Filipino-Canadians petition Trudeau on extrajudicial killings in PH
Filipino-Canadians petition Trudeau on extrajudicial killings in PH
By Ysh Cabana
The Philippine Reporter
During televised remarks that followed a cabinet meeting on the COVID-19 pandemic, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte publicly called on the country’s top customs official to simply execute drug smugglers.
It is not the first time Duterte has advocated extrajudicial killings in response to drug crimes. “I approved the purchase of firearms and until now you haven’t killed even one?” Duterte said on August 31, 2020, referring to Rey Leonardo Guerrero, the commissioner of the country’s Customs Bureau.
“I told him, ‘shape up’. I told him straight: ‘drugs are still flowing in. I’d like you to kill there,” Duterte said, “I’ll back you up, and you won’t get jailed.”
Duterte had advocated extrajudicial killings but has also called on the government to reintroduce the death penalty for drug smugglers.
But the recent murders of prominent activists Randall Echanis and Zara Alvarez signal a turning point to urge for international inquiry on human rights abuses in the Philippines.
A petition letter addressed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was started in August by the cause-oriented group Malaya Movement in Canada.
“The Philippine government’s callous response to violence and political killings against human rights defenders and community activists in the Philippines alarms many overseas Filipinos in Canada,“ Malaya Canada said in the letter.
According to Malaya Canada, many of the human rights abuses and violations are “strongly linked to military and paramilitary groups.” Referencing rights groups KARAPATAN, the group said there are more than 300 leftist activists and human rights defenders killed under the Duterte government.
“Government institutions such as the military and defense are linked to the ongoing violence and gross human rights violations and these are the same institutions which enjoy Canada’s support for its military budget for years. It is in this light that we demand the strongest possible diplomatic intervention from Cana
da in response to gross human rights violations and abuses in the Philippines,” it said in the statement.
‘Near impunity’
Last year, European Union member states at the United Nations Human Rights Council voted decisively in support of a resolution mandating the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to report on grave rights abuses in the Philippines.
The report, presented in June, documented “widespread and systematic” extrajudicial killings with “near impunity”, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, crimes committed in a climate of near total impunity; the murder of at least 208 human rights defenders between 2015 and 2019, and frequent threats and intimidation, police raids, arbitrary arrests, prosecutions, and shutdowns of civil society groups and media outlets.
Official figures show that over 8,600 people have been killed in Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs since 2016, “with some estimates putting the real toll at more than triple that number.”
Despite the number of deaths, officers have only been convicted for the 2017 killing of 17-year-old Kian de los Santos.
The report also found that at least 248 legal professionals, journalists, human rights defenders and trade union members have been killed due to their work between 2015 and 2019.
Calls for independent probe
Due to the Philippines’s failure to ensure accountability, the UN report called for an “independent, impartial, credible investigation into all allegations of serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.”
Liz Throssell, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said that Mr. Echanis and Ms. Alvarez had been repeatedly “red-tagged” —labelled as communist rebels and enemies of the state—before they were murdered.
“Effective measures must be taken to protect other at-risk human rights defenders,” she said.
Following the murder of Ms. Alvarez, her colleague Clarizza Singson, received a death threat on Facebook warning her that she would be next.
“This is particularly worrying as Ms. Singson’s name also appeared on the above-mentioned list of suspected terrorists and her photo is included in the same poster,” added Ms. Throssell.
President Duterte himself has frequently threatened independent investigators who are probing the killings, as well as blocking them from entering the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Malaya Canada organizers also warned the recently-signed Philippine anti-terrorism law could be used to maliciously tag activists and critics as terrorists, attack civil liberties and provide another pretext for even more killings.
“Stop the Killings”
The statement, signed by community leaders, artists, academics and social activists are calling for the suspension of all Canadian support and loans for projects of the Duterte government especially Canadian-funded military assistance.
Malaya Canada is also set to officially launch on September 20, with Filipino American philanthropist Loida Nicolas-Lewis slated to speak on “The State of Democracy, Sovereignty and Justice in the Philippines.”
Malaya, whose name means “free” in Filipino, seeks to broaden support for the cause of freedom and democracy in the Philippines. The group is made up of a wide range of people all brought together by the following points: to stop the killings; to end Duterte’s fascist dictatorship; to repeal Executive Order 70, Memorandum Order 32 and all other de facto Martial Law policies; to stop corruption and the practice of political dynasty in the Philippines; to stand for genuine democracy; and to defend Philippine sovereignty against all foreign powers.
“I thought I’m alone here in Toronto,” said Toronto-based filmmaker William Sabado “but I found out there are Filipinos from all walks of life across Canada and spanning the four corners of the world that are united to condemn the human rights violations of the current Duterte administration.”
“Sign up my fellow Filipino Canadians: https://malaya.ca/open-letter/”
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