Today’s Inquirer issue reports about how “Christian” north exploits “Muslim” south. An article in ABS-CBN News reports the same thing.

To be honest, exploitation is not the right word. It is two-way, so the right term is symbiosis. Or to be more blunt, it’s scratch-my-back-and-I-scratch-yours. And that is a hard thing to stop. It is corruption at its best worst.

As I try to put myself into the shoes of a lowly citizen in a village in Mindanao, given the conditions being described in news reports, the more bewildered I become. If I am an unschooled or a dropout person, given the culture, what would I do? It would be hard to go against the elder, right? Would I become an outcast? Would I still live if I go against the local warlord? What would become of my family? So many things to consider, and I no longer wonder if no one would dare. So the cycle continues. Eventually, they have to learn that what is being done to them by their elders and warlords are wrong, and may wisen up.

But there is something that can be done on our end. That is, punish those who exploit the Muslim culture to their advantage. Easier said than done, but it must be done. We start by reforming Comelec, giving it motu propio powers, making sure that only the right individuals get to be appointed to staff it. Then we reform the electoral system itself, by any means possible, be it automation, or streamlining, or whatever. And of course, voters education that must begin at the primary level; give equal emphasis on civics/citizen education, math, science, and English.

Unfortunately, it will probably take several more generations before the much needed changes take effect. So it is imperative that we must begin immediately.

How I wish media reports this year’s senatorial elections. Like this ABS-CBN News report: It’s still 8-2-2 in latest NAMFREL tally.

It should be 8-3-1. Why? Read this.

Talk about being independent. He is showing his true colors, even if he is not officially a winner. Votes for him are wasted votes, IMHO.

I find this Inquirer story funny:

“I feel very sad,” Norberto Gonzales said Thursday. “I’m the national security adviser and then suddenly [I] don’t get the protection of the police. The police are involved [in vote-buying]. Hindi ko naisip na lolokohin ako ng pulis (I never thought they’d deceive me).”

Three things why this is funny:

1. The candidate is his daughter, not him.
2. He is speaking as if the Bataan PNP is his own private army.
3. He only found out now that some PNP personnel are corrupt (and he is the National Security Adviser).

Well, at least he gets to feel how to be screwed. He screwed the country through that Venable contract. Karma, heh.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2007
The state of the world’s human rights

23 May 2007: AI Pilipinas – AI Annual Report Media Launch
Summary of Statements by Tim Parritt (AI Deputy Director, Asia Pacific Program) and Sergio Zamorano (AI International Mobilization Program)

TIME TO END THE POLITICS OF FEAR AND UPHOLD HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL

As Amnesty International launched its annual assessment of human rights worldwide, the organization decried how both governments and armed groups are deliberately fomenting fear to create an increasingly dangerous and polarized world.

Through fear-mongering and divisive policies, governments have undermined the rule of law and human rights, fed racism and xenophobia, divided communities and intensified inequalities.

At the global level

The ‘war on terror’ and the war in Iraq, with their catalogue of human rights abuses have created deep divisions that have cast a shadow on international relations, making it more difficult to resolve conflicts and protect civilians, commented Sergio Zamorano from AI’s International Mobilization Program.

Scarred by distrust and division, the international community was too often impotent or weak-willed in the face of major human crises in 2006, whether in forgotten conflicts like Chechnya, Colombia and Sri Lanka, or high profile ones in the Middle East.

Other unresolved human rights crises include the conflict in the Lebanon and the Occupied Territories, and the continuing suffering in Darfur.

In Asia Pacific

In the Asia Pacific region despite enviable rates of economic growth, the pressures of globalization and poverty including migration and the urban/rural divide, became more apparent than ever. Unemployment increased in rural areas of India, and in China estimated earnings in rural areas was four times less than urban areas, with life expectancy for urban residents 10-15 times higher than rural residents.

Across Asia Pacific some of the most marginalized groups, including indigenous communities, were displaced and their human rights abused by industrialization, resource extraction and development projects.

In addition migrant workers across the region and beyond often faced dangerous conditions of work and were particularly vulnerable to discrimination and other human rights abuses. Philippine and other migrant workers had their rights abused in the Middle East amid a mix of inadequate legal protection, exploitative employers and government complacency.

