1999 marked the first year and a half of President Estrada's term in office. During the final days leading up to the year 2000, a well-known survey group in the Philippines presented its findings which showed a dramatic drop in the government's public approval rating. From 68% positive rating in March 1999, the plunge to just 5% in December rocked the foundations of the self-proclaimed "pro-poor" administration of Joseph Ejercito Estrada. This year, the result showed only a 1percent approval rating.
The survey of mainly poor communities in the urban center Manila cited poor implementation of poverty alleviation programs, corruption in government, and the consecutive increases in fuel, electricity and water service rates as major issues that the government failed to address. Other factors affecting public trust in government is corruption, involving the President himself. Despite steps taken by the executive department to remedy the problem, such as cabinet reshuffles and pleadings with private oil firms to delay implementation of oil price increases, the negative public perception prevails.
One of the more telling signs of government direction is its increased tendency to adopt more restrictive and potentially more repressive means of stabilizing the country. Appointment of police personalities in the cabinet who are known human rights violators, approval of drastic, law-circumventing, excessively-forced methods of combatting crime, all point to a "macho", tough action-hero image, which government projects itself with, despite having little real impact on society itself, except for the potential risks to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
Graft and corruption, influence peddling and high-level patrimony, involving the President's closest friends and political allies, including the former dictator's family, the Marcoses, continue to corrode the credibility, and respectability of both the President and his men. The question of good governance and human rights consciousness is central to the present administration, as it faces daunting economic and social conditions.
The Philippine government has ratified these internationally recognized instruments on human rights:
Declarations and Resolutions of Human Rights Conferences and Summits in Vienna (Human Rights), Copenhagen (Social Development Summit), Beijing (World Conference on Women), Cairo (Population), Rio de Janeiro (Environment), Turkey (Housing), and New York (World Summit for Children) have also been actively supported by government. Many of these were incorporated in local legislation and policy, yet still lack the necessary mechanisms for their implementation.
The Estrada administration continues to adopt a free-trade, export-oriented economic program for the Philippines. This program mainly consist of liberalization of trade, privatization of state services and utilities, deregulation of state functions. For poor countries like the Philippines, this growth formula meant the removal of protection for the small industries, support for indigent families, prohibitive costs of basic services, and unemployment for many Filipinos.
A year and a half into its implementation, the nominal margins of growth has failed to register any satisfactory benefit for the people. In the last quarter economic report of the Freedom From Debt Coalition, the factors keeping Philippine economy afloat are still mainly the "uneven performance in the domestic economy", and income from abroad particularly from overseas migrant labor. FDC noted that agriculture, fishery, forestry, manufacturing industry and labor output continued to drop.
Meanwhile, projects and policies that hinder development continued to be implemented, such as the Oil Deregulation Law (Republic Act 8180), which gives the three largest oil monopolies in the country, unlimited power to increase oil prices without prior consultation or approval from government. In 1999 alone, the three oil companies Petron, Shell and Caltex, successively raised their prices at least nine times. The implication to the standard of living such as food, transport and housing costs was alarming.
An old Presidential Decree during the Marcos dictatorship, the PD 1177 or the Automatic Appropriations Act, forces the Philippines to allot a fixed rate of debt payments regardless of the state of the country's economy. Even during the Asian financial turmoil, the Philippines faithfully paid its debtors much needed currency despite the collapse of the local market.
The Foreign Investors Incentives Act offers economic privileges to foreign capitalists, such as tax exemptions and favorable loan plans, resulting to unequal treatment of local entrepreneurs, and eventually the demise of local business and industry.
The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, supposedly the vehicle for poverty alleviation, is deep in legal battle over land distribution. The program does not have enough funds to either compensate former landowners or provide support facilities for farmer awardees.
The Mining Act of 1995, offered to foreign mining firms the ancestral land of indigenous Filipinos, resulting in the endangerment of their livelihood, and the environment which sustain their life.
