Stand for Human Rights

Imagine no more killings, and disappearances too…

(sang by a Canadian friend to the tune of John Lennon's IMAGINE during a solidarity visit with victims' families, human rights advocates and church workers, November 2007)



Where can the Filipino people turn to when the Philippine government, a signatory to the United Nations' Universal Declaration on Human Rights, is the principal violator of the people's rights?



For seven years, the Arroyo government stands guilty of systematic violations of the Filipino people's socio-economic rights. The people cry out: HUMAN RIGHTS BEFORE PROFITS! But this government gave us incessant oil price hikes, imposed budget cuts for public health, education and other basic social services, expanded unjust taxes and continued to get away with anomalous deals involving multi-billion pesos that could have saved the lives of Mariannet Amper and scores of poor children. This government evicted poor farmers and indigenous peoples from their land and livelihood, neglected mining-affected communities who bear the deadly costs of large-scale mining, ignored demands for substantial wage hikes and demolished thousands of urban poor.



For seven years, the Arroyo government stands guilty of violating the Filipino people's civil and political rights when it crafted Oplan Bantay Laya I and II to eliminate or at the minimum, harass and intimidate perceived enemies of the state, through extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, warrantless arrests, torture and increasing military deployment both in rural and urban communities. The Arroyo government also stands guilty of violations of cultural and religious rights especially of our Moro sisters and brothers when it repeatedly ordered all-out military offensives that scarred civilian communities, including mosques and Muslim schools.



As people of faith, we affirm that defending human rights is a sacred and urgent task in the face of repressive and oppressive instrumentalities of the Arroyo presidency that has demonstrated time and again, that it will hold on to power at all cost.



We envision a Philippines where the Filipino people will not have to beg for land, shelter, jobs and basic needs to live as decent human beings. We envision a Philippines where human rights are fully guaranteed. We believe that tyrants and oppressive leaders who thrive on flagrant corruption, economic plunder and systematic human rights violations are bound to face downfall. The Filipino people who have seen that they cannot turn to the Arroyo government for guarantees to protect, promote and defend their rights at all cost, are compelled to turn to their collective power to work for justice and meaningful change.



Enough of the fraudulent president, plunderer and human rights violator!

Join the Multi-Sectoral March for Justice and Call for Arroyo's Ouster




STOP EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS, ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES AND ALL FORMS

OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS!