Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
How can a shepherd of the flock be unmoved by the extrajudicial
killings, enforced disappearances, frustrated assassinations of
hundreds upon hundreds of those whose lives and well-being he is
ordained to protect?
Is the blood of Bishop Alberto Ramento – brutally stabbed seven times
because he stood up for the Hacienda Luisita workers, criticized the
Arroyo regime, and fought for social justice – to be called a "mere
speck"? What about the blood of Fr. William Tadena, Pastor Isaias Sta.
Rosa, Benjaline Hernandez, Alyce Claver and more than 830 other
victims of extrajudicial killings, which UN Special Rapporteur Prof.
Philip Alston said, "are convincingly attributed to the Armed Forces
of the Philippines"? Are these to be called a "mere speck"?
The issue that has been resounding for some time in the Philippines
and internationally is whether the military and the police forces of
the Philippine reactionary state have the right to engage in
extrajudicial killings, abductions and other gross human rights
violations victimizing unarmed civilians.
It is highly anomalous for Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal
Rosales to imply that such military forces can engage in the aforesaid
human rights violations on the false assumption that their
revolutionary opponents do likewise. The statement of Cardinal
Rosales can only embolden the practitioners of state terrorism and
inflame the civil war that is going on in the country.
Cardinal Rosales has allowed himself to be a tool of the Arroyo regime
in trying to counter the recent verdict of the Permanent Peoples'
Tribunal, the US Senate hearing and the statement of UN Special
Rapporteur Prof. Philip Alston. He has practically descended to the
level of traditional politicians like Prospero Nograles and Eduardo
Veloso who are runners of Speaker Jose de Venecia and respond to the
baton of Malacañang Palace propagandists. Has the Cardinal become the
shepherd of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Norberto Gonzales, and
General Esperon?
It is regrettable that Cardinal Rosales obscures the responsibility of
the reactionary state for human rights violations, instead of calling
on them to respect the International Bill of Human Rights,
international humanitarian law and the Comprehensive Agreement on
Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law
(CARHRIHL).
The Filipino people expect Cardinal Rosales to be urging the Arroyo
regime to comply with the CARHRIHL and the Oslo Joint Statements and
thereby lay the ground for resuming the peace negotiations, especially
by stopping the gross human rights violations.
--
*********************************************
DAVAO TODAY
Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines
http://www.davaotoday.com
*********************************************
