failure to prosecute offenders “highlights broader problems that do rest with the administration.”

HRW deputy director for Asia division Elaine Pearson said most cases involving human rights violations failed to reach trial stage while the police fail to follow up and arrest suspects and the military continued to “obstruct” investigations into human rights cases involving members of the Armed Forces.

“Even in the case against retired General Palparan, where we praised the administration for bringing charges, not enough is being done to bring him to custody so that he can receive a fair trial,” Pearson said.

The HRW in a statement last Thursday said Aquino failed to prosecute a single case of extra-judicial killing and enforced disappearance in his two years in office.

Pearson’s statement was in reply to Aquino’s spokesman Abigail Valte who said the Aquino administration had initiated the filing of cases against suspects but had no jurisdiction over their conviction while charges were already filed against Palaparan who she said was now the subject of a manhunt.

“The government needs to move beyond simply identifying suspects and obtaining warrants to arrest the suspects, gathering evidence and providing protection to witnesses to allow them to come forward,” Pearson added.

A Catholic bishop also called on Aquino to “give a strong signal of his political will to resolve the Maguindanao massacre as soon as possible.”

What is needed, said Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon, was for the government to ensure that justice will be served to the victims and their families.

The 2009 massacre case, which claimed 57 lives, including 31 journalists that were either gunned down or hacked to death, has been dragging on for nearly two-and-a-half years and three witnesses have been slain.

“The death of the witnesses is saddening. It just shows that our justice system is so weak and slow,” Bastes said. “I hope President Aquino should give a strong signal and statement about the case,” he added.

The bishop lamented that even if two alleged masterminds of the incident were already detained, killings of the witnesses continue.

“Where are the authorities? This case might just be put to waste and the Ampatuans would be released if we run out of witnesses,” he said.

Bastes said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) must also give a statement for the court to hasten the massacre trial without sacrificing due process.

Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco appealed to the public to continue praying that justice be served and the prosecution of those behind the massacre.

“We continue to pray for justice, reconciliation, peace, forgiveness and unity… prayer for the conversion of those responsible for this horrendous crime,” Ongtioco said.

The Palace countered yesterday with a statement that Aquino has succeeded in creating a genuine and meaningful change to chart the country to a higher economic growth trajectory as he marked his second year in office.
“These two years have been marked by genuine, meaningful change in the way government is run, in the way our country is viewed by the international community, and in the way we aspire and view our own futures,” Valte said.
“No longer is the Filipino mired in paralysis and despair; he has seen the seemingly difficult tasks achieved and is one with the government in creating a society that is truly just, prosperous, and equitably progressive,” Valte claimed.

A recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, however, showed that 51 percent of respondents considered themselves poor while a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) survey showed consumer confidence on the economy was declining.

Valte said the President remained grateful to the Filipinos who have given him the confidence to implement reforms.

He also made good progress in practical fiscal management, job creation and higher rice production, among others, according to Valte.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) also issued a statement calling on the Filipino people to confront the rest of the Aquino regime’s term “with bigger mass struggles.”

Marking the second year of the Aquino regime in power, the CPP said “Benigno Aquino is set to prove he can surpass all the previous regimes in servility to the US government and military, firm adherence to the US- and IMF-designed neoliberal policies and capability to serve the interests of foreign big corporations, especially large mining companies, to the detriment of the Filipino toiling masses.

“With Aquino’s outright and all-out subservience, the US government has been able achieve big strides in its declared shift in geo-political priorities where it seeks to distribute 60 percent of its overseas military forces in various parts of the Asia-Pacific region under its so-called American Pacific Century,” the CPP said.

“Goaded by the US government, the Aquino regime has constantly been stoking the flames of the South China Sea conflict in order to justify increased US military presence in the Philippines,” said the CPP.

“Aquino has stepped up international publicity in condemning Chinese ‘bullying’ for having deployed its sea patrols near and around the Spratly Islands but has welcomed the increasing presence of US military warships and submarines in complete disregard of Philippine sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it added.

“For two years now, the Aquino regime has failed to address the outstanding socio-economic problems of the Filipino people, including widespread unemployment, landlessness, low wages and the rapid rise in the prices of food, medicine and other basic commodities and services,” said the CPP. “Aquino has refused to heed the people’s demand for genuine land reform and national industrialization and instead perpetuates the long-discredited program that relies on foreign debt and foreign investments.

“Aquino’s economic program is comprised of nothing more than imposing more taxes, facilitating the export of labor, setting up infrastruture for call centers and engaging in public construction projects to serve the needs of foreign big corporations,” added the CPP. “There is a rising intensity in the Aquino regime’s campaign to demolish urban communities in order to clear prime real estate which big foreign and local companies have long desired.

“The much-touted conditional cash transfer (CCT) doleout program funded by loans from the World Bank is nothing but a big campaign of deception and psywar being used as an instrument to draw the people away from agrarian struggles and lower their resistance against the aggression of mining companies,” pointed out the CPP. “The planned increase of the CCT budget to around P45 billion (from the current P34 billion) in the Aquino regime’s budget for next year will likely be added to ruling clique’s election kitty to ensure dominance in the congressional elections of 2013,” it added.

“What is the biggest achievement so far? It’s the change in the mindset of the people, of our people,” Valte went on in defending Aquino.

The Palace official was asked by reporters what the Aquino administration considered its major accomplishment as it marked its second year in power.

With regards to fighting corruption in government, Valte said there were a lot of things that needed to be done. The Aquino administration’s goal was not just to lessen corruption or to take it out completely but to make reforms systemic, she said.

“We want to make it to be a systemic change… Now, we see that we are part of the open governance project, our budget is very transparent,” Valte said, adding that the fight against corruption will be beyond the President’s term in office.

The Palace also highlighted a new book that supposedly tracked the progress of developing countries and saw the Philippines joining an elite group of “tiger economies” in the world as a result of reforms and strong leadership of Aquino.

The book, Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles, written by Ruchir Sharma, assessed the Philippines as one of the strongest emerging economies in the future where enhanced economic activities are to take place.

“Now at long last, the Philippines looks poised to resume a period of strong growth. The new president, Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III, probably has enough support, and looks likely to generate just enough reform momentum, to get the job done. The Aquino name is still virtually synonymous with the promise of change,” Sharma wrote.

Sharma, one of the world’s largest investors in emerging markets for Morgan Stanley, said Filipinos saw Aquino as an honest figure, who could deliver on the mandate for change and that the public was desperate after nine years of drift and decay under former President Gloria Arroyo