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DEFENSE
and military officials on Monday blasted the Permanent
People’s Tribunal (PPT) in The Hague, which recently
handed a guilty verdict against President Arroyo and US
President George W. Bush for alleged human-rights
violations.
Defense
Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. branded the PPT as an
“international kangaroo court,” while Gen. Hermogenes
Esperon Jr., Armed Forces chief of staff, described it
as a “branch” of Karapatan, a local human-rights group
identified with the Left that has been accusing the
government of involvement in extrajudicial killings.
At the
same time, the Dutch government branded “not serious”
the PPTs verdict.
Dutch
Ambassador to the Philippines Robert Vornis said the
sessions of the PPT are arranged such that acquittal is
not possible, noting that the court is composed of
representatives from civil-society groups and that the
accused were not invited to defend themselves.
What is
serious are the Melo Commission and the Alston Report,
Vortis added.
Ebdane
said the verdict was unfair, citing the principle that a
person is innocent until proven guilty.
“But it
seems that nowadays it is the other way around … as if
the person is now guilty unless proven otherwise. Now,
in The Hague, in any court of law even in the
international court, you must first hear both sides not
only the complainant or the victim side but from the
side of those supposed perpetrators,” Ebdane said in a
news conference at Camp Aguinaldo on Monday.
“How can
they [members of the tribunal] conclude when they have
not even talked to the organization concerned or the
agency concerned? What is that? A kangaroo court?” a
visibly irked Ebdane said.
For his
part, Esperon said the accusation was very grave
considering that besides condemning the killings, the
government, the military in particular, is conducting a
thorough investigation into the matter.
“Parang
Karapatan iyan ah? Baka naman sangay lang ng Karapatan
iyang tribunal na ’yan o magkasama lang sila. Kaya
tingnan natin. Mabigat na paratang iyan. Katulad ng
sinasabi natin [It’s just like Karapatan. Maybe the
tribunal is a branch of Karapatan or they are in league.
We’ll see. It’s a very strong accusation, and so like I
said] we condemn in the strongest terms all these
unexplained killings, that is why we are now thoroughly
investigating all of these, we are conducting our own
investigation and the Armed Forces Human Rights Office
is the focal point of all these investigations now, if
indeed these things happened then imbestigahan natin
para makita natin ang katotohanan [we will investigate
so that we may know the truth],” Esperon said.
The PPT,
composed of six internationally known lawyers and
human-rights activists, held its sessions and issued its
verdict in The Hague.
Testimonies of witnesses to political killings and
abductions, expert testimonies and boxes of documents,
and other pieces of evidence were presented to support
three major charges against the two governments.
Most of
those who gave testimonies and depositions were
personalities identified with the Left.
The
PPT’s judgment will be transmitted to the United
Nations, the International Court of Justice, the
European Parliament, and various foreign governments and
is expected to further attract international attention
on the killings in the country.
Karapatan has been saying that the killings has reached
more than 800 but the National Police particularly its
Task Force Usig said the figure is bloated to the point
that several of those listed have already showed up
alive to disprove that they were victims.
Gianni
Tognoni, PPT general secretary who moderated the
proceedings, said that the transmittal of the report to
the international bodies would be a major step toward
focusing the world’s attention on the crisis on human
rights in the country.
Belgian
Francois Houtart, president of the PPT session that
heard the cases against the country by a jury, said that
although the judgment may not be legally binding, still
it is “morally binding.”
The
tribunal composed of six internationally well-known
persons including Houtart, director of the Centre
Tricontinental (Cetri), also found the Armed Forces as
having “a central role” in the atrocities, adding that
it was “a structural component and instrument of the
policy of the ‘war on terror’ in the Philippines” that
was declared by the government.
Filipino
lawyers and human-rights advocates have charged Mrs.
Arroyo and Bush and their respective governments with
“gross and systematic violations of human rights,
economic plunder and transgression of the Filipino
people’s sovereignty.”
Among
those who gave their depositions and testimonies during
the hearing were Marie Hilao Enriquez, secretary-general
of Karapatan; frustrated murder victim Constancio
Claver; June Lopez, an expert in handling torture and
trauma victims; retired Navy Capt. Danilo Vizmanos; UP
Faculty professor Roland Simbulan; Bishop Elmer Bolocon
of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines and
Ecumenical Bishops Forum (EBF); Elmer Labog, chairman of
the Kilusang Mayo Uno; and Danilo Ramos of the Kilusang
Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.
In its
verdict, the PPT described the extrajudicial killings,
forced disappearances, massacre, torture and other
atrocities allegedly committed by the Arroyo government
as “crimes against humanity,” which in no way justified
as “necessary measures against terrorism” and must be
stopped immediately. (With R. Acosta and E. Torres) |
