77 CASES IN 2019: EJK chief human rights concern in WV

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

Extrajudicial killings (EJKs) emerged as the top human rights cases in the region, according to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) 6.

As of December 10, 2019, CHR in Western Visayas has been investigating 77 cases of alleged EJKs in the region.

The number includes 41 drug-related cases while 36 are non-drug related.

While they are yet to consolidate the data in each the six province of the region, CHR-6 Regional Director Jonnie Dabuco said most of the alleged EJKs in the region were recorded in Iloilo and Negros.

“Sa subong pa lang siguro daw waay naman question ang number one nga kaso diri sa Region 6 is alleged EJK. Most of these cases Iloilo and Negros naga-pulupareho although lately gulpi nagdamo sa Negros,” he said in an interview on Nov 23, 2019.

The increase in the number of EJK in the region prompted CHR to establish more human rights desks in the provinces.

According to Dabuco, they have partnered with the Jaro Archdiocesan Social Action Center (JASAC) for the establishment of human rights desks on all parishes covered by the Archdiocese of Jaro.

Dabuco said they will train JASAC members in running the human rights desks.

“We want to reach out sa mga damo nga tawo para ang presence namon makita sa mga liblib nga lugar. Ginalantaw namon mangin first responder siya, ang maka-connect sa amon in case nga may natabo pwede siya maka-document kay limitado amon tawo and because man sa nagataas nga kaso sang EJK,” he added.

In celebration of the 71st International Human Rights Day on Tuesday, progressive group Bayan Panay urged Filipinos to defend their basic and fundamental socio-economic, cultural and political rights in their official statement.

The group criticized the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte for not respecting the rights of Filipino people enshrined in the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

“Our right to life, right to freedom of thought, expression and assembly, freedom to privacy, workers’ rights to employment and just wages, right to education, health, water, food, shelter, and other social services, right to equal protection of rights and the rule of law are no longer respected and duly recognized by the Duterte administration,”  they said.

For more than three years in office, Bayan Panay said Duterte has unleashed his three main wars including the war on drugs that targeted the “defenseless poor,” the Martial law in Mindanao that attacked Moro people and Lumads, and the Oplan Kapanatagan that is meant to quell rebellion but has taken many lives in the progressive groups.

“Under Duterte, 293 have already been killed extrajudicially not including roughly 27,000 individuals in his anti-drug war. Members of progressive groups have continued to rot in jail totaling to 629 individuals where 50 are elderly, 93 are women, 113 are sick, 11 are peace consultants and five are minors,” the group said.

As a protest against the increasing human rights violations, Bayan Panay including multi-sectoral progressive orgs marched towards the Iloilo Provincial Capitol on Tuesday.

The group also burned the effigy of Duterte in a cauldron.

The US State Department in its 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices also identified EJK as the “chief human rights concern” in the Philippines following the intensified drug campaign of the country since 2016.

“Extrajudicial killings have been the chief human rights concern in the country for many years and, after a sharp rise with the onset of the anti-drug campaign in 2016, they continued in the reporting year, albeit at a lower level,” the report said.

According to the report human rights issues in the country included “unlawful or arbitrary killings by security forces, vigilantes, and others allegedly connected to the government, and by insurgents; forced disappearance; torture; arbitrary detention; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; political prisoners; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; criminal libel; killings of and threats against journalists; official corruption and abuse of power; and the use of forced and child labor.”