News Release
26 May 2012
Rights victims recount ordeal before Philippine review by UN
GENEVA — They could not hold back tears as they recounted their experiences before a crowd of international human rights organizations and representatives of foreign missions.
Ernan Baldomero, a municipal councilor in Aklan and son of Fernando Baldomero, the first victim of extrajudicial killing under the Aquino regime in 2010, recounted his last days with his father. He spoke of how his father was repeatedly tagged by the military as a communist rebel before he was gunned down by two men riding on a motorcycle. He broke down as he recounted how the military had even insisted that his father was killed by the New People’s Army in an alleged “purge.” He laments to this day that justice has not been fully served.
For Filipino-American activist Melissa Roxas, her abduction and torture was also painful to recall. She spoke of being abducted in La Paz, Tarlac along with two others, then being subjected to torture and other forms of indignities while in detention.
Throughout her detention in what she believed to be was a military facility, she was blindfolded and handcuffed and forced by her captors to “return to the fold of the government.” She laments how none of the perpetrators of her abduction and torture have been held to account.
Baldomero and Roxas spoke at a side-event at the United Nations in Geneva that was organized by the Philippine UPR Watch and Civicus World Alliance for Citizen Participation, World Organization Against Torture, Asia Pacific Form on Women, Law and Development, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and the World Council of Churches.
The forum comes just days before the UN’s review of the Philippines’ human rights record on May 29. The Philippine UPR Watch is composed of Filipino human rights defenders who travelled to Geneva for the universal periodic review and session on the Philippines. The Philippine UPR Watch has submitted alternative reports to the UN to dispute the Philippine government claims of an improving human rights climate in the Philippines.
For the second time, the Philippines will undergo a process whereby member countries of the UN Human Rights Council will examine the Philippines’ compliance with its human rights treaty obligations. During the first review cycle in 2008, the Philippines came under serious scrutiny for the spate of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances under the Arroyo regime.
Now it’s the Aquino government’s turn to face the UN. The Philippine UPR Watch reports that some 76 cases of extrajudicial killings and nine cases of enforced disappearances have taken place under the Aquino government. Meanwhile, no convictions of perpetrators have taken place under the Aquino administration, the group said.
Baldomero and Roxas both assert that rights violations continue under the Aquino government.
“The most painful thing right now is not recounting our experiences but knowing that there is still no justice after all this time. Victims live with the pain of injustice every day,” Roxas said.
“We came here to Geneva to tell the international community that impunity and injustice are continuing in the Philippines. We have spoken to different country missions here in the UN and hopefully they would ask the tough questions to the Philippine government,” Baldomero said.
Reference:
Marie Hilao-Enriquez
Fr. Jonash Joyohoy
Co-Heads, Philippine UPR Watch
Contact Number: +41 76 792 4973; +63917 561 6800
Email: peoples.upr@gmail.com
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