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enjoyment in the Philippines is beset by lack of employment opportunities in the country, underemployment, lack of security of tenure, discrimination and violence against women, unfair labor practices, loss of access to quality education and health care, endangered food security, and low housing benefits. Child labor increased, particularly among the girl-child, whose trafficking in the commercial sex industry has particularly become an urgent issue because of HIV/AIDS vulnerability.
A general decline in the number of employed persons was registered by the Department of Labor and Unemployment, reportedly due to closures, retrenchments and rotation schemes. "It affected some 115,000 workers, with 50.7percent of the total laid off permanently, 32.1 percent laid off temporarily and 17.1 percent put on job rotation. Hardest hit was the industrial sector, particularly manufacturing." Women continue to bear the burden of a sinking economy. The country's unemployment rate of 13.3% is the highest in Asia. Worse, for every peso (Philippine currency) earned by men, women earned only P0.37, despite them composing approximately 37% of the national labor force. Forty-three percent (43%) of the country's 4.2 M unemployed are women. Meanwhile, majority of women in service oriented fields (61.6%) continue to victims of sexual abuse, rape and harassment.
Threats to Food Security
Food production in the country has been unable to keep up with the growing population. Limited access and production of food for public consumption are effects of government programs under the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan. The unabated conversion of agricultural land to other uses severely affected national productivity. The government has approved the conversion of 54,000 hectares of agricultural land into purposes such as recreational, commercial, residential, hence the proliferation of golf courses, resorts, real estate projects, resulting to loss of croplands.
On the other hand, land allocated for distribution to farmer–awardees are confronted with a severe lack of funds for comprehensive support such as facilities and marketing activities. This is not helped by the existence of armed goons hired by landowners who refuse to give up their land. Because big landowners usually have close relations with the local officials, or are politicians themselves, they are able to defy government orders to vacate their land or to implement effective transfers. Many legal cases confronting the Department of Agrarian Reform involve even the arrests and detention of farmer-awardees.
Unemployment and low wages threaten further, people's access to adequate food. A big number of Filipinos given their income position have difficulties accessing food with the rising cost of living. IBON databank estimates that the daily cost of living for a family of six was Php 313.42 at the national level and Php 305.00 for families outside the National Capital Region. By April 1998, IBON estimated that a family needs Php 338.11 a day in order to live decently. The present wages (Php193.43) therefore puts them on serious survival spending.
Among the most vulnerable groups faced with food insecurity include indigenous communities, whose ancestral land are in danger of being converted to mining exploration sites, urban poor and rural women, whose status puts them at the end of the feeding table, and the farmers and fisherfolks themselves who directly face hunger with the loss of the means of their livelihood.
Case: Farmers Asserting Land Rights ArrestedOn May 21,1999 the Department of Agrarian Reform issued a final leasehold order on 200 hectares of coconut land in Quezon Province, awarding shares of ownership to farmer tenants.The leasehold system would give the farmers the right to pay not more than 25% of their net produce to the landowner, while completing the process for full ownership. This drastically reversed the colonial-era's 60%-40% produce share scheme. On July 17, 1999, defying the DAR orders, the landowners hired armed men to evict farmer leaders from the farmlot and harvested the coconuts. On July 19 the farmers returned and harvested the rest of thecoconut. Demonstrating their intention to abide by the system provided by government, the farmers deposited the equivalent of 25% net harvest lease payment for the landowner, to the Land Bank. The landowner then charged the farmers with qualified theft and had the Municipal Court issue arrest orders. The farmers were arrested and jailed for two months. During this time they were harassed into retracting their claim and charges of excessive force against the police. |
Civil and political rights protection in the country suffers from two main problems: the lack of policy by government, and, implementation of measures that run contrary to the enjoyment of those rights, such as appointment of anti-human rights personalities, increased military solutions to civil strife, and the like.
These become more difficult when President Estrada appointed two cabinet officials, who were known human rights violators, and who both have a dangerous concept of human rights protection. The Chief of the Philippine National Police earlier figured in a controversial case of summary killing of suspects in a kidnapping and drug syndicate, while on transit to another jail. Two days into his appointment, another incident of summary killing was linked to him because the alleged perpatrators were members of an anti-crime police unit he formerly headed. He insisted the suspects engaged apprehending policemen in a gunfight, contrary to claims of the family of the slain suspects.
