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Arroyo Regime’s Abuses Qualify as ‘Crimes Against Humanity’: Hague Tribunal

Published: March 26, 2007   |     |     |   Subscribe: RSS or Email    

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Conclusion:

The tribunal, having considered the evidence given before it, is of the opinion that the reported killings, torture and forced disappearances fall under responsibility of the Philippine government and are by no way justified in terms of necessary measures against terrorism.

7. VERDICT

The decisions of the Tribunal with respect to the accusation and charges, as reported idfn par.3 are as follows:

1. The wealth and consistency of the oral and written documentation made available through witnesses and expert reports, has convinced the PPT that each and all of the three charges presented against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her Government, and against George Walker Bush and his Government are substantiated.

2. The PPT underlines that the charges cannot be considered separately nor independently. The atrocities of extra-judicial killings, of massacres, of tortures, of communities destroyed and dispersed are the visible and dramatic expression of one strategy, which has its continuity and effectiveness in the mechanism and instruments documented with respect to chapter 2 and 3.

3. The extension and the systematic nature of the violations of the rights of the Filipino people committed by the governments of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and with the support and full awareness of the government of George Walker Bush, qualify the same violations as crimes against humanity, with all the consequences for the persons who are responsible for them. Such violations must be stopped immediately.

4. The Philippine government and the Bush administration have knowingly and willingly colluded with each other in implementing the US’s so-called “war on terror” in Southeast Asia and in the Philippines in violation of national sovereignty and territorial integrity, violating the Philippine Constitution which bans the presence of foreign troops and nuclear weapons on Philippine soil.

5. The PPT has found unequivocal evidences that the militaries have a central role in the greatest majority of the scenarios of human rights violations in the Philippines. The PPT however wants to underline the highly misleading role of the recurrent debates on the direct vs. indirect involvement of the military forces in one or the other individual case. The AFP is a structural component and instrument of the policy of the “war on terror” declared jointly by the Philippines and the US. Governments, as a comprehensive label to justify all illegal actions and their impunity.

6. The PPT denounces as unacceptable the inclusion of the Government of the Philippines in the UN Human Rights Council:

o It undermines the credibility of the UN in this field;
o It is an intolerable offense to the victims;
o It is a denial of the many well documented denunciations of the dramatic violations of human rights in the Philippines.

As Permanent People’s Tribunal and part of the larger human family, we recognize that the dramatic and worsening human rights situation in the Philippines is the responsibility for us all, not just for those who struggle for their rights in that country, We commit ourselves to strengthen our efforts to defeat those powers which, under pretext of the so-called “war on terrorism” and in the mantle of “market- and profit-driven globalization”, deprive the marginalized of a life in justice, dignity and peace.

This commitment includes a sharp attention to the safety of the witnesses who courageously have contributed to the fact-finding task of the tribunal. If anything would happen to any of them, we will hold the government of the Philippines responsible for that.

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