The sacrifices of overseas Filipinos for their homeland: The story of Samar congressman-elect Doloy Coquilla

By CESAR TORRES
May 28, 2007

Filipinos are a very caring people.

We show our concern for our families, friends, and causes in the homeland in countless ways.  Some of us have high school and college scholars. We send money to elementary schools and for the education of our kins and even non-kins if they are in great need.  We send medicines and multivitamins for our family members and friends.  We are implored to finance birthday celebrations, weddings, fiestas, and other religious and social activities. We send money for hospital bills and for burial expenses.  We contribute whatever we can during the frequent calamities afflicting our homeland.

We send those "Balikbayan" boxes which are packed with plastic spoons, knives, and forks, even letter envelopes, staplers, scotch tapes, chocolate which melt along the way and which are then scooped with plastic spoons from their plastic containers when they are received there.  We send books, National Geographic and other magazines, California and San Francisco calendars, dried fruits, Pistachio nuts, toys, used clothing, baseball caps, sun visors, smoked salmon, Beef Jerky, and our favorite, Carne Norte or corned beef.  We also send computers back home.

For Filipinos going on vacation to the homeland who are departing from the San Francisco International Airport, I sometimes see their Balikbayan boxes being pushed and pulled and packed and repacked and weighed and reweighed when preparing to check in. Sometimes they are kicked by tired and irritated passengers especially when husband and wife are fighting because of those boxes.  If you see a Balikbayan box in an international airport, a Filipino is around. They are almost inseparable. I once overheard an amused Caucasian in the San Francisco International Airport calling those Balikbayan boxes as "Filipino Samsonite".

For the more socially-conscious and who have more money, some contribute to a fund to build classrooms.  Still others contribute a minimum $1,500 – it used to be just $1,200 – to build a house for a family who might be residing in their quaint and picturesque houses made of card board, making babies in their pushcarts, sleeping with the dead in some graveyards, going home to their mansions under the bridges.  The house building is under the sponsorship of Gawad Kalinga. Others donate the ABS-CBN Educational TV System to elementary schools.

The more profit-oriented, try to convince corporations, investors, and the wealthy with lots of money to invest in some economic enterprises in the Philippines.

While others who are close to the politicians in America join the special trips and the delegations when their politico friends are given awards and recognition in Manila.  Some Filipinos in San Francisco are well-known for this.

This one is a fairly recent innovation conceived by the tourism managers and the foreign service officers.  Filipinos abroad are invited to join package tours to the Philippines with our diplomats as tourist guides.  The tours culminate in an audience with the President in Malacañang Palace, the Presidential residence.

We also have the “Extreme Patriots”. They don't only send their hard-earned dollars, Euros, yens, and other currencies and Balikbayan boxes.  Some are prepared to offer their lives for their homeland, even if they do not speak a single Filipino dialect, not even the Philippine national language, Pilipino.

Many may not belong to this latter category of “Extreme Patriots” or to the other types of Filipinos sacrificing for the homeland.  But they are still very nationalistic, but are more practical.  For one, they are not quite convinced that they should offer their lives and become martyrs for the 90 million Filipinos, and that the Filipinos are worth dying for. But they sacrifice so much also.  They sell their houses, their businesses, their apartments, their restaurants in America; get equity from the homes that are still unsold, and offer themselves to our people back there as an alternative to the incompetent and corrupt political and governmental leaders in the Philippines.  To this category would belong Teodulo Coquilla. "Doloy" to us or Teddy James "Doloy" Coquilla when he was still hobnobbing with us Samarnons in the San Francisco Bay Area. Doloy is the Congressman-Elect of the Province of Eastern Samar.

We are writing about Doloy because somehow he personifies the thousands of Filipinos, especially those in America and other parts of the world, who are dreaming of going back to their homeland and serving our people in whatever capacity. But for one reason or another, they have not made the leap.