The new Local Government and Interior Secretary, claims to be a human rights protector, but insists criminal elements in society do not have any rights at all. His disregard for the presumption of innocence was clearly demonstrated when he went on a spray-labelling campaign of houses of suspected illegal drug dealers in Manila. Human rights advocates protested the victimization of children and women in the households affected by the drive. Due process was set aside for the high-profile "shame campaign", not to mention it did nothing to solve criminality or illegal drug dealing in the city.
Supposedly a response to growing criminality and terrorism in the country, there have been a recent deployment of marines in commercial areas, the revival of paramilitary groups, revival of national identification systems, creation of "drug-free zones" much like hamlet areas, and proposals to repeal the bank secrecy laws. These have all resurfaced as a test on the tolerance of people to the return of Martial Law. Proposals to amend the Constitution have been met with stiff opposition. The move was postponed indefinitely.
Meanwhile, cases of arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, enforced disappearance and politically motivated harassment of people by police and military are on the rise.
The Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) reported an increase in political arrests and detention by 17percent, while cases of torture went up by 200 percent compared to 1998 figures. It has documented 27 cases of torture in 1999 compared to just nine cases the previous year.
Politically motivated arrests, torture, detention, and involuntary disappearances continue to occur as responses to protesting sectors who are unsatisfied with government, or who are in conflict with ruling elite interests. Criminalizing political offenses remains a standard policy in order to erase the political nature of arrests and detention. With the practice of criminalizing political offenses, political dissidents do not get the protection due them by law and legitimate political activity is suppressed. Leaders and members of people's organizations protesting low wages, environmental degradation, loss of land, housing and education opportunities are arrested and jailed for disruption of peace and order.
The Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances (FIND) recorded six(6) missing persons in 1999, an increase from only two(2) in 1998. In addition the Estrada government has inherited 1,600 names of desaparecidos, believed abducted by government agents, but were never located in any of the prisons or detention areas.
Once again, there has been no commitment on the part of Estrada to resolve the issue of involuntary disappearances. Human rights advocates fear that current measures meant to address rebellion and "terrorism" would also include, albeit discreetly, the continuation of the practice of enforced disapperances. Hence, issues related to compensation, rehabilitation, and impunity have not been addressed. Although bills criminalizing the practice of enforced disappearances have been filed in Congress, much has to be done in the area of education, capacity building, prosecution and prevention, and resource allocation for its implementation.
Media Repression
In 1999, the Philippine Daily Inquirer suffered from the loss of advertisements from local movie outfits. The paper suspected that close friends of the President from the entertainment industry orchestrated a "boycott" of the paper because of its critical reporting and exposes. Estrada, in response to questions about possible censorship by government, cited his appreciation for the "support given by his friends" and implied that the paper "deserved" the boycott.
Shortly, the Manila Times, another daily, was reported to be changing ownership. Earlier the Manila Times owner was quoted as saying they were being warned to cease from covering certain events or issues. Media reports indicated that the new owner have distant relations with the President. Both the Inquirer and Manila Times have top readership in the country. This is why government blames them for allegedly causing his unpopularity.
Cause oriented groups and individuals have organized support events to the beleaguered papers. The Inquirer still suffers from the loss of movie and entertainment ads, while the Manila Times has been operating under a new management, many of its former editors, reporters and writers have resigned.
Capital Punishment
On human rights day in 1993, the death penalty law was reimposed. This was done in response to rising criminal activity, particularly rapes with murder. The first death convict was expired on February 1999. Since then, the number of death row convicts have steadily increased from 12 to 1,200. The crime rate, however, barely changed.