In the context of the ‘war on terror’, enforced disappearances continued in Pakistan, while in Afghanistan the Taleban deliberately targeted civilians in order to control areas under their influence. Violations committed by the US and Afghan forces in the name of the ‘war on terror’ added to resentment felt by many Afghans against the international security presence as justice and reparation for violations of international humanitarian law appeared out of reach. Beyond Guantanamo, the US detention centre in Bagram military base outside Kabul deserved international attention.

In the Philippines

Commenting on the national situation, Tim Parritt, Deputy Director of AI’s Asia Pacific Program, described how in the Philippines as elsewhere in the world, “The politics of fear fuelled a downward spiral of human rights abuse in which no right was sacrosanct and no person safe.”

In the Philippines, a national security agenda and calls for “all out war” led to the repeated labeling of civilians belonging to the legal political left as “enemies of the state” and members of “communist terrorist” armed groups. Such vilification and intimidation fuelled the conditions within which a pattern of political killings of leftist political activists, including marginalized community leaders, journalists and human rights workers, took place – at times with the involvement or complicity of military personnel.

“Increasing polarization and heightened fear about national security reduced the space for tolerance and dissent, and as human rights abuses persisted the prospects for a revival of the long-established peace process with communist armed groups became increasingly remote” said Tim Parritt.

Despite welcome government initiatives to address political killings, including the establishment of the Melo Commission of Inquiry and PNP Task Force Usig to investigate, only a limited number of people were arrested and few cases filed in court, and no one was held accountable for political killings stretching back to 2001.

“The political killings and a recent spate of electoral-related murders have again emphasized the urgent need for sustained political will to drive forward a substantive, long-term investment in a properly functioning system of rule of law” said Tim Parritt.

Reforms, including the strengthening of independent institutions able to conduct both impartial, effective investigation and speedy prosecutions leading to fair convictions, along with a beefed-up witness protection program, are essential to combat impunity, ensure accountability and safeguard human rights.

Amnesty International is calling on President Arroyo’s government and emerging new leaders in the Senate and Congress to seize this post-election opportunity to commit to a determined human rights agenda. A loud and clear signal must again be sent that the right to life of all in the Philippines will be protected, and that political killings and impunity will never again be tolerated.

The challenge is not only to ensure that all can cast their ballots free from fear at election time, but also to promote enduring good governance, an effective legal and judicial structure, the rule of law based on human rights, and the safe participation of a free press and vibrant civil society peacefully representing all voices in society.

In addition, as elsewhere in the region, the rights of the most vulnerable in society including the urban poor and indigenous communities must be protected as economic development projects leads to evictions, displacement from traditional lands and the loss of means of livelihood. Marginalized communities must be consulted and give consent to development projects that fundamentally effect their economic and social rights.

The challenges posed by a pattern of political killings, the lack of effective accountability, and the unequal impact of economic growth, demand responses based on universal human values – values that unite rather than divide. Principled leadership and the courage and commitment of civil society can overcome fear and address division. Hope is still very much alive.

(London) Powerful governments and armed groups are deliberately fomenting fear to erode human rights and to create an increasingly polarized and dangerous world, said Amnesty International today as it launched Amnesty International Report 2007, its annual assessment of human rights worldwide.

“Through short sighted, fear-mongering and divisive policies, governments are undermining the rule of law and human rights, feeding racism and xenophobia, dividing communities, intensifying inequalities and sowing the seeds for more violence and conflict,” said Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

“The politics of fear is fuelling a downward spiral of human rights abuse in which no right is sacrosanct and no person safe.”

“The ‘war on terror’ and the war in Iraq, with their catalogue of human rights abuses, have created deep divisions that cast a shadow on international relations, making it more difficult to resolve conflicts and protect civilians.”

Scarred by distrust and division, the international community was too often impotent or weak-willed in the face of major human rights crises in 2006, whether in forgotten conflicts like Chechnya, Colombia and Sri Lanka or high profiles ones in the Middle East.

The UN took weeks to muster the will to call for a ceasefire in the conflict in Lebanon in which approximately 1,200 civilians lost their lives. The international community showed no stomach to tackle the human rights disaster resulting from severe restrictions on freedom of movement of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, reckless attacks by the Israeli army and inter-factional fighting among Palestinian groups.