But the Hamlet-like indecisiveness of many well-meaning Filipino expatriates seems to be changing. In the last election, two of our friends, U.P. alumni both, who are Dual American and Filipino Citizens – Theodore Makabulos "Kuya Ted" Aquino and a Doctor of Medicine, Dr. Anacleto "Toto" Millendez – declared their candidacies for the Philippine Congress. Ted Aquino's candidacy for Senator was twisted like a pretzel by the Philippine Commission on Elections.  In the case of Dr. Toto Millendez, who filed his candidacy in Davao for Congressman against the almost unshakeable political fortress of Prospero Nograles, Doctor Toto as we fondly call him, our starry-eyed political reformer, conceded defeat before the canvassing of votes was over.

But the case of Doloy is unlike the two starry-eyed U.P. alumni.  Doloy had cast his lot with his people before the two had made up their minds. He gave up his American citizenship.  Even if he was starry-eyed, he was also very practical and more importantly, financially well-prepared. Despite initial setbacks when the system yanked him out as Mayor of Oras in Eastern Samar, he bounced back. This time as a Congressman.  Due to a confluence of events, Doloy bested the wife of Congressman Marcelino Libanan, Elda, who was a member of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's ruling clique in the government and whose resources were whispered to be beyond calculation.

Doloy won by 7,107 votes, a number which providentially is the same as the number of islands constituting the Phililppine Archipelago. There were some dramatic incidents during the canvassing.  Religious Samarnons with lighted candles, held a procession, prayed the rosary, sang "Ave Maria" and prayed "Our Father", invoking the wrath of God should their hope for a better Eastern Samar, Doloy Coquilla, is cheated of his votes by "Garcification". They stopped at the provincial capitol building where the canvassing was being held.

There were some political betrayals also when he made known his plan to run for Congress against the Libanans.  True to their innate nature of political opportunism and lack of principles, which they might have equated with "political pragmatism", prominent Samarnon politicians from Northern and Eastern Samar who initially pledged their support to Doloy changed their minds when they learned that Doloy may not have the intellectual capability, the political insight, the legal training, the bureaucratic expertise, the elegant writing ability, the erudition, the voucher-signing and the magical qualities to influence the honest and upright providers of goods and merchandise through public bidding.

They were probably dismayed when Doloy proudly proclaimed that it took him 9 years to finish high school. And that he did not go to Ateneo, San Beda, U.P., Harvard or even the diploma mill schools in Samar, Tacloban or Manila; and that his Bachelors and Masters degrees were earned in the U.S. Navy. He was conferred his Ph.D. honoris causa, while slicing onions, tomatoes, ginger, Jalapeño, carrots, vegetables, potatoes, pork, chicharon, pounding garlic, preparing kilawen, etc. when he and his lovely nurse-wife, Dayday, were managing a restaurant in Vallejo, in the San Francisco Bay Area, in California.  They could not associate with someone like Doloy who believes in the dignity of labor, in personal integrity, in honesty, and self-respect; in someone who is incorruptible and who really wants to serve the people.

When he remembers the betrayals of people whom he considered his friends, I could imagine him white-hot with anger.  So we had to remind him that he is Congressman not only of those who supported him and voted for him and guarded the ballot boxes in historic Homonhon against a possible Garcification.  He is the representative in Congress of even those who hate him. We reminded him to extend the hand of peace and reconciliation to those whom he hated as a true leader to his people.

How did he triumph in Eastern Samar?  For one, it seems that his political opponents had overstayed their welcome and may have been out of touch with the Samarnons already. They have been “Honorable” and powerful for 9 years. But despite this, the roads in Eastern Samar, among other deficiencies, were labeled as "The Roads with a Thousand Lakes".  (Similarly, in Western Samar, the roads are referred to as "The Hell Roads of Samar".)  In contrast, Doloy was different. He campaigned in practically all the 600 barangays in the entire province.  He must have been supported also by the true revolutionaries. But he is mum about this. The voters probably took pity on him also because he was being looked down as not worthy of being a Trapo. He was not allowed to campaign in the town plazas.

