Human rights defenders Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and the Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights spearheaded a protest caravan in the streets of Dumaguete in observance of Human Rights Day.
Favian Magallanes, BAYAN chairperson, said the prevalent human rights condition in the country has not changed since the nine-year rule of Gloria Arroyo when thousands were killed in a bloody insurgency campaign dubbed Oplan Bayanihan (Operation Freedom Watch) I and II.
Despite mounting calls for the abolition of insurgency campaigns, the Aquino administration implemented a new counter-insurgency strategy called Oplan Bayanihan. It is partly funded by the United States government and crafted upon recommendations from the Central Intelligence Agency. It boasted of “peace and development” elements but human rights organizations say otherwise.
The Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights listed in its year-end report 64 cases of extrajudicial killings, 343 illegal arrests, 51 detainees tortured, 4376 victims of forced evacuation, and 6108 made homeless through demolition in urban poor communities. All these just in 16 months of Noynoy Aquino’s incumbency.
The province of Negros Oriental was again listed as a priority area for the implementation of Oplan Bayanihan.
That, according to Jose Luis Blanco, explains the wave of human rights offenses recorded for the Province. Incidents of strafing, forcible evacuation, harassment and threat to more visible activists continue.
Meanwhile, the Provincial government passed an ordinance regulating fact-finding and medical missions that effectively blocks the humanitarian efforts of the Alliance in hinterland villages where human rights violations are most likely to occur.
Oplan Bayanihan is described by the progressive groups as a deceptive move of the government to pave the way for large projects championed by the ruling few.
They likewise demanded government to end the Oplan Bayanihan and instead focus on resolving the more fundamental problems of the people such as the lack of a genuine agrarian reform and widespread hunger and poverty.
The caravan was also attended by the pedicab group ND-Motors-PISTON, the women’s alliance AMIHAN-BANIKA, the peasant federation KAUGMAON-KMP, Student Christian Movement of the Philippines, and other human rights defenders. (BAYAN Negros Oriental)