“Darfur is a bleeding wound on world conscience. The UN Security Council is hampered by distrust and double dealing of its most powerful members. The Sudanese government is running rings around the UN. Meanwhile 200,000 people have died, more than ten times that number have been displaced, and militia attacks are now spreading to Chad and the Central African Republic,” said Ms. Khan.

Thriving in an arc of instability, extending from the borders of Pakistan to the Horn of Africa, armed groups flexed their muscles and engaged in massive abuse of human rights and international humanitarian law.

“Unless governments address the grievances on which these groups feed, unless they provide effective leadership to bring these groups to account for the abuses they have committed and are ready to hold themselves accountable, the prognosis for human rights is dire,” said Ms Khan.

In Afghanistan, the international community and the Afghan government squandered the opportunity to build an effective state based on human rights and the rule of law, leaving the people to chronic insecurity, corruption and a resurgent Taleban. In Iraq, the security forces incited sectarian violence rather than restrained it, the justice system proved woefully inadequate, and the worst practices of Saddam’s regime -– torture, unfair trials, capital punishment and rape with impunity –- remained very much alive.

“In many countries, a fear-driven political agenda is fuelling discrimination, widening the gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’, ‘them’ and ‘us’, and leaving the most marginalized people unprotected,” said Ms. Khan.

In Africa alone hundreds of thousands of people were evicted forcibly from their homes with no due process, compensation or alternative shelter –- often in the name of progress and economic development.

Politicians played upon the fears of uncontrolled migration to justify tougher measures against asylum-seekers and refugees in Western Europe, while migrant workers were left unprotected and exploited around the world, from South Korea to the Dominican Republic.

The divide between Muslims and non-Muslims deepened, fuelled by discriminatory counter-terrorism strategies in western countries. Incidents of Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, intolerance and attacks on religious minorities increased worldwide.

Meanwhile, hate crimes against foreigners were widespread in Russia while segregation and exclusion of the Roma community were rampant around Europe, illustrating the blatant failure of leadership to combat racism and xenophobia.

“Increasing polarization and heightened fears about national security reduced the space for tolerance and dissent. Around the world, from Iran to Zimbabwe, many independent voices on human rights were silenced in 2006,” said Ms Khan.

Freedom of expression was suppressed in a variety of ways from the prosecution of writers and human rights defenders in Turkey, to the killing of political activists in the Philippines, to the constant harassment, surveillance and often imprisonment of human rights defenders in China, to the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya and new laws regulating non-governmental organizations in Russia. The Internet became the new frontier in the struggle for dissent as activists were arrested and companies colluded with governments to restrict access to information on-line in countries such as China, Iran, Syria, Vietnam and Belarus.

Old-fashioned repression gained a new lease of life under the guise of fighting terrorism in countries like Egypt, while loosely defined counter-terrorism laws posed a potential threat to free speech in the United Kingdom.

Five years after 9/11, new evidence came to light in 2006 of the way in which the US administration treated the world as one giant battlefield for its ‘war on terror’, kidnapping, arresting, arbitrarily detaining, torturing and transferring suspects from one secret prison to another across the world with impunity, in what the US termed ‘extraordinary renditions’.

“Nothing more aptly portrayed the globalization of human rights violations than the US-led ‘war on terror’ and its programme of ‘extraordinary renditions’ which implicated governments in countries as far apart as Italy and Pakistan, Germany and Kenya,” said Ms. Khan.

“Ill-conceived counter-terrorism strategies have done little to reduce the threat of violence or ensure justice for victims of terrorism but much to damage human rights and the rule of law globally.”

Amnesty International called on governments to reject the politics of fear and invest in human rights institutions and the rule of law at the national and international level.

“There are signs of hope. A momentum was created by European institutions for transparency and accountability on renditions. Thanks to civil society pressure, the UN agreed to develop a treaty to control conventional arms. In a range of countries new leaders and legislatures coming to power have an opportunity to redress the failed leadership that has plagued the human rights scene in recent years. A new US Congress could take the lead in setting the trend, restoring respect for human rights at home and abroad,” said Ms Khan.

“Just as global warming requires global action based on international cooperation, the human rights meltdown can only be tackled through global solidarity and respect for international law.”