It might have helped a lot also that he sacrificed so much of his comfortable life in America to serve his people. In the one year and four months that he was Mayor of his home town, he did not receive his salary.  He is well-off, anyway. His children are all in America and are self-sufficient.  So he could devote his time and resources to Oras. He constructed many artesian wells. He donated a school bus that could accommodate 55 students from Oras and in the surrounding areas so that they could attend classes in Borongan some 87 kilometers away.  The ride was free. He also provided a motorboat for the students who were residing along the Oras river banks. Again, rides were free. He built 26 classrooms in four barangays.  With his own money, he donated 20 computers to the schools.  He built the biggest public market, renovated Oras' municipal building, provided running water, and a kitchen.  The rooms of the heads of offices, were air-conditioned. A police station was constructed and the gymnasium was finished.  After seven years, the Oras bridge was opened to vehicular and foot traffic.   Aware of the environmental impact of utilizing the power of the sun, he donated 20 solar lights in 20 barangays with 20 chargers. He widened and concreted the streets and canals of Oras.

He would volunteer to be hermano – a patron or sponsor – of town fiestas in Eastern Samar, responsible for the orchestra and the place of celebration if there were no fiesta sponsors to attend to this.  The only condition was that he would get the "gala", this is the monetary donations of the people to kuratsa dancers to show their appreciation. The donations are dropped on the dance floor or flung to the air with a flourish.  The more the money, the more popular and more graceful the dancers are. The kuratsa is that unique Samarnon-Leyteño dance of honor and courtship.

So the Samarnons voted for him.  They must have been thinking that with all the lawyers, professionals, scions of prominent families, and other members of the “ilustrado” class in Eastern Samar, the people in the province were sinking deeper and deeper into poverty, hopelessness, and retrogression.  So they must have thought:  “Let us try Doloy as our leader.  He is not a college graduate, much less a lawyer, who are mostly corrupt, elitist, and incompetent, anyway.  He succeeded in America. Respected and honored by his fellow Samarnons and Filipinos there.  He gave up a comfortable life there.  Now he is asking us to give him the opportunity to see what we can all do if he becomes our representative in that snake pit of the Philippine Congress. Let us support and vote for Doloy.”

I have known Doloy for a long time in California.  Every time we had beer and kinilaw, especially during those innumerable fiestas of the Samarnons, he would never fail to tell us that one day, he was going back to his hometown of Oras to serve his people.  When he was still in California, he was always at the forefront in celebrating the fiesta of Oras.  We looked forward to it because it was celebrated in October, the last fiesta celebration for the year among us Samarnons to which we would be invited.

Inasmuch as there were very few Orasnons in Northern California, he formed an organization to help him celebrate the fiesta – "Orasnons and Friends".  One time because he was in a hurry to take the flight so that he won't miss the fiesta celebration in Oras in Samar, he left without cleaning the garbage at the St. Anne of the Sunset Church were the Orasnon fiesta in San Francisco was held.  I had to organize a "Garbage Brigade" because the priests in the church were not very happy with us.  They were going to complain about us to the Patron Saint of the Orasnons, San Pedro de Alcantara. I was one of the "Friends", after all, and he was a pillar of our San Francisco-based "Samareños of California", which I headed. One for all, all for one.

I must confess that it is with great anxiety, trepidation, and a wildly-beating heart, that we are awaiting the congressional and legislative performance of "The Honorable Congressman from the Lone District of Eastern Samar, Teodulo Coquilla".  Obviously, we have no other thought that he will be exemplary.  After all, he is the vanguard of the 10 million Filipinos in Diaspora and the three million Filipinos in America.  If he succeeded in America despite numerous limitations, there is no reason why he cannot succeed in Samar in serving our people.

It is with great humility and graciousness that Doloy has reached out to us, even before his election.  We did not have any money of course to contribute to his campaign. We could only provide moral support and introduce him to our friends in the Philippines. But after his election, we have proffered our advice and he has gladly accepted us. Of course we are honored.  We all realize too that if somehow he is associated with the destruction of the rainforest in Eastern Samar, the consequences will be comprehensive and wide-ranging.  It will affect the entire island and the endangered living things.  Unscrupulous mining in Eastern Samar which could enrich some people from Manila and other countries can destroy the environment not only in Eastern Samar but in the entire island as well. This is what happened in Bagacay when the Taft River became lifeless.

Poverty in his congressional district in Eastern Samar is poverty in Samar and in the Philippines.

