Statement of Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights (PCTFHR)

Canadians condemn attacks against journalists in the Philippines

April 28, 2007

The Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights (PCTFHR) vigorously condemns the recent spate of attacks against journalists in the Philippines, including the April 18, 2007 killing of Carmelo Palacios in Nueva Ecija province in the Central Luzon region.  Palacios is  the 51st journalist to be killed under the regime of Philippine President Arroyo and the third this year.  The Philippines now has the infamous distinction of being the second most dangerous place in the world for journalists after Iraq.

We also are particularly outraged by the April 19, 2007 shooting of Philippine Daily Inquirer correspondent, Delfin (Sonny) Mallari, Jr. in Lucena City in the Southern Tagalog region.  In November 2006, a team traveled to the Southern Tagalog region as part of the PCTFHR’s Canadian Human Rights Fact-Finding Mission to the Philippines.  Mallari interviewed the team members twice in Lucena City and wrote articles about the mission and its objectives.  He was also instrumental in publishing news of the team’s harassment and intimidation by the Philippine military, police and other state agents.  The team endured approximately 13 hours of interrogation, harassment and threats from November 17 to 20, 2006 at seven different checkpoints in the region.

The team’s experience led us to conclude that the Philippines (in regions like Southern Tagalog, Central Luzon and the Cordillera) is suffering from increasing militarization and a breakdown of civilian authority.  This is occurring in the context of the Arroyo regime’s counter-insurgency program, Oplan Bantay Laya I and II (Operation Freedom Watch).  We also concluded that the impact of militarization is the clear suffering at humanitarian levels of targeted individuals, families and communities, particularly through internal displacement.

Journalists like Mallari expose the dark realities of the Philippine state that implements policies like Oplan Bantay Laya.  They help give voice to the individuals, families and communities that are impacted by state policies, but who – despite the repression – continue to organize themselves and struggle for their liberation.

It is outrageous that journalists are now themselves the target of political repression, politically-motivated extrajudicial killings and other forms of harassment (including unwarranted libel suits) by the Arroyo regime.  It is a sure sign of the bankruptcy of an illegitimate regime that is desperate to survive a deepening political crisis.

We salute the resolve of journalists in the Philippines for continuing to write and expose the realities of the people despite the attempts to suppress their freedom of expression.  We also salute their efforts to organize and mobilize themselves, like the recent indignation rallies held by the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) to protest the attacks against journalists.  A highlight of those rallies was the sight of an injured Mallari defiantly leading the rally in Lucena City.

On the eve of the upcoming national and local elections in the Philippines, we call on Canadians to be vigilant against further attacks against journalists and others in the Philippines.  We vow to continue to educate Canadians against the Arroyo regime’s campaign of political killings.  We will work to mobilize this support to bear pressure on the Canadian government to redirect our taxpayer dollars in the form of the $22 million in Canadian foreign aid away from the repressive and militarist Arroyo regime and towards progressive community-based groups like Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) that advocate genuine development and uphold human rights and the dignity of life.

End the attacks against journalists in the Philippines!  Expose and oppose state terror and repression!
Stop Canadian aid to the repressive, militarist Arroyo regime!
Uphold the dignity of life and support the struggle of the Filipino people for national freedom and democracy!
Long live international solidarity!