****************************************
For more information please call Amnesty International’s press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566
Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web: http://www.amnesty.org
For latest human rights news view http://news.amnesty.org

MLQ3 asks, can Gloria Arroyo afford to move on?

Yes and no. This really depends on her objective. If her objective is to finish her term in 2010, this will be easy. All she has to do is keep still and not rock the boat. Filipinos are forgetful anyway.

However, her political opponents are not. Once her term ends, once her immunity from lawsuit ends, it would be an open season for the opposition. And that she cannot afford. So, no, she cannot afford to move on. She needs a good exit strategy. Let’s explore her options.

Will Chacha come into play? This is a risky move; last year was a tumultuous episode that could have turned awry for her. Whether be it through Con-Ass, or PI, or Con-con, it would be risky. I believe this is in the cards, though it will not be put into play until conditions prove favorable. Her political machine (which apparently broke down at the end of the campaign) must start the groundwork now for Chacha.

The next viable option is to appoint friendlies into government positions that might be involved in lawsuits against her. That would be the Ombudsman (think Ramos-Desierto), the Sandiganbayan, the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court. Since she will have control of the Lower House, approval of appointments will be a breeze; if not, she can always avail of the Gonzalez loophole.

Another option is to select a friendly successor. And in this she has a problem. The elections in 2010 will be “star-studded”, with the top winners in this year’s senatorial elections already gearing up for the presidency. She needs someone who the masses will support; she needs someone that businessmen can trust. Her list of choices is short. I suggest she start “packaging” Noli de Castro into a political heavyweight. Noli de Castro needs to establish his gravitas, so that the middle class, the businessmen, will be impressed enough to support him.

Again, can she afford to move on? Yes, if the goal is simply to finish her term. But that would mean criminal cases left and right, and she might end up sharing house with Joseph Estrada. That she cannot afford. So, no, she cannot afford to move on. And knowing her, she would risk everything; she had risked it all anyway, and all she got were mere scratches, so it is better than the other option.

Another letter writer at the Inquirer (yes, another one) tells a story related to the letter writer by a friend who is in Manila:

“You can imagine my surprise when I got this text message two days before the elections:
‘PLANO NG G.O. REBOLUSYON. Ayaw namin ng gulo, gusto namin ng katahimikan at kaunlaran …VOTE STRAIGHT TEAM UNITY!'” (This was followed by the names of the administration’s 12 senatorial candidates.) And you know what? The same message was sent to me from two different cell phones — +63921 2561136 and +63921 2558366. I was really bothered because (1) neither of these numbers appear in my Smart phone directory, my file of business and personal cards, my memo pad where I scribble phone numbers; (2) the tenor of the message shows it comes from a group (‘ayaw namin/gusto namin’); and (3) could this mean that there are entities — either private or public, civilian or military — who can access individual phone numbers in this country, and would the telephone companies themselves be complicit?”

Phone numbers! Spam them! Now! I suggest you use Chikka he he.

Anyway, whoever sent the spam, they must have lots of moolah. Hmm. A GSM modem. Lots of prepaid load or a Smart line with near-infinite credit limit. I wonder how they got cellphone numbers to spam. Maybe randomly-generated, as I did not get this spam message (I’m on Smart). Or maybe this is just a forward message thing.

In today’s Inquirer, one letter writer wondered: “where’s the youth?”

He said:

The youth constitute one of the biggest sectors of our voting population (7 million registered voters). That is why, it amazes that Kabataan is not leading the pack in the party-list race.

I’m not sure where the letter writer got that data (see this Inquirer report), but my answer to his question is simple: in that 7 million, how many of them chose NOT to vote? Then he should no longer wonder.

(How I wish we have the numbers.)

UPDATE:

The-Jester-in-Exile has a funny answer to the letter writer:

“Kasi nga, like, it’s so nakakainip to make pila in the precinct, with all those jologs people around. Tapos we have to spell the names of so many candidates correctly, kasi nga, like, di kasi puwede “sounds-like” kasi eh. And then, after all that hard work (it’s so hard kaya to think and make pili the candidates, noh?), we’ll get our nails stained, tapos it’s so kadiri, like, so bakya naman the indelible ink. Ewww! Yuck! We made pasyal to the beach so we can, like get that end-of-summer tan instead. O, di ba, mas cool?”