The fighting between the National Democratic Front and NPA guerillas on one hand and the Government soldiers on the other hand in Eastern Samar are not confined to the artificial political boundaries of the Trapos.  The guerillas roam all over the island, the entire Philippines, including the Netherlands.

We are all in this together, in our solidarity with Teddy James “Doloy” Coquilla, especially us Global Filipinos, we the Filipinos in Diaspora, who are crying for our homeland.  His triumph is our triumph.

We are fervently praying though that, God forbid, his failures will not also be our failures. But to me, a failure is unthinkable. Doloy can do no less, but succeed in serving his people to the best of his ability, without the slightest stain of corruption and opportunism.  It is Doloy’s destiny. And he saw this written on the stars, when he was sailing the Seven Seas as a lowly and humble crew member of the warships of the most powerful country on earth, America, while dreaming of that day when he could be working with his people in his homeland in Samar, and in Pilipinas Nating Mahal.

[Originally published in the June 2007 issue of the Filipino Insider. The author was a former faculty member of the University of the Philippines Department of Political Science. He can be reached at Cesar1185@aol.com ]

For Good Governance: A To Do List for the Winners

By CHARO NABONG-CABARDO
May 26, 2007

I wrote the following column for the second issue of SCOPE under the title, “Election Wishes not Promises for Good Governance” which came out before the election.  With the election over, the newly elected officials must now go back to work and I hope this will help them.

1. For Catbalogan, make the upgrading of the facilities of the Bureau of Fire Protection a priority project. The recent fires in Catbalogan demonstrated the need for more fire trucks of varying sizes, long hoses, communication facilities, other fire fighting equipment and a fire station that shows it is in tip top shape.

2. Now that Catbalogan will be a city, it needs a vision and a long term master development plan that every elected mayor must continue to implement until our vision is attained. From election to election, its development depends on the abilities or the inabilities of the elected officials. Catbalogan deserves more than this. It needs concerted planning to develop and move it forward. And a planning process based on up-to-date data and the participation of various stakeholders. Only then will its myriad problems can be addressed in an integrated, sustainable and rational manner.

3. In fact, it is not only Catbalogan but all LGUs should craft master development plans. The DILG requires that each LGU submit a Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) but this is only a component of a master development plan. Samar province should have a master development plan. For the past decades, we have been fooling ourselves that Samar is a poor province. But Samar is a rich province. We are in an island where we have the largest unfragmented lowland forest in the whole country (360,000 hectares which includes 120,000 hectares of primary forests). Maqueda Bay was one of the richest fishing grounds in the Philippines. Thanks to the good ecological condition of our forests, our watersheds can provide us a steady supply of water in the years to come. We have large tracts of land planted to coconuts. We have beautiful waterfalls, rivers, extensive caves, beaches, rock formations that could easily be converted into tourist attractions. And we have a climate change that is advantageous to farming. Samar province has become poor because of poor governance. It is poor governance that allowed the plunder of our resources and coffers.

4. LGUs should also invest in research and data-base. Plans are unrealistic if they are not based on solid data. The MPDOs of the municipalities of Basey and Gandara have done excellent work in research and establishment of their municipal data-bases.

5. For LGUs in both municipal and provincial levels, make the participation of various sectors in governance not just a token participation but a real and functional participation. In the past years, Municipal Development Councils and Provincial Development Councils are convened only if the mayor or the governor needs its required approval.

6. Again for our LGUs to invest in farming and fisheries, the main livelihoods of most Samarnons. The past decade have shown a climate change in Samar island, a climate change that is to our advantage. Typhoon occurrence in our island has decreased and so has its intensity, while the traditional food baskets in Central Luzon, Quezon and Bicol have been devastated by ferocious typhoons. We should turn this blessing into an opportunity for us to be food sufficient if not grow surplus rice, vegetables and fruits.

7. Our fisheries are also in steady decline. Where before, truckloads of marine products were shipped daily to Manila, now we can count our blessings if we can fill a truck with fish and other sea produce in a week. Maqueda Bay needs development and management. This should be a priority legislative and executive agenda for most LGUs.