In a study of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), of the 959 inmates, the Supreme Court reviewed 175 cases involving 200 inmates from 1995 to 1999, only 54 cases involving 60 inmates were initially affirmed. Of these cases 24 were affirmed with finality, while the remaining 36 were only given first affirmation. Sixty nine (69%) percent or 121 sentences were either modified, acquitted, or remanded for retrial. Other cases were modified to reclusion perpetrua, or indeterminate penalties.
These findings clearly showed a severe lack of competence among Philippine courts, especially those outside Metro Manila, where judges are quick to decide, and the accused could not afford to hire their own counsel. FLAG further pointed out that some crimes meted with death penalty are not even included in the list of crimes punishable by death. Meanwhile, other cases continue to be set aside because of procedural and substantive errors during arraignment and trial, or the courts mis-appreciated evidences.
Death penalty has not only been unable to solve criminality in the country, it has doubly victimized poor people, who do not have the means to afford competent defense and who, if acquitted, are less likely to recover economically given the stigma of a prison sentence.
Overseas labor migration
The Philippine's main export is its labor force. Countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe account for the majority of Filipino overseas workers. From the provinces, student-aged men and women are lured into working outside the country by hopes of better economic opportunities. In 1999, over 3,686 individuals were assisted by KAKAMMPI, the organization of migrant families and returnees. Roughly half of the figure are women. These cases involved urgent repatriation requests, illegal recruitment, salary and benefit claims, contract violations, medical and death benefits, missing persons, imprisonment, sexual abuse and rape. KAKAMMPI's assistance and documentation work has expanded due to increased demand from distressed migrant workers and their families.
Sadly, prosecution of illegal recruiters is almost an absent legal remedy in the Philippines. Philippine Embassies in many labor receiving countries continue to trivialize the plight of Filipino migrants and their families.
Republic Act 8042, or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 was signed into law by former President Fidel Ramos after the much publicized execution of Filipino maid Flor Contemplacion in Singapore. However, the law officially sanctioned the phenomenon of overseas migration, as labor policy, instead of consciously working toward keeping its citizens employed in their own country. The Kanlungan Center for Migrant Workers notes that only four (4) countries have signed bilateral labor agreements with the Philippines pursuant to this law. Furthermore, major provisions relating to government's deregulation of recruitment activities, abandons the people to unscrupulous private recruiters.
Displacement in the Philippines have two causes. One, demolitions, or forcible evacuation of an area due to land disputes or intrusion of government or private projects, and two, internal conflicts, usually between government forces and rebels in the countryside. The later is very common in the southern Philippines, in Mindanao. In 1999 alone, there have been 26 incidents of displacement or evacuation due to fighting, affecting some 148 towns, barangays and municipalities, dislocating 50,971 families from their homes and their livelihoods.
In the National Capital Region, 1, 958 families were displaced due to demolition of their houses. Luzon region registered 300 uprooted families, while 235 families from the Visayas region were displaced by clashes between government troops and communist rebels.
The Philippines has no standing policy on managing internal displacement in the country. Aside from the meager food and clothes or mattresses from the Department of Social Welfare and Development or some other agency, no help could be accessed in terms of health and emergency medicine, temporary shelters, and transportation. The families are mostly completely on their own if the military operations happen to penetrate their areas. There are no protection afforded the civilian population, and no support for their return to their farms and homes.
Efforts to have the government adopt the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement are being undertaken. This aims to make government more responsive to the results of internal clashes, even as they pursue their operations.
Case: Displacement of Families caused by MilitarizationMilitarization in the Island of Mindoro started in 1999 after several attacks by the rebel New People's Army (NPA) on several Philippine National Police headquarters. This intensified after the town mayor was killed allegedly by the rebel group in early February. "Operation Seagull" was launched to hunt down the alleged perpetrators. As a result of military operations,499 families, mostly from indigenous Mangyan communities called the Iraya tribe left their houses on February 14, 2000. Fear of being caught in the crossfires caused their exodus, but hunger forces them to return to their farms to scavenge for food, exposing themselves to extreme danger. Soon sickness will set in, as they are temporarily camped in open spaces, often at the mercy of the elements. Among the evacuees are pregnant women and children. |
