PNoy’s rights record 'disappointing' —int’l rights group

President Benigno Aquino III’s overall human rights record in 2015 was "disappointing," according to a report by an international human rights group.

Human Rights Watch said Aquino’s term will end without achieving his promised goal to significantly improve human rights in the country as there has been little accountability for the killings of indigenous leaders, activists, and journalists, and other serious abuses during his administration.

"The Philippine government took little effective action to hold to account those responsible, including security force personnel," HRW said in its 659-page World Report 2016 where it reviewed human rights practices in more than 90 countries. The report was launched in New York Wednesday.

In the report, the group noted Aquino’s successes including the peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the sharp reduction in extrajudicial executions compared to the Arroyo administration, though local government-backed “death squads” remained a major problem, and the passage of Reproductive Health Law.

“In addition, Aquino deserves some credit for a Supreme Court initiative that addresses the massive backlog of criminal cases, which condemns suspects to often years-long pretrial detention,” the report stated.

Lack of political will

But the group said Aquino’s record on human rights has been disappointing.

“Among the reasons were [the] lack of political will to investigate and prosecute abuses by state security forces; a corrupt and politicized criminal justice system; and a traditional 'patronage politics' system that protects officials and security forces,” it said.

The group said in the first eight months of 2015, Philippine military and paramilitary groups allegedly killed more than a dozen tribal leaders and tribal community members, as reported by local rights groups.

It also cited  the report of United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) that military operations in areas in Mindanao, heavily populated by indigenous peoples, contributed to the displacement of 243,000 people since January.

“Many of those displaced faced inadequate food, shelter, and health care,” the group said.

It further said that nine journalists were killed in 2015 – three of them over 10 days in August. Only one suspect was reported arrested in these attacks.

The group also noted that killings of alleged petty criminals, drug dealers, and others by “death squads” or contract killers in several cities continued unabated.

“In some cases, the killings were publicly encouraged by local officials such as presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte,” the group said.

Children face abuses

It said children throughout the Philippines face a wide range of human rights abuses. As a September 2015 Human Rights Watch report documented, in small-scale gold mining, children are exposed to extremely hazardous work conditions, working deep underground, diving underwater to dig for gold, and processing ore with toxic mercury.

It added armed conflict prevented children in a number of areas from attending school, and paramilitaries raided several schools, killing a school administrator in August. In Manila in November, authorities detained hundreds of poor and homeless, among them many children, to clear the capital of street dwellers during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, a practice previously used during high-profile events.

“While Aquino’s presidency has had a mixed record on rights issues, ultimately he has failed to make the institutional reforms to ensure a lasting positive human rights legacy,” said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“The Philippines’ next president must be prepared to tackle deep-seated impunity for abuses by state security forces and the corrupt and politicized criminal justice system.”

Sought for comment, Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr said President Aquino has emphasized the importance of respecting human rights during his watch “as one who has personally experienced the human rights violations inflicted upon his late father and family during the martial law regime.”

“The CHR has noted the decrease in the overall number of human rights violations filed. The President had also ordered an interagency task force headed by then [Secretary of Justice Leila] de Lima to review and work to expedite the prosecution of long standing cases dating back to previous administrations,” he said in a text message to GMA News Online.

He said it was also under the Aquino administration that the human rights claims board was formed and received more than 75,000 claims.

“The delays in litigation of pending human rights violations are mainly due to systemic weaknesses in the criminal justice system that the Supreme Court is addressing,” Coloma added. —ALG, GMA News