8. A provincial hospital that is free of politics! This is perhaps the only province in the Philippines where a life and death matter is subjected to the whims of those in power. There are no medicines and medical supplies available and recently, the medical personnel have also taken leave. It is already bad that most of our doctors have left for abroad to become nurses, the remaining medical facility is just unable to respond to our medical needs. Catbalogan and other key municipalities should also strive to have its own hospital.

9. Push for lower electric rates. We are in a region where we have the largest geothermal deposits in the country as our source of energy, yet we have the highest rate of electricity and continuous to suffer from insufferable brownouts. The power transmission lines pass through our municipalities bringing power from Tongonan, Leyte to Luzon. How about us? Shouldn’t we benefit from this regional resource?

10. For our next provincial board to exercise independence, good judgment, and adherence to good governance and public service. Restore the budgets of the different departments to these units for them to be operational.

11. All these development needs an environment of peace. Elected officials should make peace in Samar a development agenda.

And the good news is, guess what? All these are realizable within a term of three years. Elected, officials must initiate these actions, if they wish to make any difference in Samar.

The People's International Observers' Mission (IOM)

FINAL PRESS STATEMENT
Manila , Philippines, Friday, May 18th, 2007

Delegates of the People's International Observers' Mission (IOM), representing 12 countries from throughout the world, were dispatched from May 14th to 16th in order to observe, document and report on the mid-term national elections from the ground in 7 key voting regions throughout the Philippines.

Participants in the IOM traveled from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Myanmar, Norway, Scotland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the U.S. in response to an international appeal from numerous church leaders, professionals, academics and grassroots organizations in the Philippines working to observe the democratic process in the face of alleged electoral fraud, militarization and violence rampant during the 2004 national elections.

Contrary to an internationally publicized statement from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that Filipino voters "cast their ballot, free of coercion and according to their own will," representatives of the IOM witnessed a strikingly different reality including: significant number of disenfranchisement of voters, vote buying and multiple voting, deadly election-related violence, direct intimidation of voters by elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), suspicious absence and abandonment of duties and responsibilities of COMELEC officials at numerous voting locations and incidents of overt coercion by candidates from powerful political clans.

Detailed information on the election process collected by IOM representatives working throughout the country pointed to an intimate relationship between systemic violations of the electoral process in 2007, the ongoing socio-economic crisis in the Philippines rooted in neo-liberal economic policies and the terror of systemic extra-judicial killings which have claimed the lives of over 850 people since 2001.

Representatives of the IOM working in Tondo, Manila during the elections encountered an election observer from the U.S. Embassy in Manila who stated that "the Philippines is clearly a vibrant democracy," amidst the election chaos, fraud and violence on top of diminishing avenues for democratic participation.

The IOM has concluded that all political and electoral related killings in the Philippines place a shadow over the entire national electoral process and must be seriously investigated on a national and international level.

IOM representatives also collected multiple testimonies gathered from community representatives outlining systematic harassment of voters supporting legitimate political party-lists by the AFP in voting districts throughout the country. Concrete documentation of an organized vilification campaign carried out both overtly and covertly by the AFP against legitimate party-lists was also gathered by the IOM.

Despite this reality, grassroots organizations throughout the electoral districts have made impressive organized popular efforts to safeguard their democratic rights.

Throughout the Philippines overt political coercion through electoral corruption, open 'vote buying', rampant breaches of electoral regulations and outright terror fashioned a context through which economic and political dynasties attempted to perpetuate their positions of power through the mid-term elections.

Multiple international IOM teams gathered comprehensive information on the Filipino electoral process, including extensive interviews with affected voters, hours of video testimony, hundreds of photographs from the following 10 areas; Tondo, Manila; Makati City; Quezon in Southern Tagalog; Sorsogon & Masbate in Bicol; Nueva Ecija & Pampanga in Central Luzon; Cebu in the Visayas; Islamic City of Marawi in Lanao del Sur & Compostela Valley in Mindanao.

IOM observers have compiled the collected data and are in the process of drafting a final report and a series of recommendations to be broadcast to the people of the Philippines, the ruling governmental Administration and the international community.

