Webinar highlights judicial repression, red-tagging, arrests of church people in PH

Webinar highlights judicial repression, red-tagging, arrests of church people in PH

By Lea Luciano
The Philippine Reporter

National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and Investigate PH addressed the continuous judicial harassment, red-tagging, and illegal arrests of church groups under the Duterte administration.

The webinar hosted by ICHRP-Canada on June 10, 2021, highlighted the first report conducted by Investigate PH regarding the unlawful arrest and persecution of progressive groups, church sectors and human rights advocates who are fighting for social justice and the rights and welfare of indigenous people.

“According to the human rights group, KARAPATAN, around 451 extrajudicial killings have been done in the past few years under the Duterte Administration, and seven of these are from the church sector,” Johanna Dela Cruz said.

Dela Cruz is the Assistant Program Secretary for Human Rights Work from the Program Unit of Faith, Witness and Service of the NCCP.

Pastor Benjie Gomez of the UCCP La Libertad in Zamboanga del Norte

Pastor Benjie Gomez of the UCCP La Libertad in Zamboanga del Norte was arrested after his church service on June 6, 2021. He was falsely accused back in 2014 in the killing of Corporal Marwin D. Ybanez during an encounter between the Philippine Army and the NPA on December 3, 2012. The case was dismissed in 2015 due to a lack of evidence.

Pastor Gomez was a known Lumad advocate and environmental defender.

Human rights defenders are subjected to vilification under Duterte’s Anti-Terror Law. Smear campaigns against progressive organizations and churches continue in Mindanao and throughout the Philippines.

On November 5, 2019, the Department of National Defense listed the NCCP along with Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and other Christian organization was red-tagged as an “open sectoral organization” of the communist rebel groups in the country.

“Despite the many violations that the churches have been subjected to there has little or no accountability,” Dela Cruz said.

“Those who have committed human rights violation face no repercussion and the Philippine judicial system remains open to manipulation and has been exceedingly slow in delivering justice.”

Rev. Michael Blair, General Secretary of the United Church of Canada

Canadian Investigate PH commissioner Rev. Michael Blair shared the June 2020 report of Madame Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, outlining the serious violations of human rights and widespread extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.

Investigate PH was established by a group of international folks concerned about the violation of human rights in the Philippines to push the UN to make substantive decisions around the violation of human rights happening in the Philippines.

“It is intended to encourage international actors, governments and civil societies and human rights advocates to take a stand against the unwanted and the continued destruction of human life within the Philippines,” Rev. Blair said.

“For us, it’s an act of solidarity, to be able to be part of an instrument that speaks to tell the story and to support the evidence of the lack of care and attention to the lives of people in the Philippines.”

Rev. Blair is the General Secretary of the United Church of Canada and a supporter of movements against gender-based violence.

Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Investigate PH sub-commissioner, Derek Duncan had the opportunity to attend 49 cases between 2020 and early 2021 dealing with incidents of human rights violations such as forced evacuations, harassment, abduction, detention and torture, false charges and violation of freedom that occurred under Duterte’s regime.

“There were violations that occurred in the context of Duterte’s war on drugs,” Duncan said.

“His exploitation of restrictions and executive police powers during the covid 19 pandemic, as well as attacks against human rights activists, labour leaders, journalists, lawyers, indigenous leaders, environmental activists, and church workers.”

Duncan shared the following conclusions and recommendations about the first report that was presented by Investigate PH on March 15:

1. The first report concluded that political oppression by the state has only intensified this past year since the High Commissioners report in June 2020;

2. The Anti-Terror Act of 2020 and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) have been weaponized by the Duterte administration to undertake aggression against human rights activist and political opponents;

3. Contrary to the testimony of the government at the 46th Human Rights Council (HRC46), there is a significant lack of domestic remedies and mechanisms to address human rights violations.

Duncan shared that “the report recommended to the UN and members of states to use vigorously international legal mechanisms to hold the government of the Philippines accountable.”

He added that those in the US have a role in holding the United States government accountable to its obligations as a significant ally of the Philippines.

“We provide major military aid and financial assistance to the Philippines for its security forces, and we have done an insufficient job in holding the government accountable to the use of that military assistance without violating provisions contrary to our own rules.”

Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe, General Secretary of the United Methodist Church in the United States, stated that the second report will address the failures of the judicial system and how it weaponized the Anti-Terror Law to violate the freedom and rights of the people.

“We have heard very painful and really heart-wrenching stories about the way that the government has weaponized people and targeted and red-tagged other communities,” Henry-Crowe said.

“So as people of faith, and for me, particularly as a United States citizen, I feel that it’s very important that we engage in learning about this understanding and working against it.”