Where is Human Rights in the Aquino Government’s Agenda?

The infamy of the former Arroyo administration did not begin and end with the corruption scandals it was involved in. There were the allegations of cheating during the 2004 elections, which shook the ground it was standing on. And there was the spate in human rights violations - especially extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, killings of journalists, and the filing of trumped-up charges against its perceived enemies - which resulted in it being extremely isolated nationally and internationally.

At least the problem of manipulation of election results was supposedly addressed by the automated election system, although not to everybody's satisfaction. What election automation was actually able to achieve was to speed up the transmission of election returns and canvassing of votes, thereby making it more difficult to manipulate the results. However, it is no guarantee that the results were not manipulated. In fact, with automation, it is more difficult to find out if what was counted was consistent with what the voters wrote. Secondly, obviously there were a lot of problems, which should not be merely swept under the rug. These should be investigated. Lastly, the old problems of vote-buying, election violence and harassments were still rampant during the 2010 elections.

More alarming is the fact that there has been no policy statement from Pres. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino that would firmly address the problems besetting the human rights situation in the country, particularly the atmosphere of impunity. There is reason for optimism in the appointment of former Commission on Human Rights Chairwoman Leila de Lima as Justice Secretary. However, her marching orders are to run after those involved in corruption. There has been no mention about human rights violators, although she would surely try to address this because human rights is one of her advocacies. But the sheer volume of her work, and the prevailing impunity would make her task of running after human rights violators very difficult.

When municipal councilor and Bayan Muna member Fernando Baldomero was killed in front of his 12-year-old son last July 5, Malacañang's response was to order an investigation and to clarify that it is not the policy of the Aquino government to commit extrajudicial killings. However, this is hardly enough. What is needed is for President Aquino himself, and not merely his spokesman Edwin Lacierda, to order all concerned government agencies, including the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), to arrest the perpetrator, set a deadline for solving the case, and declare unequivocally that it would not tolerate extrajudicial killings and other forms of human rights violations.