Among the initial recommendations concluded by the People's International Observers' Mission (IOM) are the following: institute major changes in the electoral processes and procedures in order to make them less cumbersome; insulate the elections from the partisanship of governmental agencies and public officials; alter the culture of fraud engendered by traditional politicians; effectively halt the military's interventionist role within the election process; reinforce the party-list system in order to guarantee genuine representation of marginalized sectors; elevate the consciousness and education of voters; conduct an independent and serious investigation on the conduct of the 2004 national elections in order to resolve the question of  legitimacy of Arroyo's mandate.

The diverse array of 27 observers who participated in the People's IOM, including trade unionists, students, social activists, clergy, academics, artists, and lawyers from around the world accompanied by national and local leaders of church, grassroots, and non-governmental organizations have contributed an essential piece to the popular effort to support the realization of democracy in the Philippines.

Escalating poll violence symptoms of a corrupted, rotten system

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
May 2, 2007

As the campaign period is ongoing and elections will be held on May 14 there is also an increasingly alarming trend of election-related violence. Targeted killings and ambushes of sectoral and local candidates, either a result of fierce political rivalry or threats, had since been taking place--a cycle of violence that has become a subconsciously acceptable fact of life in the Philippines’ electoral process. These are among the many instances of how the country’s system had become corrupted and rotten, in particular on security, investigation and prosecution matters.

The election period is the time where both allies and foes can either turn against each other by way of exposing corrupt and illegal practices. Whistle blowers and those who have personal knowledge of a public official’s illegal acts while in position come out in public in an effort to discredit candidates. Friends, relatives and even family members become fierce foes in an attempt to eliminate any threats to their political aspirations that might damage their political standing. What we see are potential witnesses of criminal acts committed by public officials coming forward, whatever their motives are. The candidates are likewise so seriously threatened that they have to seek protection from the police while campaigning, but not all of them are lucky to receive protection and some are killed either before receiving it.

In the event wherein witnesses, whistle blowers or political rivals are killed, there is the likelihood that their case will go unresolved and the killers unpunished. Firstly, the police investigation process does not provide protection to witnesses to the crime. Thus, there is likelihood that the police will focus seriously
on the political motive of the killing, rather than the possibility that it could have been perpetrated by others who might have taken advantage of the situation. Incidents like this, and to exploit the ineffective investigation of the police, could be potential material for political propaganda that could be seriously damaging even for innocent persons. The intention of finding the truth is subverted by the lack of witnesses, propaganda and the lack of the capability of the police to investigate. The result is simply that the case will not be solved.

Secondly, one of the reasons is as to why the witnesses delayed in coming out in public. Obviously they find it suitable to do this during an election period because they could at least obtain some sort of protection, no matter how unofficial and negligible it is. Any public officials and politicians would obviously ensure provision of protection for individuals when they could gain something from them, or boost their political standing and credibility. But soon after the witnesses and whistle blowers would find themselves once again out in the open once the politician has won. Unlike during the election period, getting security and protection is completely impossible for witnesses or any individuals facing threats. What is feasible and practical in reality is informal protection – those provided by politicians, influential persons, church organizations and the like--but these are not official as provided by law – the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act (RA 6981). Still witnesses in these situations faces serious risks and threats to their lives.

Thirdly, even criminal and cases of corrupt practice proceed to prosecution after the election period and aggrieved parties are in power, still there is little assurance the perpetrators are prosecuted or punished. The classic example was the assassination of the late Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino during the Marcos regime. Years after he was killed, his wife, Corazon, took over power by way of the peaceful people’s revolt in 1986. But even after Corazon was in power, the likelihood of her husband’s case being resolved is negligible. There are allegations that the mastermind and real perpetrators may have not been disclosed, and those prosecuted have likewise professed innocence to the assassination. Whatever the case is, the prosecution is delayed and inconclusive. This is the fact of life in the country’s policing and prosecution system.

In the Philippines, the prosecution of perpetrators and offenders in recent times has proven almost impossible. Not only due to extreme delays and lack of resources, the ongoing practices of public prosecutors are in itself arbitrary. In recent times, although the law requires and the prosecutors are mandated to prosecute of all unlawful offenses, the usual practice however is otherwise. Prosecutors had taken up the practice of settling the disputes and criminal cases outside court. This, presumably in an effort to prevent the piling up of cases in court, they have become the arbiter instead and the government directly endorses this as methods to promptly and to speedy resolved cases. The prosecutors could find this practice as a convenient excuse not to perform their duties. Often prosecutors are even complaining of over criminalization of offenses, and have already downplayed victims complaining of torture as normal. The victims and complainants are often left with no option but to settle amicably.

For victims and complainants who decided to settle cases outside court and those vulnerable to being offered money, in most cases does not mean they are no longer interested in seeking legal action. It is the harsh situation and the systematic defects that frustrates them and forced them to the corner to yield. In a condition of insecurity, lack of protection, the delays and high cost in the prosecution of cases, among others, the entrenched bad habit of “forgiving and forgetting” have pierced into the fabric of Filipino society. It is the impossibility of prosecuting perpetrators in a rotten criminal justice system that forced victims to give up and yield. Nothing is wrong with the witnesses, victims and complainants refusing or giving up their cases, but it is the rotten system that forced them to do so that went wrong.

What is even more alarming in recent times is that none of these defects, in particular the country’s policing and prosecution systems, have been taken seriously as important issues. Not even the electorate, who has all the right to demand to ensure this, seriously considers this as a priority. In Hong Kong, the election turnout for Filipinos’ absentee voting was extremely low, blaming distrust and possible cheating of the electoral process that discourages them to cast votes. What is even more frightening are people are now directly or indirectly giving up their right to vote, even in normal situations. Once again, the electorates are forced by conditions in the country to distrust and lose faith that change is possible in a rotten system.

After May 14, the political leadership--from local, national and sectoral – could change; but unless the core of why injustice, corruption and poverty, among others, is effectively and properly addressed by giving priority to improving the country’s criminal justice system and to ensure its functioning, no substantial progress will ever be achieved. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges the Filipino and the international community concerned about the worsening condition of human rights in the country to take this opportunity to discuss and to reflect on this systemic defect to give meaning to the electoral process and discourse. Unless the electorate and the leadership deeply reflect on this systemic defect, the cycle of escalating poll violence, assurance of complete impunity and the like remains inevitable in a rotten system. These problems for a long time have been a reflection of the collapse of the rule of law in the country.

Arroyo will go down in history like Marcos

A joint Press Statement by HUSTISYA, SELDA and DESAPARECIDOS
March 26, 2007

Spread the word, Gloria Arroyo and her government is guilty of crimes against the Filipino people.  She is set to go down in history like the Dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

We, the complainants who made the appeal to the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal to hear our charges versus Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, are happy with the tribunal’s verdict.

We are proven correct in our belief that only a body independent of Arroyo’s influence and political clout can come out with a strong verdict unlike in the Philippines where the judiciary is subjugated by the whims of the Executive Office and rendered useless by state terrorism.

We are very much elated with the verdict, even if we know that it will not directly result to the arrest of Arroyo and her supporters. But as she is condemned by the world as a criminal and as perpetrator of these human rights violations, for us victims, we are given hope, a glimmer of the light of justice.  Like Marcos, she has sown terror and fear among the people, and now she will reap the condemnation of the Filipino people and the world.  This is the beginning of her regime’s end.

She and her cohorts may have prevented the truth from coming out when she successfully blocked two impeachment trials, but they had no way to stop the glaring evidence against her in an international opinion court. Now, the truth is out, and the whole world will know about her crimes: the extrajudicial killings, abductions and enforced disappearances, massacres, illegal arrests and arbitrary detention, attacks against the communities, attacks on peasants, workers, women and children.

The Marcos dictatorship was also tried and found guilty by the PPT in 1980, before it was finally ousted in 1986.

We will now bring the results of the PPT to the wider public, in the country and abroad.  And we will also find more venues to bring our cases against Arroyo, Bush and their supporters.

Our testimonies and evidences were sufficiently heard by the international tribunal that found the Arroyo regime along with the government of US Pres. George W. Bush guilty for violations of political, economic and cultural rights and the people’s right to self-determination.

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