CHR Defends Arroyo in Europe

National (as of 11:39 PM)

CHR defends Arroyo in Europe

By LOUI GALICIA
ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau

Chairwoman Purificacion Quisumbing of the Philippine human rights commission has belied accusations that the Arroyo administration is worse than the Marcos dictatorial regime.

Quisumbing said unlike during martial law, government institutions are working under the Arroyo administration.

“First, all our government institutions are working. We have an independent judiciary which is working definitely. We did not have an independent judiciary during President Marcos’ time. Second is we have a congress. Our congress is noisy. The opposition can voice out their position. Third is the executive. The President [is] being accused by the [Permanent People's Tribunal] and her actions are being reviewed by the Supreme Court,” Quisumbing told ABS-CBN Europe.

Quisumbing was reacting to the allegation by the jurors of the PPT that said the Arroyo administration is worse than Marcos who was tried by the tribunal in 1980.

The tribunal declared the Arroyo administration, along with that of US President George W. Bush “and their accomplices” guilty of gross violations of human rights, economic and social rights and transgression of the national sovereignty of the Filipino people.

Quisumbing also asserted the independence of the human rights commission, saying it was the first to call unconstitutional the Calibrated Pre-emptive Response. The CPR was the policy adapted by the government in dealing with street protesters, which resulted in many a violent dispersal of rallies and demonstrations.

The Supreme Court later upheld CHR in declaring the CPR unconstitutional.

“So, we can say that. Nobody tells us that we cannot say that. We were the first ones. We made the headlines with ABS-CBN, that we were saying that this cannot be. That is very important because even if congress is doing something wrong and the executive is erring as well, there is still a remedy. That is important in a democracy. During Marcos’ time, there is no such thing,” Quisumbing said.

Quisumbing said that another indicator is that journalists and the media are still free to report on the present problems facing the country.

“It’s true that there are journalists who have been killed, particularly in the rural areas. I know that there are libel suits,” Quisumbing said, adding “But if the justice system prevails, I am strongly confident that the Philippines will remain a working democracy.”

She also cited the recently concluded PPT session where activists where able to travel to The Hague to testify against the Arroyo administration.

“For me, that is freedom of expression. It’s positive that they (activists) are able to go out of the country and they can come back. Even the protests continue. What I mean is that while we can still protest and can continue to protest, that is healthy. We did not have that during martial law,” Quisumbing said.

The CHR was formed following the 1987 Constitution as an independent body to monitor government programs for,and support to uphold, human rights. Its mandate is to conduct independent investigations of all civil and political rights violations.

With 15 regional offices, the CHR is able to conduct independent investigations of civil and political rights violations. At present the CHR is particularly focused on extra-judicial killings which has become a very hot issue in the Philippines .

“From the statistics we have gathered we have more or less 250 cases which we have seen that we can send for prosecution. So now we need to see how we are going to gather all the evidence. But what we really need are the witnesses,” Quisumbing said.

She gave credit to the government for assuring that the CHR wil be given extra resources to help the agency find a solution to the problems particularly in the cases where the military and the police are implicated.

Quisumbing is in The Netherlands to meet with Philippine Ambassador Romeo Arguelles and an authority from an international court to seek advice and expertise. She came to the Hague, the legal capital of the world, after visting the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

SOURCE: WWW.ABS-CBNNEWS.COM

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=72284